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Published: November 16th 2008
Sometimes we think back to the best days of our trip over the last 9 months, and think they will never be beaten. How wrong could we be...
SKYDIVE!!!!
After 5 months in Australia we decided to go out with a bang on our last day. All 4 of us (Adam, Nick, Will and Joe) signed up for a 14,000ft skydive. There was some serious nerves going on even the day before for a few people, Joe was one of them - he is scared of heights! On the day we got picked up and taken south of Cairns. The business was run out of a little house and we had some brief training before being taken to the air field. The plane was very small and could only take up 2 jumpers and 2 instructors! Adam and Nick were up first and got on board. The plane was tiny, and very slow! It took us 30 minutes to reach 14,000ft and when we did we could see the Great Barrier Reef, the beach and the rainforest - great view! The view was soon the last thing on our mind as the instructor flung open the door, it
was very loud. The next few seconds went very quickly and before you realize whats happening you are hanging out the plane, and then falling out! Adam went first quickly followed by Nick. The first few seconds we spun about before finding a steady position and admiring the amazing view. Within a few seconds we were at a max speed of 120mph, the fall lasted for a whole 60 seconds before our instructors pulled the cord and we opened parachutes. We then got to enjoy a 5 minute relaxing journey back down to earth - and even got to control the parachutes! It was an amazing buzz and unlike anything we have done before. The ground doesn't seem to be getting any closer and it almost feels like you are floating above the earth! We touched down and met Will and Joe, then tried to scare them as much as possible as they were up next! They also had a great jump and the footage of Joe in the plane can only be described as 'priceless!'
Our day heading to New Zealand was a long one, 3 flights infact! Cairns - Brisbane. Brisbane - Auckland. Auckland - Christchurch. We
met Will and Joe at the hostel as they had different flights.
Our first thoughts of New Zealand were a bit mixed, we had landed in Christchurch - possible the strangest place any of us have been. So many strange people and 'loonies' about! We sat in Cathedral Square most of the afternoon and watched the homeless people play chess against tourists and business men on a giant chess board. The city is very english and mostly named after places in England. We went up the gondola to check out the view, it was really nice. We could see snow topped mountains on the far horizon, green fields of sheep below us and the lakes were an amazing colour blue. We went out for a nice curry and then went to check out the bars. It was Sunday and very quite out so it ended early!
Next day we went to the city gardens, checked out the river avon and then visited the New Zealand Museum. We went past a very posh school that looked like it was out of Harry Potter and Joe played a round of golf in the gardens. We soon ran out of things
to do and found ourselves watching the giant chess again! Later at night we played scrabble, something which became a bit of an obsession for us all over the next few days, and then we went out and had a slightly better night out! Ended up in Mikey Finn's irish bar!
Our next bus journey to kaikoura was an eye opener. What a beautiful country. We went past rocky beaches with big waves, through lush green feilds and could see high snow capped mountains closely to our right. The landscape is so diverse that sometimes it doesn't even seem real, its easy easy to see why they choose to film Lord of the Rings here! On the way we stopped to visit a seal colony living on the some rocks, it was a nice stop and the first wildlife we had seen in New Zealand.
DOLPHIN SWIM!!!
Joe was keen to swim with wild dolphins in kaikoura and decided he was going to do it, the other 3 at first weren't too excited but then decided to give it a go. Turns out, not doing this would have been the worst decision of our entire trip!
Seal on the rocks...
...and snow capped mountainsWe watched some briefings and learnt about the dolphins at the centre then got kitted up and headed to the boat. The water was going to be very cold and we had full thick wetsuits on plus wetsuit gloves, hood and socks. We got snorkles and masks and were told how to make dolphin noises so we could attract them. The boat journey out was nice and it took 30 minutes before we found a pod of dolphins. These 'dusky dolphins' are completly wild and they aren't given any food by the boat. They will only come and play if they are interested, and the number of dolphins that will come also varies. There seemed to be a few jumping about so they sent us into the water! Within a few minutes there was 10 swimmers in the water and we were surrounded by 30 to 40 dusky dolphins. It was quite a shock how many of them there was and the next shock was how playful they were. They would swim right upto us then go around at the last second. If you swam in circles with one they followed you. They jumped up over us and when we
swam down under water they would come with you. At times you couldn't see any people or dolphins around, and it seemed a bit scary being in the very deep water, but before you got scared another dolphin came to play and almost guided you back to the group! It was probably a new highlight of all of our trips. We spent about 30 minutes playing with them and they seemed to enjoy it just as much as we did. We couldn't beleive how good it was and spent the boat ride home all talking about how much we loved it. Why would anyone would swim with dolphins at Seaworld when this is on offer in the wild!
