And North We Travel - New Zealand

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We travelled from Milford sound straight to Queenstown, which was a long drive but was well worth it. Queenstown is like a small compact ski resort with huge mountains covered in snow in the distance, a large lake and it is known as the home town for adrenaline seekers.

On our first morning there we arrived very early so Peter could enquire about booking a bundgy jump, expecting to have to wait a few days, however the lady said right you can go in two hours. To fill the two hour gap we went and stocked up on an infamous ferg burger, we have nerver seen burgers like this and we both felt rather sick after! They were huge!

Peter was feeling really calm before we went and didn't even seem nervous when we got there. He was safety harnessed up as was Rox to go and watch and we travelled across thd Nevis canyon on a cable car to the 134metre jumping platform! As we were the last ones over we were shocked when Peters name was suddenly called and he had to go and get booted up. Rox stood and took photos of Peter getting ready, as he came to the ledge he gave Rox a wave and then jumped whilst screaming jumbalaya, although to Rox it sounded just like a scream. The freefall was amazing but was over to quickly and Peter was struggling to release his feet and was worried if he didn't he would be pulled up upside down. We watched the video and looked at the photos laughing at Peter, and he said he couldn't wait to do the skydive now.

The following day we went on the Shotover Jet down in the canyon, this a small super charged jet boat costing 250,000 USD that goes like the clappers in and out of the smallest gaps, skimming rock faces and doing 360 spins. This was so much fun, Peter was more scared on this then the bungy and Rox screamed the whole time, we loved it and wanted to buy the DVD but it was a rip off so decided against it.

Later that afternoon we went on the gondala up to the top of a nearby mountain which had some stunning views, we then went on the luge around the scenic track, Rox was scared so she went about 2miles an hour whilst 7year olds were flying past, she then grew some balls and spead up to a whopping 5miles an hour.

That night we went to the world bar, which serves cocktails out of teapots! We arrived being the only ones iin there and to the moody moose behind the bar asking us for I'd and then being served the champagne cocktail in a tea pot and two shot glasses. We ended up having a few glasses of wine and another tea pot at happy hour when there were all of 10 people in there! We were asked to join a pub crawl at 10but all the pubs we're shutting at 12 due to Easter so we declined, this was already a late night for us early early birds.

Peter tried to book a sky dive the following day however it was full and due to our time restrictions we decided to leave and headed for lake Wanaka instead. For the past few months Peter had tried to convince Rox to do a sky dive, as you all know not only from the blog but Rox herself this would be the least likely thing she would ever do, even with bribes of foot rubs and new clothes! When we met Holly and Kev they even tried to convince her but she said there was no chance in hell.

As we got to lake Wanaka Peter tried to book a sky dive at the centre there as it was a nice day, they were full but offred a place for 9am the next day. The lady assumed we were both doing the dive so Peter corrected her saying it was just him. We went outside and watched some people who were doing a sky dive, Rox said it looked quite good when they were coming into land, Peter said shall we put your name down, Rox agreed particularly as no payment was taken and she assumed she would bottle out in the morning.

We went on had a look around town and at the lake itself, it was cute small town that had an amazing back drop of snow topped mountains. We went on a 2hour walk to the summit of Mount of Iron which was hard work going up but well worth it the views were spectacular.

That night we eneded up staying at a local cricket ground which allowed campers to stay there for 10dollars - bargin. Neither of us were nervous for the following day and slept well.

The big day arrives - Peter still felt fine and Rox was feeling a bit sick but otherwise ok. The nerves kicked in a bit when Rox was signing her forms and read the part stating that the company except no responsibility for injury or death. We decided to both jump from 15,000ft which was a 60second freefall and our own personal camera man jumping with us.

We were harnessed up quickly and introduced to our jump master and camera man. We boarded the tiny plane with Peter jumping before Rox, in order to get up to 15,000ft we had a 15minute flight, the scenery was spectacular and our jumpmasters pointed out the major sights.

When the door opened for the first guy the nerves started to kick in for both of us, although not as much as we had anticipated. The jumpmaster took Peter to the door and he got into the sky dive position, within seconds he was gone and Rox was like great my turn next. The most amazing part was the exit where you fall upside down and then when you turn over for the first time and see the land around you. Peter absolutely loved the freefall where as Rox struggled to enjoy this due to the bitterness of the wind and the pressure change in her ears - it was so cold. Rox loved it when the jumpmaster pulled the parachute and she was no loner falling, he asked her if she enjoyed the fall and her first words we're "no I much prefer this bit"!

