The Final Leg...New Zealand

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So here it is with a bit of sadness it must be said I have reached the last proper destination of my trip-Auckland. For those of you that don't know I've been having some trouble with my eyes again out in the Southern hemisphere and have decided it is for the best that I return home to see someone who knows a bit about my medical history and to see all you lot again 😉.

New Zealand particularly the south island is a beautiful place with stunning scenary and lots of adrenalin fuelled activities to do so I'll just give a short run down of what I've done and where rather than bore you with intricate little details:



Firstly I had my 19th birthday starting at midnight in a bar in Christchurch= very good, before setting off on the first Kiwi Experience bus to a place called Kaikoura which is known for Whale and Seal watching and not much else, thus the rest of the day was perhaps the most boring uneventful birthday I've had for a long time but the weather was GLORIOUS 😊.

On then to two little places called Nelson and Westport...both very scenic again but nothing of note apart from the exciting three legged bar crawl race in Westport which moi and my partner Katie would have won would it not have been for dodgy equipment (the string kept snapping :@). It was organised by two of the Kiwi Ex bus drivers Spud and Mange who turned out to be quite possibly the most humorous and fun Kiwis on the earth and included at one stage in Queenstown a disastrous cheeseburger eating contest between them both.

From Westport we ventured to the middle of nowhere for a Kiwi Ex exclusive 'Pu Party', in a hostel/pub owned by an 86 year old man called les and every night there is a huge steak dinner and fancy dress party (with prizes for the best costumes) for each and every Kiwi bus. Our theme was 'Things beginning with the letter 'P'' so after a long, long thought process of an hour I decided I would go as a human pinball machine but at a minimum cost, and so for just six dollars the 'Pinball Wizzard' was born. Tamara went as a Pope but unfortunately there was a slightly better Pope at the party who won first prize for best costume, I came third behind a postbox and won some pole dancing lessons......which I swapped for canyon swing photos to try and regain my manhood 😊.

The next stop on the Kiwi tour was the one that beforehand I had been looking forward to perhaps the most but when there turned literally into a bit of a damp squib....Franz Josef it was. FJ is famous for its glacier walk but on the two days we were there the rainfall set a record as the heaviest 24 hour downpour for 16 years!!!Still we attempted the full day hike but this had to be scaled down to a half day hike as even the guides could not see where they wanted to take us. However it was still a great experience to walk on the world's fastest moving glacier and to see the place that inspired Fox Glacier Mints 😊.

A brief encounter with Wanaka was still a highlight by the meals Tamara and I made; was very much British day with pie,chips and gravy for lunch being followed up by bangers and mash for tea. In the bar in the evening it was karaoke night and my devillish cunning was slightly undone when I had asked someone to sneakily put Tamara in only for him to put us both in to do 'Summer Nights' from Grease...fortunately we weren't the worst there but still a little bit humiliating; karma works in funny ways!!!!

Queenstown was the southernly most location we stayed at in New Zealand and one of the most fun places to be on earth; plenty to do even when it was throwing it down...well adrenaline-wise and at night that is, most people sleep during the day. We ventured one night to World bar (we had visited it's sister bar in Sydney so it was only fair). Again like Sydney they served cocktails in teapots but this time you could actually drink from the spout....a truly British way of getting the booze from the vessel to the mouth. However by far the two outstanding highlights of Queenstown would be firstly the canyon swing-140 metres up with 70 metres freefall before flying out into the canyon there are many different variations of jumps with different scariness ratings dependant on how brave you felt. Well on the 29th April 2010 I was feeling very brave and attempted the 'Pin Drop' with a fear rating of 5/5 and enjoyed it so much that I did another swing this time of a chair because I felt like a bit of a rest. This was followed up by the best and one of the biggest burgers in the world 'The Big Al' from the amazing restaraunt that is FERGBURGER. It contained:2 grilled beefburgers the size of Chadderton, Bacon, Cheese, 2 Eggs, Iceberg Lettuce, Beetroot, Sauces all contained in a burger bun that perhaps needed it's own scaffolding for quite a construction. The result=twenty five minutes pure eating heaven :D. Queenstown itself is beautiful even if while we were there it was nearly underwater having like Franz Josef record rainfall for the time of year and was beginning to flood when we made our departure. The town is located with a backdrop of a stunning mountain range and the lake itself goes for as far as the eye can see, (or at least our eyes as it was very foggy).

The North Island

The one regret I have in New Zealand except perhaps of not doing the Nevis bungee jump in Queenstown was that we only stayed a few hours in Wellington so didn't get to see it properly or do anything of substance. However this was balanced out by the fact that we only had a week left and really wanted to do a skydive in Taupo. We were told the weather in Taupo was unreliable and so decided to spend four nights there on the hope that we'd get at least one clear day...turns out that the people telling us this were unreliable and we got four stunningly beautiful days and did our skydive straight away from the bus dropping us at Taupo airfield. The skydive is definately in the top 5 things I've ever done in my life, 15,000ft up over a minute of freefall and to be the first one out of the plane should have got my heart racing yet it was quite unnervingly calming and was glad to finally topple out of the plane after the uncomfortable banana position I was in hanging out of the door did no wonders for my back 😉.
The rest in Taupo was not wasted either with a visit to some hot springs the next day followed by waking up at an ungodly hour the next to do a 20km trek along a trail that was stunningly scenic and also took in Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings, cue everybody in our group doing Gollom impressions halfway up the volcano..preciousss!!!

Our penultimate stop was Rotorua and having been reunited in Taupo with the deadly duo from Oz-Nikki and Tarina, lugeing (like karting) down a mountain seemed like great fun....and boy was it!! Especially at the bargain price it was as well and the competative element we all had, it felt like taking part in the grand prix...at one point my luge actually left the group after a steep downhill and got a good couple of seconds airtime; a scarier moment than a canyon swing or a skydive I can tell you, but highly recommended if anybody should ever find themselves in Rotorua.

The final proper installment of the trip was located in Auckland where we just relaxed, went for tea with a family whose sister Tamara knows (who provided us with a perfect roast chicken dinner) and prepared ourselves for our final journeys. We said our goodbyes in L.A and then I headed on hours later to meet my Dad at Heathrow before flying back to Manchester and be home in time for tea...42 hours journey time from leaving the hostel in Auckland to setting foot back in Delph with only 20 minutes sleep in that time. Surprisingly I wasn't too tired but as I finish this off now sat in the Kenny family study, it feels a fair bit strange to be home.

So this is JK signing off, thank you, hope you've not been too bored by my typings, bad spelling and at times offputting use of grammar and goodbyeeeeee xx

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Comments

[Heather]

I hope everything turns out okay with your eyes, whatever the problem. I really enjoyed your NZ post, and found it very informative. My boyfriend and I will soon be moving there and we've never been, so it was great to read a little about what to expect! Our blog is looking for travel reviews, photos, etc, to share. If you have the time, check it out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com, or email us at [e-mail]. Good luck readjusting to being home. I find that the most difficult part of any trip. Heather :)