We finished off the day with local fish and chips and a walk along the beach with ice creams, admiring the snow capped views! We also stayed at the nicest hostel of our trip here. Dusky Lodge was so cosy and had 3 kitchens, 2 tv rooms and lots of real log fires about - which we had great fun lighting (and playing more scrabble next to!).
Next day we played some mini golf (Adam won) and then sat in
Adam and Will
Chilling in the hot tub after a hard days dolphin swimming... the hostels outdoor hot tub! We could see the mountains from the hot tub and got a few drinks to enjoy while we were there!
Next day we had a bus trip to Nelson, we stopped at a nice winery on the way and got to try 6 wines at no cost. Although 3 of us ended up buying a bottle each because it was so nice! We checked into Paradiso hostel in Nelson and Will realized he ahd lost his camera, with most of his photos on - oops! In a bar in Nelson we came across something new to us, we asked if they do take out beers and they said 'yeah of course we do riggers'. We played it cool acting like we new what a 'rigger' was and decided to get some. Basically its a 2 litre bottle (same as what Coke come in) and they fill it with beer from the pump before sealing the screw cap for you! Great cheap way of getting some good beer at home and they let us try all the beers for free before we brought one!
Next day we were heading for Greymouth. we stopped at
Dusky Dolphins
Taken from the boat before we got in Pancake Rocks blow holes, which was a bit disapointing. The views and rocks were great but we wanted more blow holes as we didn't really see any in action! We then stopped to see some more seals and then stopped at a nice beach. The waves at the beach were some of the biggest we have ever seen, they were so powerful and had made some great looking rocks where they had pounded into for centuries! How hostel in Greaymouth (Neptunes) had a deal wth the local baker and got all the left over food delivered for free. So on arrival we got lots of free pies and cakes - great suprise! In the evening we did the Montieths Brewery Tour. The tour wasn't that exciting as they weren't producing at the time (2 days off!). But the tasting after was great! We got to try 7 differnet types of beer that they produce and even got to pull a pint for ourselves behind the bar! Afterwards we all got a BBQ included before heading to bed after a few more pubs!
Next bus Journey was to Franz Jospeh Glacier and we stopped at Ross gold town on the
Challenging shot
Nick got stuck on the mini golf.... way. Ross is apparently sitting on over 700 billion dollars of gold. Mining companies have tried to get the locals to relocate and even offered to but houses anywhere else for them - but they won't budge. Apparently they need 100% agreement to get the go ahead and it doesn't seem to be happening! We checked in Chataue Franz hostel and booked our glacier hike for the next day, we wanted to watch Arsenal vs man U on tv and needed some beers, only problem was this place is rather small and the nearest beer shop was 30 minute walk. Two games of rock/paper/scissors later Adam and Nick were walking. We had a good night in and it was nice to watch a decent live game of football!
GLACIER CLIMB...
We had opted for the full day hike which required a bit more fitness than the half day, and ment we would get to go a lot higher up the glacier. Our bus driver said that we probably should just wear shorts instead of trousers as it can get quite hot up there. The company kitted us out with decent rain jackets, gloves, hats, boots and
Hostels with fires rule!
We played scrabble in front of this! most importantly - crampons. We all looked as if we were about to take on Everest! We had to walk across rocks and rivers first to get to the base of the glacier. As we did this we were split into groups based on fitness, then split again, and again, until we had 8 in our group. We had ended up in group 1, the fittest of the fittest! Our job was to go ahead of the other groups and make it easier for them by clearing the way and making steps. The first part was very steep and the ice was a bit dirty, we got to the half day point very quickly, here we were all given our own ice pick - bad idea! The rest of the way up our guide lead and made fresh steps into the ice so we could keep moving. We followed behind and made the steps better and finished them off! We had to go over very deep crevases and also walk on the side of ice walls. The crampons were a bit help and with them and our ice axe none of us managed to fall over! As we got higher
Mirror Lakes
This is the lake believe it or not! the ice got cleaner and more blue, we found some ice caves and had to squeeze down through them, which was rather scary! It had started to rain at this point and our shorts were quickly getting very wet. We reached a good high point and checked out the view before heading back down (more hard work than going up!). We had all started to get very cold and the rain worsened! The next few hours weren't as fun as the first part of the day, we kept spirts up by singing some songs (westlife!) and had a good laugh at ourselves for being the only people were shorts out of about 50. We got a bus home and then had without a doubt, the best shower ever.
Next morning we were heading to Queenstown, extreme sports and party capital of New Zeaand! We recognised our bus driver from a few days ago and turns out he had Will's camera - great result! The scenery was the best we have seen so far, the lakes were so blue it looked fake! We stopped at Lake Wanaka and were a bit upset we didn't have time to spend a night,
it looked really nice.
BUNGEE JUMP!!!
