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Published: January 15th 2009
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Hi Everyone,
Well this is my last blog from New Zealand as on Friday I'm heading to Singapore to meet Aaron before we head to the Philippines.
From the last blog I left Westport after a tame night to make my way to Lake Mahinapua. On the way we stopped at Cape Foulwind for an early morning walk and to check out the seal colony, they say that you can sniff kangaroo’s as this is the closest point to OZ. The lunch stop was then at pancake rocks before heading into Greymouth to sort out the fancy dress outfits for the nights shenanigans! However all I bought was a stapler......as you can see my outfit for the theme Anything But Clothes, was to staple native leaves to myself and make a sash to cover the man boobs and a head dress to eventually get stolen by a girl!
So upon arriving at Lake Mahinapua a few of us went into the lake a swim and a play, this was the perfect opportunity for me to gather my outfit for the night. It was then time to craft the master piece before everyone met for the BBQ and party. It was
a fantastic night, unfortunately I enjoyed myself too much and apparently was definitely the most drunk there! (I blame the free jug of beer for helping with the washing up). I spent the whole next day sleeping on the bus, just trying to survive the journey to Franz Josef. However upon check in the reception had a pint of larger there waiting and someone from the bus had to down it, and guess who the bus chose, yes me just as I was feeling better I went back to square 1 and to bed as the next day was the fully day glacier hike and I had been put in the early group!
Unfortunately it rains in Franz nearly all the time and these few day were no different, we got absolutely soaked. However the glacier was still fantastic as there were waterfalls popping out everywhere. There is only one other place in the world where glaciers descend into rainforest (can anyone tell me where the other is?).
After all the rain of Franz we were all relieved to get onto the bus for Wanaka, first though we stopped at Lake Matheson and got some nice pictures of
Mount Cook (NZ highest peak). This is a stunning drive all the way to Wanaka and when we arrived it was a gorgeous hot sunny day with the lake glistening. I took a run upto the summit of Mt Iron which overlooks Wanaka armed with the camera before running all the way back down (it nearly killed me it was so steep) and jumping into the lake. That evening was spent checking out Wanaka and taking things pretty easy as Queenstown was beckoning!
On our way into Queenstown the bus stopped at Kawarau bridge (the 1st bungy bridge) and randomly Luke (my school mate) came and gave me a man hug as we hadn't seen each other since Melbourne in early November. I then decided I was going to do my 2nd bungy but this time with a difference............yes i did it backwards!!! and they put me into the river so i was completely submerged! Luke and Steve then dropped me dripping wet at the Hostel where i quickly changed before we went to the marina for some beers to prepare for a big Friday night in Queenstown. This was a brilliant night, we had loads of discounts off
drinks, and at World bar we had 100 free drinks for our bus. Once those were gone it was time to hit the tea pots and the dance floor!
Saturday and Sunday were just spent watching the New Zealand 7's festival which was great fun, watching 7's in the sun and drinking beers. These two days were broken up by a massive pub crawl where we had too much fun and spent too much money.
Sunday night was a well deserved night off as not only did I have Millford Sound to visit in the next day but i had started to lose my voice.
Millford Sound was beautiful it was once again a gorgeous day and the scenery was looking fantastic. I decided with a friend to get a flight back to Queenstown for 2 main reasons: 1 to avoid the 4 hours coach journey back and therefore get back early and 2. the views would be fantastic from up there. The flight was definitely worth it, we saw glaciers, lakes and snow capped mountains. I was then able to come back go for a run and start drinking all before the coach got back.
Anyone that has
been to Queenstown knows that all you eat is Fergburgers, undoubtedly the best burgers in the world! So let’s just say I had a few. Tuesday was then my last day and after the heavy night before a lie in was in order followed by a day doing the laundry. Once the odd jobs were out of the way we went and sat down by the Lake in ore of its beauty ;-). It was then a small meal before grabbing a six pack each and heading down to watch the sun set over the lake for my last night.
Queenstown took a lot out of me, it took lots of my money, my energy and my voice! So i'm now in Christchurch just relaxing and recovering before I meet up with Aaron for fun in the Philippines!
Sorry this was all about partying but that is what we've done a lot of in this part of the South Island. New Zealand has been a very different experience to South Africa and OZ and I have thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of it. It has to be up there with SA as my favorite country so far! But
who knows lets see what Aaron can bring out in the Philippines!!
Love to you all, hope everyone is well
All my love Tom xx
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