New Zealand - South Island part 1
Trip Start
Feb 03, 2008
1
13
21
Trip End
Jun 12, 2008
Where I stayed
Christchurch, New Zealand
Friday, April 11, 2008
I am back in Christchurch for the 2nd time today though so as I have done it before, I have a few hours to spend catching up on everything.
I arrived in Christchurch on 2nd April and spent the next couple of days seeing the sights of Christchurch (of which there are not too many). The 1st day, I went to the art gallery and the botanical gardens before meeting a couple of guys from my room and hitting the town for an impromptu night out. We went to some well dodgy bars before finally going to a good club where we had a good old boogie to saome dance and RnB.
The next day I had to get up early as I was booked on to a swimming with dolphins tour. Unfortunately, it was too windy to swim with them so I had to settle for a boat trip which was still cool as we saw loads of dolphins and seals and the dolphins came right up to the boat.
The next day was the 1st day of my NZ tour with connections and after introducing themselves, the tour guide/coach drivers, Scotty and Naomi, got us all to go to the front of the coach and introduce ourselves 1 by 1. This is a really cool way to get to know enough about each person to strike up a conversation about more stuff as for some reason, even though I never remember many people's names, I always remember where they are from.
We spent the 1st day travelling towards mount cook as we spent the 1st night in a ski lodge which was fairly near there. There were tons of short stops along the way as the scenery was stunning. Unfortunatley, that didn't stop my new illness, coach narcessism, and I kept dozing off even though I was trying to wach the scenery! The little stops were also cool as I got to speak to different people at each one and get to know everyone a bit more.
That night we had a few drinks in the bar but over 1/2 of the 25 people on the tour went to bed really early and didn't go in the bar at all which I thought was wierd as it's difficult to get to know people if they are sleeping! The next day had pretty much the same agenda but our destination was milford sound as we were due to do an overnight boat cruise round there. The scenery was amazing again and we got time to go for a jet boat cruise to get a closer look at the tasman sea before dinner.
After dinner everyone played board games. I played cranium with 5 others and my team lost horribly due some dodgy drawing of a light sabre by me and a lack of experience of the game from my team mates.
The next day we sailed back to harbour and boarded the bus again for the journey to Queenstown. We stayed in Queenstown for 2 nights which was cool as the city was brilliant and there was so much to do there that you wouldn't be bored even if you stayed for 2 weeks. I went jet boating the afternoon we arrived which was good but not as fast or extreme as I'd thought it would be even though they gave us full length water proofs and life jackets.
That night was our 1st big night out as a group and everyone was well up for it. We went for food in the best burger place in the world where the burgers are the size of 7inch records (for those that remember them - how old skool - that was the 1st thing that came in to my head!). We then met everyone in the bar and had a few drinks before heading over to the ice bar. I was so glad that we got to go to an ice bar as I had wanted to go to the ones in Melbourne and Sydney but never got the chance. it was cool to be able to do it with a big group too as we had the place to ourselves and cheap cocktails courtesy of the connections discount.
After the ice bar, we went to a few more bars and then a club where I spent most of the time giving an english lad some stick for having a mohican mullet which has to be one of the worst haircuts I have ever seen - obviously, I was drunk enough to tell him that too. The club did cocktails which came in a teapot and you had to drink it through the spout which was very cool but meant that our tour guide scotty could make everyone down them by threatening to pour it over you if you didn't drink.
The next day I was booked in to do the Kawarau bridge bungi jump but I was feeling a little bit worse for wear. Luckily, the jump wasn't till miday so I had a lie in and time for some breakfast before getting the bus to the bridge. I was completely calm the whole way there although when I got there, I couldn't actually watch anyone else jump off. I started to get nervous when 2 girls from the tour did a tandem jump before me and screamed all the way down. I had some real hesitation and 2nd thoughts as I was walking to the ende of the ledge as it looked so high and every bone in my body was screaming at me to not jump as it's a ridiculous plan. I was so proud of myself though as I didn't hesitate at all when the guy at the top counted down 3.....2.....1. I just shut my eyes and jumped off a bridge!!! i was well chuffed as the guy said it was a perfect jump and it looks ace on the dvd (see end of this blog)
After that, I went up the cable car in queenstown and went luging (like a sledge with wheels) with 5 others from the group which was well cool as we spent the whole time trying to get a photo finish with all of us in the picture.
That night was a quiet one as we were up early the next morning to travel to our next stop which was at fox glacier. We got there just before dinner and managed to squeeze in a walk round the lake at top speed before having a group dinner. After dinner we went for a walk in the forest to see glow worms which sounds like a very tame and nice thing to do. However, because we were there to see glow worms, we weren't allowed any torches and had to follow scotty in single file in the pitch black along a patch that was packed with tree stumps and steep drops down to streams. Scotty re-assured us by telling us that only 2 groups have even fallen off the path and in to the stream - thanks for that. It was quiet scary but really cool when we saw the worms.
The next day, I was booked in to do the heli-hike on the fox glacier with 9 others from our group. It was amazing as the glacier is huge but it is kind of in a valley surrounded by mountains that have no snow on them so it's really bizarre. Because we did the heli hike option, we got to go to the top of the glacier where there were loads of caves and crevices that we climbed through, over and under. It was amazing and great fun although we did get soaking wet.
That afternoon we got back on the coach and headed to our next stop which was a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere stopping off for a group photo en-route at 'deaths corner'!! After dinner, we headed to the bar where we were having a few quiet drinks when a load of people in fancy dress can in to the bar. We were all really confused as there is nowhere near the farm so we couldn't figure out where they had come from. I went to ask then and they said that they had come from the woolshed which I presumed was a pub down the road but it turned out to be the actual shed where they keep the wool!!! - random kiwi's.
After drinking at the bar we had a 'party in cottage 4' with mor drinks, chatting and MTV.
Got up quite late the next day and took a walk down to the lake with a few others before having lunch and heading back to Christchurch.
