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Published: December 7th 2006
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We left Wellington early on Sunday 26th Nov and caught the ferry heading for Picton in the South Island. The journey was quiet as everyone was nackered. We all played progressive rummy which took up about 2 hours of the 3 hour journey! There was quite a famous New Zealand singer performing on the ferry and we didn't give her much respect! Quite harsh really!
We made it over to Picton around midday. From there we made our journey across to Nelson. On the way we stopped in a vineyard for some wine tasting! This appealed to a lot of our bus as most of us were piss heads! Unfortunately they were rather stingy with the portions!
After the wine tasting we made a short journey down to Nelson which is the dead centre of the whole of New Zealand. The hotel we stayed in was really nice for a backpackers place. We got roast dinner and apple crumble for $10. Bargain! As usual the evening turned in to a night of drinking games and a visit to the only bar open! Was a quiet night but still a laugh.
We passed round the edge of the Abel
Tasman national park the following morning on our way to Westport. On the way we got conned in to doing some jet boating by our driver! Was reasonably good but I don't think anyone thought it was worth the $75 price tag. We headed to Westport afterwards which was a typical NZ ghost town. Hardly anyone around but the hostel was cool. A bunch of the girls got a massive dorm room with TV, fire and kitchen so everyone had a chilled out night in there.
The first stop the following morning was Cape Foulwind on the coast. Here we got to see a seal sanctuary amongst the rocks. Was worth a look but wasn't that amazing. We carried along the coast and at lunch we stopped at Punakaiki. Unfortunately it was raining but we managed to take a walk and see pancake rocks. Were quite strange. After lunch we headed for our hostel by lake Mahinapua in the middle of nowhere. We were informed by our driver that it was going to be a fancy dress night. The theme was Princesses and Prostitutes! We stopped in a place called Greymouth en route and everyone bought costumes. Needless to
say the night turned out to be a bit crazy! The blokes didn't have much choice but to dress up as women!! Was a hilarious night though 😊
We headed south again the next morning along the west coast. Some of the girls decided it would be funny to get pissed again on the bus and were wasted by about 11am! We stopped at the Bushman centre and saw reindeer, possums and a wild boar. One of the pissed Irish girls started singing to one of the reindeer! Well funny. At about midday we carried on south towards our destination Franz Josef. Franz Josef was another place with stunning scenary. Unfortunately it rained continuously all day! We didn't have much choice but to spend the evening in the bar. It was an early night though as a few of us were doing the full day hike of the Franz Josef glacier the following day!
At 9am the following morning we got kitted up in our waterproofs, gloves, hats, hiking boots and ice tallonz and headed to the beginning of our hike. We began by trekking through a small part of the rainforest and eventually came out to a
river which stemmed from the glacier. The glacier seemd so close yet it was still 2 and a half kms away! As we got closer we thought we heard thunder. Apparently it's actually part of the glacier collapsing from within! Encouraging thought to have before we stepped foot on it! At the base of the glacier we attached our ice tallonz to the bottom of our hiking boots and started the ascent. We climbed steps carved from the ice, crossed bridges and squeezed through tight crevises. It was a once in a lifetime experience. We were hiking for 8 hours in total!!
The evening was just as successful. Me and James entered another killer pool comp and we did well. I came fourth and James won it. He won a 2 for 1 skydive in Queenstown (which he hasn't used or sold yet) and a $25 bar tab. Bargain!
Yet another early start on the Kiwi bus saw us head south. On the way we stopped to see the Fox glacier and Lake Matheson. Both were impressive. We continued down the West coast, through the Haast pass, saw a waterfall and then headed for our final destination of
Wanaka. Wanaka was a really nice town based around lake Wanaka. The scenary was wicked (as is all scenary in the South island). Our hotel was weird. It was really tidy but really retro. Had radios on the wall and stuff like that! We visited the red rock bar in the evening but it was a quiet night really.
On the way out of Wanaka the next morning we stopped at Puzzling world. Was an interesting place with a maze, puzzles and lots of optical illusions. We carried on down through the Kawaran gorge and stopped at the Kawaran bridge which is the sight of the first ever commercial bungy jump. We were given the secrets of bungy tour which was quite informative. A few people did the jump which is 43m in height. I then had to fork out and pay for my Nevis bungy jump for the following day!! We then headed on towards our destination of Queenstown. Queenstown has some wicked scenary. Probably the nicest place we've been to in NZ. Mountains everywhere surround the lake. There's loads of activities to do as well.
Once we checked in to our hostel (discovery lodge) we had
our first taste of a fergburger! They probably make the best gourmet burgers anywhere! The evening involved the usual drinking games!
Sunday 3rd Dec. The day of the Nevis bungy jump had arrived!! Sod's law it was the first day in ages that I actually had a hangover! We got picked up in the early afternoon from the centre of Queenstown. A little shuttle took us on a 40 minute journey out in to the middle of nowhere! We eventually arrived to the bungy site which was just a small hut with toilets and an office. We got harnessed up and then we went round the back to get our first glimpse of the bungy pod. It is basically a cable car hovering deep over a gorge. We had to take a small gondola/cable car over to the pod which was an experience in itself! I thought I was going to be the first jumper but thankfully I wasn't. I ended up going about 10th. I have never been so scared in all my life! When you stand on the ledge and they chuck the weight over the edge the fear is indescribable! Somehow I managed to jump and
after 8.5 seconds of freefall the bungy was fully extended. The jump is 134m! Thats over 3 times the height of the Kawarau bridge. It is the biggest in Australasia and one of the biggest in the world. Even when I returned back to the pod I was still petrified. Needless to say I got the photos and DVD. Quite a laugh watching me plummet towards earth!! I've added photos here but you can also see the photos I bought by visiting ajhackett.com, clicking on the Nevis jump icon, and typing in the code AJHN612038434776 when it asks for it!
We celebrated our bravery in the evening by having a group Indian followed by more drinking games! we then went out to the world bar and had tea pots filled with alcohol!
The 4th of Dec was our last day together as a big group on the Kiwi bus! Everyone hunted for food in the morning and then we decided to give the crazy golf a bash. Was a good laugh with everyone together. After sorting out our on accomodation we went on one final piss up in the evening as a group. Was a sad but awesome
night. Thankfully a lot of us are going to be in Sydney for New Year so we can have a reunion!
After saying our final good byes in the morning we joined the 'bottom bus' which takes us round the most southern parts of NZ. Our first stop was Dunedin and we're still here. It's really boring with no one about. Hopefully it will improve when we move on tomorrow.
That pretty much rounds up our journey to date. Is a bit of a mammoth entry but hopefully it hasn't been too boring to read!
Take it easy
Chris and James
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Scott
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Hey Bumheads Cristof u have gotta b a brave man to do that Bungy shit! Jimac looken good on the Photos, found a modeling agency yet? ;-) Looks like there are plenty of women around.......?whats that like? Hows the heat cristof....dnt look like you have caught much of a tan.....i got more of a tan back here......a wind tan from all the hurricanes we keep getting! I still have 3 turkeys at the mo....i went on a stake out after the fox on the wkend ....no luck as of yet! il make a fox scarf out of him and send it to boys! Liverpool is pretty cool at the moment lads....plenty of late nights! Have a Drink on me lads....take care Love Baker