New Zealand

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So i arrived on the the morning of the 20th June in Chrstchurch in the south island of New Zealand and it was cold.
I spent most of the day wandering round, had some lunch, few beers, back to the hostel, few beers, food and a few more beers !
21st June - Up early to get the flight to Queenstown. Only a 30 minute flight over spectacular scenery and lots of snow capped mountains. I arrived at lunchtime and checked in to Bumbles backpackers (to be my home for the next 9 nights) and caught up with Steve (From Edinburgh & The Whitsundays sailing trip).
The day i arrived in Queenstown coincided with the start of the winter festival and the first proper chucking down of snow. So believe it or not the winter ski resort came to a stand still. No flights in or out, roads closed and too much snow to ski ??
22nd - Wandered around Queenstown, eating (Ferburger - best burgers in town & Pizzas from Winnies )
23rd - worlds highest swing, 109m drop followed by a 200m swing across a river and over cliffs, nice ! DVD available to watch if you want a laugh !
24th - Probably the most stupid decision of my life - 134m bungee jump aka Nevis ! Glad i did it, never again. There is something not right about diving off a platform into a canyon 134m below. Again dvd available for even more amusement.
25th - Said goodbye to Steve and met up with some friends that i met in Melborne, Josh, Roisin and Gregg.
26th - Decided to go skiing for the day, why not. The weather was great, skiing perfect for my standard and the views unbelievable. That night the winter festival started with an outside stage, lots of mulled wine and even included me falling of a bar stool after too many Jaeger Bombs (Jaegermesiter & red bull ).
27th - Stinking hangover and an early start in order to go to Milford Sound. I jumped in with a a gang of Irish folk from the hostel. (Dennis, Gary, Yvonne & Patrick) 3.5 hour drive, 2 hour boat trip in Milford sound and then head back. A long day but well worth it to see the fjord, dolphins, seals and natural beauty..
Next couple of days involved taking it easy, drinking, eating and getting ready for travelling up the west coast.
The plan was to head up to Franz Josef (glacier) then up the west coast, across to Blenheim and up to the North Island. I was due to get a lift with 3 girls i had met in Christchurch, however at the last minute they decided to hang on another night in Queenstown.
Rather than hang on I decided to drive instead, so i hired a car and drove, not a nice drive, wet, icy and dark. I got there for about 8pm, checked into a hostel watched Australia beat New Zealand in the rugby and got an early night.
1st July - The Heli hike that i had booked had been cancelled due to bad weather, so instead i did a 3/4 day hike instead. Great fun, knackering, cold and lots of ice ! That night i went out for a big night (well as big as it gets in Franz josef) with a couple of girls from the hostel & Rhino, one of the ice hiker guides (very odd guy !)
2nd - early start to drive to Blenheim at the top of the South island (7.5 hours in constant rain). Got ther about 6pm, met Erin (American girl that i met on Frazer island) for a beer and checked in.
3rd - Went on a wine tour of the Marlborough region with Erin and her friend. Lovely day, went to 5 wineries and drank some lovely wine on a nice sunny day, perfect !
4th - Dropped the hire car off in Picton. Kate who i had met in Franz Josef picked me up and we drove to Wellington. That night we decided to be students again and went on a pub crawl. Great way to see all the good bars in Wellington and meet lots of locals. Wellington is known for being the party town of New Zealand, especially for students.
5th - Big hangover. Kate drove to Taupo (5 hours). We stayed at the YHA - dump ! Cooked a nice meal and had a few drinks with some lads from Essex and a fairly early night.
Decided to start eating healthy food, get fit and try and loose the 1 1/2 stone that i'd put on in the last 11 weeks.
6th - Raining again ! Unfortunately we had hit New Zealand in their winter & lots of stuff in New Zealand is weather dependant. So we went Quad biking for a couple of hours ! quality... & a few drinks in Taupo in the evening.
7th - Drove to Rotarua in the morning via the crater of the moon (lots of weird steam coming out of the ground all over the place - looked like a scene from Blake 7). Also stopped at Hucker falls - a waterfall !. In the afternoon we went Zorbing, basically a big ball rolling down the hill with you, someone else and a load of water in it. stupid but very funny ! Then on to the Luge - tearing down the hill on a piece of plastic with handlebars, again daft but fun !
As if we hadn't done enough that day we went to an authentic mouri night, or sort of. It was a stupidly touristy but amusing none the less.
P.s Rotarua stinks of rotten eggs / sulphur. Some kind of volcan or natural phenomenan. I don't know, it just stinks..
8th - White water rafting in the afternoon followed by a visit to the thermal springs to relax.
9th - Got the bus to Aukland, had a quiet night in the hostel bar.
10th - Planned to meet Nic who i used to work with back in Manchester, have a tour round Aukland and get ready for Fiji.
I had really enjoyed New Zealand, i would definately like to come back in the summer and see some of the fantastic scenery with sunshine rather than snow, rain and the odd day of sunshine.

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Photos

Queenstown
View from the plane.

134m Bungee - Nevis
Why ?

Sunday Lunch
Good old New Zealand Lamb !

Nevis
Calm as you like ??

Nevis Bungy
Mid flight

Nevis Bungy
Mid flight

Winterf festival
Fireworks..

Winter festival
Bumbles night out