Highlights:
Getting to stay with a friend as soon as I landed. I makes the whole experience that much more enjoyable when you are that far away from home. Thank you Dani. You are always welcome if you decided to visit Washington D.C.
Bungy Jumping off the Auckland Bridge for a wopping 40meters...2 times. As much fun as it was to just run off the platform, it's much more enjoyable doing a bungy the traditional dive off.
Getting to see both the Pacific Ocean and the Tasmanian Sea in one day.
Looking into the cone of a volcano. Even though the whole thing was grassed over it was very obviously a volcano I was looking into.
Taking a mud bath in the middle of winter outside. It was like being a little kid all over again sitting in a really big puddle digging around for the mud then smearing it all over myself.
Getting to see a Maori show, including the Haka which is a Maori war dance. Trust me it's really intimidating with them sticking their tongues out at you and opening their eyes all wide. I'm not talking about joking sticking their tongue out. I'm talking Kiss like sticking their tongue out. But then after learning some dances and some games the Maori play we got to have the best meal I've had this whole trip, a Hangi. Oh it's making me hungry just thinking about it.
Getting to hike (Tramp) the alpine crossing of Mt. Tongoriro, a still active volcano. This was huge for me. I'm not much of a hiker but not only did I climb up this mountain thinking at a time that I would never make it, but I did it all in the snow. Go Me!!! Plus it was worth it just to slide down the side of the mountain on my Bum.
Joining Stray where I met the best people on this trip: Colleen, Laura, Robert, Ian, Freddy, Anna, Maria, and of course Cougar.
Going to Able Tasman where I got to kayak for the day in the Tasmanian Sea, then I got to Hang Glide over it.
Franz Josef where I got to climb a glacier. I got to see snow and ice so pure you can't believe it till you see it. I was slipping and sliding through pure blue ice crevices and tunnels, and I even going to do a little ice climbing to get out of one of the tunnels.
Doing yet another bungy but this time the tallest in New Zealand and probably one of the most famous in the world, The Nevis. Just look it up and then you'll understand. This was a 134meter drop, that I nearly chickened out of, but I didn't and it's a very proud moment for me to look back on.
Getting to veiw Queenstown on a perfect day from the top of a mountain. It really is the most beautiful city I've been to. You can't get more perfect than to have mountains all around you.
Going to the Rugby Match in Dunedin with the All Blacks vs. France. It was more so the atmosphere and the people I met especially meeting Roger, Henry, and Kelly from California. Despite being sick it's one of the best sporting events I've been to.
Taking a cruise along Doubtful Sound. The purness of the green hills all around with only water seperating you, is better than perfect. I had even better because of the layer of snow. I have to stop just to catch my breath just thinking of the place. (I know that sounds chessy but it's so true. That place is what heave must be made of.)
Going on a Lord of the Rings tour. I got to learn so many facts not only about the movie, but about the behind the scenes, and the books. It almost makes me want to try reading the books again, and I definately can't wait to watch the movies again to point out all the places I've been.
Lastly, getting a taste of England, and getting me excited about England, in Christchurch.
Ok, so now for some observations I've made.
The land is perfect green even with it being Winter.
Everyone is so nice and patient. The info people just want to tell you everything they know. Most hostels I went to, they knew my name and remembered it, and no one got annoyed with all my questions.
At a bar, you order and pay at the bar, then you take your seat and they will bring you your food.
Toilets have two buttons. One of them flushs, you pick. The other, who knows what it does.
The main means of transportation around is by bus. Nakedbus is the cheapest backpakers bus, but there is also the Intercity bus. I just think it's funny that I rode on the Nakedbus, and no, no one was naked, at least not that I knew of.
New Zealand seems to want to be known as the land of extreme sports. No matter what city you go into, big or small, there is as least a poster, usually more, for Sky diving and bungy jumping and at least 3 for some kind of water sport.
New Zealand must pride themselves on all the natural disaters of their country, especially in the North Island. It's all about when this volcano erupted, or this flood happened, or check out the number of earthquakes we've had in the last year because we are right on a fault like. Everyone seems to love talk about them.
