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Published: April 28th 2009
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26th March-21st April
Arriving in Queenstown we couldn´t wait to get going on some more adrenaline fun and quickly travelled to the Shotover River to go jet boating, it was very fast and we were lucky not to lose our arms and heads considering how closely we skimmed though the canyon.
The next day we decided to rise early and try and burn some calories by hiking a little trek around Queenstown...not sure if it worked but we took in some beautiful scenery.
However scenic treks were not really what we went to Queenstown for and so we set about organising and doing some more of our adrenaline (and social!) activities. Luging was the next fun. Grab a tea tray, we mean go cart, and get it to go as fast as you can down a steep, windy track, it was great! We loved Queenstown, amazing scenery, atmosphere, bars and so much to do. The highlights though had to be Luce's bungy jump, wine tasting tour (which should have perhaps happened before the bungy), and the live music. As we just mentioned...Luce decided that she would like to throw herself off of the (the original AJ Hackett) 43m
bungy bridge. Rach and Suze stood back, let her get on with it (nutter) and admired the view! Her main comment after the event was 'Oh s¿+*!' would she ever do one again? 'Er, no!'. That afternoon, luckily for Luce, we tasted about 20 wines on the wine tour...so by 3pm she had totally forgotten what she had done in the morning!
Next stop was a rainy Milford Sound, although this is supposed to be the best weather to see the sounds since when the sun comes out it can take little over an hour for some of the waterfalls to disappear-hooray for rain! The drive into fjoirdland was beautiful and our trip around Milford Sound even more so, although on this particular day we were glad that we were not the kayakers paddling around!
As a stopover between the fjoirdlands and the Catlins we spent the night in Invercargill before heading onto the very south of the South Island. Whilst there we saw many a wind swept beach, the most southerly point of the (mainland) South Island, a petrified (fossilised)forest and lots of Devonshire scenery! After a slight detour back to Invercargill (some forgetful person had left
their washbag+t-shirt+trousers+jumper on the back of the shower door...no names...Rach!) we finally arrived in Dundedin at 9pm to pitch our tent using Margo's headlights! Eventually, we ate fush and chups (for only 2 dollars 60 each-about 1 pound 20) sweet as bro! Whilst in Dundedin we went on the Taieri Gorge Railway (once used to transport gold mined in the area), visited a New Zealand Castle (we promised the man at the gate we wouldn't laugh since he had found out we were from the UK, it was lovely but looked quite like a cross between Old Pike Cottage and the Pippins!!), saw some albatrosses at the albatross sanctuary and woke on a few mornings to find ice on our tent!
After leaving Dunedin we headed towards Christchurch (yes, again!) and on the way saw the Moeraki Boulders (amazing!), the Little Blue Penguins at dusk in Oamaru (very cute...only 30cm tall) and pretended to be extras from the Chronicals of Narnia when at the 'Elephant Rocks'.
Whilst pitching our tent, soon after arriving in Christchurch, Sarah and Ferg (from the UK) rocked up, we did really know we were meeting them! We spent a lovely couple of days
with them eating, drinking and jumping on a very large multicoloured inflatable pillow...!
All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes to the Lyons' and head back up to Wellington where we sadly dropped Suze off at the airport (at the ungodly time of 4am) and had our 'see you soon' drink with Kate.
On our way to our last big stop of NZ we managed to miss the longest place name in the world, much to our disappointment but we had a tight schedule to keep so sadly couldn't go back. Once in Rotorua we packed in a huge amount of activities including; luging (again), it was so much fun and a much faster track than Queenstown, perhaps that was why Rach managed to crash...twice, zorbing (see picture!) and visited two volcanically active and thermal areas (Hell's Gate and Thermal Wonderland). Our stay was made by the fact that we camped on heated thermal soil and our 'traditional' Maori experience.
We decided (on the spur of the moment) to take a detour back to the Waitaimo Caves, this time to 'Black Water Raft'. This involved being suited and booted in (wet and cold!) wetsuits,
boots, jackets, shorts, gumboots (wellingtons), helmet and headtorch, then jumping in an inner tube tyre and throwing, floating and climbing through underground caves whilst viewing glow worms, it was great! After this experience we were greatful to have been invited to stay with Karin, Mike, Mya and Keisha who live on a farm just south of Hamilton and who we had befriended in the Rotorua campsite over their left over 'hangi'. They looked after us really well and we had a great evening with them all and didn't have to sleep in a tent!
It was one farm to the next as the next stop was Te Aroha to see Geoff, one of Rach's Dad's friends from home, (or Jif!) and Nagem the dog. We had a great time catching up with him and exploring the Coromandel region nearby. When in the Coromandel we went to 'Hot Water Beach' where there are hot springs under the sand.
Before we knew it, we had given away our pillows, duvet and (much to Luce's distress...a few tears came out!) our saucepan to the Salvation Army shop, posted Buck the tent back home and handed Margo's keys over to her new
owners, Sue and Chris. We were back in Auckland and one last night out was called for...this went as follows; wine and wine, mussels and Stella Artois, margaritas, cowboy hats, other cocktails, cowboy hats again, strip club...don´t ask... Quite obviously, the following morning, this all resulted in a rather jaded Rach and Luce who thought that, with Sue, the best cure was to eat a Mexican for lunch and then do a 'backwards bungy ball'. This was us being catapulted into the air at 200kph, sprung up and down, upside down and finally coming back down to earth. The language was fresh to say the least. Then, it was goodbye to Sue and Chris who will hopefully be visiting the UK at some point soon... So, this was the end of the New Zealand fun and it was such hard work we thought that we deserved a weekend break...
Back to Australia! Seriously though, we had been secretly plotting with Craig and Ian to go back to St Kilda as a surprise for Gail's 30th birthday and surprised she was to find us hiding on the roof...she really had no clue! After a brilliant weekend, we thought our sides
were going to split from laughing, we said a very sad farewell to Gail, Craig, Ian and Tim before heading back to Auckland, just for one night, before the next continent...
So get ready for the next installment, we are heading out of our comfort zone again and into a totally different culture, we can't wait!
Luce and Rach xx
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Joan Giles
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Adventures
Dear Lucy: Your wonderful adventures go on and on and your pictures are supurb. What is greatest is your continuing zest for life. Long may it continue. Joan Giles