The landing was really smooth and we both did a standing up landing, as Rox landed Peter came over and gave her a hug and kiss, she was still in a bit of a daze though. Her jumpmaster turned to Peter and said she might as well of gone from 5,000ft or done a paragliding as she hated the freefall, Rox tried to explain that was due to her cheeks blowing everywhere, tears streaming from her eyes due to the wind and her nose running.

We sat and watched our DVD at the skydive centre and laughed our heads off at our cheesy videos, it wasn't until we saw our photos that we realised how much the wind blew our cheeks about making us pull stupid faces! We laughed so much that everyone stared at us and it was only then that it sunk in what we had just done and how great it was, for the rest of the afternoon we were buzzing.

Straight after the skydive we had to head off to Franz Josef for our pre-booked glacier walk! Rox really wanted to do the heli hike - where we fly on a helicopter to a high, untouched point, and hike for two hours - we didn't do it, it was extortionate! So we opted for a day hike, 4 times cheaper, and 6 hours on the ice! We started bright and early and had a pretty strenuous walk to even get to the glacier - Rox was hating it already!

Once we got there, we strapped on our crampons ready to walk on the ice - we got into our smaller groups ready to go when the group leader noticed Rox had her crampons on the wrong feet! We all had to wait for them to be changed - embaressing! We then set off! Peter loved it, climbing up steep ice steps, walking through caves, climbing down big holes and squeezing through crevases, Rox wasn't so impressed! We were very lucky with the weather as the rain decided to hold of, and we even had some sunshine for the first few hours! It was a real experience, some of the ice was beautiful blue, the streams and pools on the surface of the glacier looked like perfection and Peter obviously had to drink some - brain freeze! Franz Josef is only one of three glaciers to run through the middle of a rain forest, the others being Fox (Franz's neighbour) and the third being in Argentina! It was brilliant, Peter loved it - it was like being in a big playground full of climbing, jumping and sliding, Rox was counting the hours untill it was over but did enjoy the hiking over the flat parts!

Rox would like me to add here that this was an 8 hour hike with a 15min break for lunch! She fell over! The guide actually made her go to the front so he could help her! And that this was way above her hiking ability!

From here we travelled north, visiting a few places such as Pancake Rocks, as well as bumping into some friends we made in Australia - random!

After Pancake Rocks we stopped fairly early as we had been driving for quite some time and we were shattered from our Franz Josef hike and Rox was starting to feel the beginings of a cold coming on! We stayed up reading and watchin some Scrubs on our DVD player, unfortunatly where we were so monged and tiered we ran the battery down! Oh no! We waited until the morning thinking we'd just ring the AA, or we could maybe jump start it - no problem right! Morning come, and we soon learnt you can't jump start and automatic car, and we couldn't call the AA as we managed to park up in the bottom of a gorge with no signal and were miles away from anywhere! Bugger!

Plan C - try and flag some passers by down to see if they had jump leads! No luck!

Plan D - walk to the nearest camp site to see if they had a phone, it wasn't far - not! We were walking for a while when we flagged down a guy and his son and asked for some help - they had no jump leads but said they would drive us to the nearest house as we were miles away from anywhere!

Plan E - hitch hike to the nearest house to ask for help! We jumped on the back of their pick up as the had no spare seat and rode like this for about 15min - Rox was pooing herself! We we're dropped at some random house and they guys drove off! As Peter walked towards the house we were greeted by a rockwiler, nice! Stay calm and walk past, Rox started to stroke the dog that snapped at her when she stopped! No answer at the house!

Plan F - call the emergency services - for some reason we managed to convince ourselves that you can still make emergency calls when you have no network coverage - no such luck!

Plan. G - continue to walk to next place to get phone signal!

Plan H - hitch hike to next town! Lukily a nice 9 fingered road maintanence man stopped and gave us a ride to the nearest mechanics, some 30K from where we started!

Ah sorted! Poxy flat battery! We treated ourselves with pies for lunch and decided to stay in a campsite that night!

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