'The Nevis' bungee is the highest in New Zealand at 132m, Adam, Nick and Will decided it had to be done. Joe was definetly not doing it so opted for jet boating instead. Our journey to the bungee area was pretty dull besides going up a very very steep hill. Once there nerves started to settle in. The jump is done over a big canyon, and the 'pod' you jump out of is suspended over the canyon by big steel cables. We had to get a cable car type thing to the hanging station. This only adds to the fear, the station had a glass floor and just as we arrived someone was having problems with a jump - they seemed to be backing out. Not what we wanted to see. They eventually jumped and Will was up next! This was far more scary than a skydive for some reason. Will made the jump and loved it, although he failed to pull a cord on his harness that sat him upright after the jump. This ment he got dragged back upto the pod hanging head first all the way! When he
Adam and axe
We smashed up a lot of stuff! got back up we have never seen anyones hands shake so much! This didn't fill Nick with confidence! But within no time Nick had done his jump too and managed to pull the cord! Adam was up next and pulled off by far the best jump with a big dive out off the platform! Once we had all done it we were absolutly buzzing, and very tempted to do it again at a discount price! We got the cable car thing back to safe solid ground and had a good laugh watching the dvds of us doing it. It was so different to a sky dive, when doing a bungee the ground is coming at you very quickly and all you can do is wait for the rope to kick in! We have a feeling that it won't be the last time we bungee - or sky dive!
The rest of the day was spent on the 'luge'. Once going up the gondola in Queenstown not only do you get a great view you can also do the luge! Its on of the most fun and apparently dangerous things to do. Basically they are little go carts that have
The boys...
Shame about Nicks shorts!!!! been stripped down to a frame and rely on gravity to get you going. There was a beginer and advanced course and we played on both a total of 5 times! Its also very cheap at only $42, a fraction of most activities in Queenstown! The only downside to all this fun was Will managed to lose his camera - AGAIN! No such luck getting it back this time unfortunatly. We went out tonight and met 5 english girls from Bath again that are also on our bus. Good night but we didn't stay out long as we had a day trip the next day!
We did a day trip to Milford sound the next day. It was a little dissapointing but had a few good highlights. We spent about 7 hours on a bus in total and about 1.5 hours on a boat at the sound. We did however stop at 'Mirror Lakes' on the way which was our favourite part of the day. The lakes are very still and give an amazing reflection of the mountains that are behind them. When out on the boat we saw some very rare penguins which was cool, and also another
Bungeeeeeee
Nick on the way out! animal we have seen in the wild to add to our list! There was also quite a nice waterfall, which is apparently better on wetter days - shame we had blazing sun! In the evening we ended our time in Queenstown the way everybody does, bar crawl! The Bath girls came along too and we had a really good night, it cost $25 dollars and including going to 6 bars with a free drink in each one! Good night out! The highlight was a cocktail called a Volcanoe that looked really impressive (see picture!)
HORSE RIDING!!!
Okay, so not as extreme as some of the other activities we have done, but something we have been meaning to do all trip! We arrived in Lake Tekapo in the late afternoon and signed up to do some horse riding the same day (we only had 1 night here). We had a quick lesson in the stables and within an hour of arriving at lake Tekapo we were riding up the small mountain on our horses. They were named 'Rock', 'Chief', 'Bourbon' and 'Blue'. We had a good ride up some very steep hills and through some forests before arriving
Volcanoe cocktail!
Joe watching closely at a nice look out on the mountain with great views of the lake - just as the sun was going down. We posed for some photos then headed back down and rode along the beach on the way back to the stables. It was a really pleasant experience and another tick on our list of things to do!
We spent the rest of the night having a bug BBQ with everyone from our bus, it was a fun night and we finally drank the wine we had been carrying about for almost a week! The strangest part of the night was seeing something we had never seen before, a moon rise. We could see some bright light shining in the dark behind the mountains accross the lake, so we all went for a closer look. Over the next 10 minutes a glowing red moon came up from behind the mountains! It was really cool to watch, and really difficult to photograph, we will try and get some of the Bath girls photos as they did better than us!
The next day we headed back to Christchurch to complete our lap of the south island. It was
Street Luge
Adam holding on to the lead!! a great trip and we did so many things we had been waiting to do. Its a shame we don't have more time in New Zealand as we would have liked to relax a bit more in each place and spent a bit less time on the bus everyday. If anyone is planning a trip to New Zealand give yourself at least 6 weeks to do it properly! The place is absolutly beautiful and driving it would be amazing, we would have prefered this to the bus!
Next we head north towards Auckland, from here we are flying back to Australia for another 2 months work! A bit of a back track but a good chance to use more of our visas and save some more money for Fiji/USA!
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Adam Gibson and Nick Burke
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Jane B
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Worth the wait
Well finally another update, been waiting for it to cheer my day up. It was worth waiting for although not sure I would have done bungee jumping and sky diving though. No New Year in New York now then by the sounds of it. Still have fun