The ocean here is nothing like I've ever seem. It's the color of what you would expect paradise oceans to be. It is blue, I mean perfect blue, with some turqoise spots.
They do everything on the wrong side of the road. Not only do they drive on the left and have the driver on the right, but when walking along you pass people on the left. That threw me off more than the driving.
Well, welcome to a little sight to my thoughts. Hope you enjoy them. I will soon update from the land down under.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
All the things from the deep south without really going to the deep south.
I'm all curled up thinking about a good meal, that most likely I will not have because I don't feel like buying stuff then cooking it, so I'm really thinking about another Fergburger, which are just so massive. I'm all curled up in all of my warm layers of clothing because no building ever gets warm enough here, ready to tell you about my last weeks worth of adventures. It's crazy how fast the days are going by.
Thursday, June 11
After I was done telling you all about some really crazy stuff, Robert, Laura, Colleen and I (all of us who were still left from the Stray bus, plus Heiko, who went skiing) decided to take the Gondola up mountain so we could see the Remarkables mountain range. The Remarkables are the large mountain range that run from North to South in the background of most any photo of Queenstown. These things really are....well...remarkable. They are probably the best ski slop here by that will open tomorrow. The only Ski slop open is the Cornet. But now I'm off track.
So yes, we took the Gondola up. From there, we could see the most fantastic view. The lake, Lake Wakatipu, is the third largest lake in New Zealand and it is completely fresh water since it was made by a glacier, therefore, does not attach to any ocean. There is your random fact. If I'm good I may actually be able to throw a bunch of those out there this time.
Just as a side note, I have to say, I'm usually really good about remember locations, and places and things that I see there, but because all of these names here are from Maori decent I feel I just make noises so it's really hard to remember towns and lakes, unless they are the big places, so I'm really sorry for not always being real detailed. I do try to reference my Lonely Planet to help be along, so I don't make the names up, but you should hear me here when I'm trying to talk to someone and recall the places. I just say words that sound like they could fit.
So moving on...
At the top of the Gonodola you can go up a little more on a chair lift, so we did that. Then we could go up even further on a tramp (which is what they call hikes. In fact everyone in the world it seems calls hikes tramps, but us. I've got many more things that we say odd compared to everyone else. Maybe I'll just give them as I feel) After our tramp we got in these little go carts called a luge. They are not powered, but just use gravity. You can, however choose how fast you want to go. You push forward to let up on the brake and pull back to break. It was really a whole lot of fun. It's one of those things that make you feel like you turly are a kid again. I guess I was having too much fun that I forgot to pay attention and managed to flip my car around. I was going too fast through a tunnel and a sharp turn came up. Since it was wet and I was going too fast, woop, around I went. I was fine, just couldn't get my car back around.
After our exciting luge ride and our Gondola ride back down we stopped at a crepe place. Laura was sensable and got one with ham and cheese, but the rest of us got ones with Nutella. Who wants healthy food when you've got nutella.
It was a nice last even in Queenstown. Well, for the most part. Robert got it the worst. We were in an 8 person dorm. Only 3 of us knew each other (Robter, Heiko, and I) Two of the girls were probably 18 and were traveling just to party. They had no respect for their room mates. They came is talking as if they were still in the bar, and when asked to keep it down they got mad. I guess as a thank you, one of them decided to have a great night with some guy. I don't know how I slept through it all, but poor Robert was on the bunk above them. He went for many walks that nights because he was getting no sleep. It's amazing how desperate some people can be.
Friday, June 12
This morning, Robert, Heiko, Laura, Colleen, and I got picked up to go down to Dunedin. Since we were doing our trip to Dunedin as a package we had plans set for us. Our first plan was a tour of the campus. Now I know I have not been out of college long, but really. These two guys, I think they just saw in a pub and said, "Hey, we'll give you beer if you keep these people entertained for an hour." They never really seemed to have any solid facts on anything about the school, and they greeted us with beer and bagetts.
At least after that, things got more serious. We started with the steepest street in the world, despite what people may think of Lombard Street in San Fancisco. Baldwin street is not twisty but let me tell you, climbing it once in my life is enough. Hey, at least I climbed it. Many people didn't. But really, how can you visit the steepest street IN THE WORLD and not walk up it. Oh well.
