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Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Invercargill
April 10th 2009
Published: April 14th 2009
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minus optical illusion effect...
Well I have now reached the Southernmost point of New Zealand. My trip has now taken me right up to the top, to the exact center and right to the bottom of the country. Exciting stuff eh?
We left Franz Josef bright and early on Sunday morning. I was once again with a whole new busload of people. They all seemed pretty nice and I was with Zara who is always a laugh. The weather had turned pretty shitty, and I was very lucky to have done my Glacier hike on a sunny day as the people who did the the day after got soaked and it turns out they had to cancel it the day after that!
We got to Wanaka mid afternoon and I had time to watch the sun set over the lake, which was beautiful. In the evening we had a bar quiz (which was rubbish!) but it gave me chance to hang out with the new bus, great, except they were all moving on the next morning and I was staying. But we had fun!
The next morning I woke up, hangoverless (Jim Beam is my friend apparently) but woke up really early for no reason, dammit. Then went for a coffee with Zara, at a lakeside cafe (nice you'd think....except for the big tree blocking our view of the lake!) and then did nothing for the rest of the day. Except watching movies of course. Some people moved in to my room briefly, but after warning me they all snored and spoke in their sleep, they moved out again complaining the place smelt like sick. I didn't know what they were on about until after I got back later that evening and realised the microwave popcorn bag was stinking out the room and to the untrained nose it can seem a bit rancid! So i had an 8 bed dorm room to myself that night. I may have to try that trick again some other time!
That evening the bar had a 'horizontal bungy' set up. The idea being contestants race across the room to grab a container filled with beer then run back to the other end to hand the teammate the beer to down, the quickest winning prizes. I wasn't goin to take part but did anyway as there were free drinks for taking part. I think I might have been the worst person for the job, having no bodyweight and very little strength. The first attempt I made ended with me slipping over and throwing the beer over myself. Good work. The second time, I still reached the end of the bungy but had to edge myself forward (unlike everey other person who managed to reach the bar straight away!) and then managed to still spill the beer on the way back. Ruth was then to down the beer, but was just as useless as I am at that and we took approx. 40 seconds to complete the challenge. The winners did it in 11 seconds! whooops. Still, the free drink made it all worth it! I also lost the dance off later that evening. though to be fair, it was to a break dancer, so I guess he deserves the bottle of vodka prize!
Next day we left for Queenstown via Puzzle World. This was a lil museum with a maze (that I beat wooop) and other crazy illusions and things. Had lots of fun there....better than the bushman center thats for sure!
Queenstown has got a good vibe. Its a pretty happening place with lots of bars and clubs and some good music going on. I only had two nights there, but I was really happy in my dorm room, with some cool people. AND got to meet up with some of the people who were on my previous buses which was good. Didn't really do all that much on my full day in Queenstown as I was too hungover. But I did have a Fergburger. These are pretty legendary and fully deserve their status. Much better than a Maccy Ds thats for sure!
Yesterday I got on the 'Bottom Bus' which is a tour of the southern most tip of New Zealand. We went first to Dunedin which is NEw Zealands 'copy' of Edinburgh. It seemed like a thriving little city and there is a big student population there. The best thing about this place was meeting up with several people from my first bus and going out for the evening with them. We also discussed meeting up in Aus and Thailand which would be awesome!
Today we had a very early start, and had a long day travelling from Dunedin to Invercargill. This was because we had lots of stops to look for sea lions and seals and penguins and at scenery. I have to admit sleeping most of the time the bus was moving, but it was still a nice day! We did see a massive sea lion. and some seals, and after waiting an hour and a half, saw 1 (of the rarest penguins). So definitely worth it! And on the last stretch we we chasing a beautiful sunset west. It was stunning. Shame my camera battery was pretty much flat!
Invercargill I have heard is not the most thrilling place to end up at. And I can say for a fact that this is especially true on Good Friday, when pubs aren't allowed to serve alcohol. The place was dead when we got here and I won't be sad to leave it! We went to the cinema, that's pretty much it!


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sunset and sheepsunset and sheep
sunset and sheep

en route dunedin - invercargill


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