I've just reversed into a tree

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More on that later, also please have a look at the jet boating and bungy photos, which are now on the previous blog entry.

Well, were now in our last week in NZ, and have done quite a bit in the past week.

Last tuesday I attempted to do The Kawarau Bridge bungy, but couldn't actually bring myself to jump off a bridge. I would say that this proves 2 things, firstly that I'm a bit of a wimp, but most importantly that I am in no way suicidal!

After Queenstown we headed to Milford Sound, and treated ourselves to a nights indoor and warm accommodation up there before our cruise in the morning. Sleeping indoors and in a real bed was pure bliss.

Firstly let me educate you all in the fact that Milford Sound is not actually a sound, but a fiord, as it is surrounded by mountains, has a u-shaped vally, and was carved out by a glacier.

The cruise was really good, Milford is a really beautiful place, and we got to see many mountains and waterfalls (although not as many as we would have seen if it had been raining). There is a picture of us infront of Lion mountain, so called because it looks like a lion (To the left of Chris is the head and body, and to the right of me, the tail). After we went out into the tasman sea and did some rocking and rolling in the waves, I got a bit upset as we'd not seen any animals (I saw a tree in the water and thought it was a dolphin, and was very dissappointed as we got closer), but then the announcement came out that there were penguins infront of the boat, so I ran off to see them leaving Chris with both our bags. We ended up seeing three yellow crested penguins, the rarest penguin in the world, which were only there as they had returned to nest. This was definitely the highlight of the trip.

After Milford Sound, we drove cross country to Dunedin, which is celtic for Edinburgh, and is the second biggest city in the South Island. It is also the home of the world's steepest street (a guiness book of records endorsed fact), which we drove up in the van, and had mild panic when it wouldnt go into first gear (we have issues with first and reverse), so we stopped 2 thrids of the way up and the handbrake didnt hold the van, so we did some backwards rolling, anyway, eventually we got to the top, and drove back down the extremely steep hill! We even have certificates to prove we did it!

Our next stop was Mount Cook, and this involved more cross country driving in order to see the highest peak in the Southern Hemisphere. After all that driving, when we finally got there the top was covered in cloud, but I think that Chris has used the most expensive photo altering software know to man, to do an artists impression for you all.

We spent the night in Geraldine, and headed up to Hamner Springs, where we were meant to be spending a night, and doing some hot pool time to thaw out. However, as he was reversing into our pitch on the campsite, Chris failed to notice a massive (picture telegraph pole) post next to a tree, and reversed straight into it, taking out the rear light cluster completely and putting a dent ing the back of the van (the one in the bumper pinged out).
After a bit if swearing he rang the hire company and fed them this line...

"Hi, I'm currently hiring one of your vans, and I've just reversed into a tree, and I was wondering if you could give me some advice"

it was only a few hours later that the hilarity of this statement dawned on me!

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Photos

Sunset
I know we've put a lot of sunsets up, but this was undoubtably the best yet

Comments

[Charlie]

Wow, Milford Sound and it wasn't raining, this is largely unheard of. Strangely me and Misch caught the place in the dry also though, thus accounting for both of the dry days in the last 5 years there! Cool place though, although the amount of stones with names of what they look like makes you wonder about how much free times the locals have "Nah seriously brah, if you squint like it looks just like a panda with a hat on that one!!" Hope the rest of the Land of Long White Cloud is entertaining, I recomend getting drunk and trying to convince locals that you naturally talk with a dodgy Kiwi accent, proved much ammusment all round with that one!