From there we went to one of the orignial Speights Brewerys. Speights is one of their local beers. I guess you can find it every where here but it's more of a southern beer. It was really extensive. I feel not like anything you would find in the States. The best part to the tour was the beer tasting. Now that is not because we got all you could drink beer, plus they brought us pizza. In fact I was not too keen on the beer. There was really only one of the 6 types that I went back for more. What made the beer tasteing so cool was that we got to pour our own beer. I don't know, I guess I just found that fascinating. So I'm a dork, what are you going to do about it.
I guess the plan was to get us all to the brewery, and get everyone tipsy, so then they would go next door and drink even more. That was pretty much what everyone did. I on the other hand, knew that I needed to save my money for other things. Lucky I made that choice because as the night wore on, I started sneezing a lot. Then, very quickly I felt I was getting a cold. Yes, for those of you who have been following from the start, that does make 2 times in 4 weeks that I have gotten sick here in New Zealand. Well bugger.
Saturday, June 13
It was very definate that I was sick this morning. But, I knew I had to keep pushing on. I had a whole days worth of stuff that I had already paid for and who knows if I'll ever get to do any of it again. I got to start the day out by doing a tour of the Cadbury factory. Well, since it was a Saturday the factory was not open but we did get chocolate, and learned about how it was made. We also got to see a ton of chocolate drop down the chocolate waterfall. Oh how I love chocolate. I guess that's proof by the fact that here I am right now stuffing my face with chocolate. But, chocolate here is like no other. Even the white chocolate it better than any white chocolate you could even dream of in the states. It is purely from sugar, milk, and coco butter. Plus all dairy products here are more pure than anything you could get in the States because the cows only eat grass which gives you the most pure product. Who knows if this makes any sense, but there you go, another random fact.
We got picked up at the hostel to be taken to a local pub that is really just run by the students. I didn't really see the appeal, but I was happy since they had face painting. Everyone goes to the bar and I was first in line to get my face painted. In case I've just not mentioned why I was in Dunedin here it is. I was there to watch the rugby match of the All Blacks vs. France. Now from what I've learned the All Blacks are THE New Zealand rugby team, and over the past 20 years, they have the best record in the world. True that has been going down the last few years, but still. For the most part, if I'm going to get to see only one rugby team ever in my life, the All Blacks are a good choice to see. So as for this face painting, it's all for the All Blacks rugby game. The best part about getting to root for the All Blacks is that I could get away with wearing...well...all black. It's the first team that is geared toward all of us stage hands. I guess that made me giggle. No one else seemed to find the humor in it. Either you just have to be a stage hand to get it, or I'm really just that off in the head.
The most shocking part of the afternoon had to be the feasco we got to witness next. It was the all nude rugby match with the Cocks vs. the All Nudes. Get it. It's the pun of France vs. the All Blacks. Yeah, I can't really tell you what was going through my head at the time moment I saw 16 all naked guys run out onto the field. Now this was not the field that the big game was being played. It was local and we were able to stand right on the field line. I do know, that I took photos just to show that 16 guys were crazy enough to run around in front of a crowd of over 200 people in about 5 degree C weather, in the nude. Apparently, me taking photos caught the attention of some guy with a French radio station, so he came over and interviewed me. So, some where in France I was on a radio station, and believe me, you could hear the blushing in my voice.
Before the game we went to a lodge where they fed us, but the most exciting part that happened there was that I one the face painting contest. I had a black fern going up one side of my face. Then going down the other side I had a fern shaped black and white checkered print going down. It was kind of cool to finally win something. That's all I guess I really had to say about that.
From there we just walked over to the rugby field. We were warned that if we heard water falling, then to spread your legs apart and stand on your toes. It's not someone just pouring a beer. We were in a standing area that was just the die hard fans so none of them like to leave long enough to go to the bathroom so they would just do it right there. In fact Anna had someone go to the bathroom right on her leg. Although when I went to the bathroom, I could see why they wouldn't want to go. It was a 30min wait with only 4 toilets.
Well, the match started with the Haka performed by the All Blacks team. The Haka is a war dance that the Maori would dance to scare their enemy. Rugby is like a very fast paced football game. Unfortunately this was a fast paced game to a failure. The French won 27 to 22. So it was a sad night. Many people to get rid of their woahs decided to drink all night. I on the other hand I was getting so sick that I had to just go to bed.
Sunday, June 14
I can say, I don't remember too much from this day because I was just so sick, but I will do my best to recall it for you. We headed back to Queenstown first thing in the morning. The bus driver could tell that everyone was HUNG OVER. It's really quite funny how badly drunk everyone got the night before. I must have also looked hung over because he made a comment to me.
I guess being sick really kind of cramps your style because all I had energy to do was go have a cup of tea with Robert and Heiko. After that I just curled up in bed and read then slept for a whole 14 hours. There was just no point in staying up if it was only going to make me more sick.
Monday, June 15
I took a bus from Queenstown to Te Anau (tay.on.oo). It was a cute little place that was pretty empty. But, they at least had a fire going, which I just curled up next to read my book, still trying to recoving knowing that I was going to be out on the water all the next day.
Tuesday, June 16
I had a bus pick me up to take me out to Lake Manapouri. I had to go to the lake as my first stop to get to Doubtful Sound. Here comes another fact. Doubtful Sound is not actually a Sound. It is actually a Fiord. Fiord are areas created by glaciers. So it is incorrect that they call Doubtful Sound, sound, but they do it any ways and there is no changing that. So back to the point. I had to take an hour boat ride to get over to the Fiord. I was nervous when I woke up because there was a layer of snow on the ground. I thought that the snow would ruin the sight and that I was not going to get the best view. Well, on the boat ride so far, I was not disapointed. All of the mountains were white across the top and it was like nothing I have ever seen before. I was really lucking out too because the sun was just coming out to play and it was making all of the snow glow.
After we got off the boat, we got back onto a bus to make the drive up and over the mountain to the Fiordland. I have never seen snow look so spectacular. In fact, there was a look out that our driver took us to. He said that it was the money spot, but with the snow covering everything it was the Million dollar money spot. It was SO perfect that it really looked like a painting. I even have a photo of me infront of it that looks like I'm standing infront of a blue screen, but I swear to you that I'm standing there.
We got onto this boat that was just luxury inside. It was warm and they had food if you wanted some. It was nice. But, what we were all really there for was the scenery. There really is just no way to describe the Fiordlands. When you are out on the water all you can see is the water and mountains covered in green and white in this case. There were also waterfalls almost every where you look. There weren't as many as there can be, because there are more when it rains, which it rains on average about 7-9 meters a year there. (That's a whole lot of rain and that's another fact. Yeah buddy I'm on a roll.) Doubtful Sound is the number one most peacful place I have ever seen. They actually took 5 minutes where they shut of all of the motors and had everyone sit outside and be perfectly still so we could just hear everything around us. The whole thing felt like one of those recordings that is put on in the background of some meditation. We could hear a large waterfall on one side, and a small one on the other. The birds just echoed, and we could hear the wind in the trees. I know this all sounds cheesy but it was just perfect. I think I've humiliated myself enough that I can even admit that it all made me tear up a little.
We took our bus ride back over the mountain, but before stopping at the boat we took a detour to the largest powerplant in New Zealand. We drove 100 meters belowe sea level, which who knows how deep we were into the mountain, to see an underground power station.
When I got into the hostel, I would have never guessed that I was in the same hostel as the daybefore. There had to be about 20 people in the kitchen and this was one of the most poorly built kitchens. Lucky for me, I was just making pasta, oh wait, that's what everyone was making. Dang... well, it was all ok. I did get to work on re-learning some of my girl scout skills by building a fire. I must not have learned a lot because we didn't get the fire going too well. That is until asked the guy sitting there if he would mind helping little ole me out and get some small wood from the shed. I love being a girl sometimes. I'm sure me sounding sick as a dog helped because I would have done it myself if I had not been so sick. Once he got the wood, we were in buisness. There were 4 of us just hovering by the fire trying to keep warm. As I'm sure I've said already, but there is just no place that is warm around here. In fact, right now, I am in my coat and wrapped up in a blanket and still cold, and no I am not sitting outside.
Wednesday, June 17
If any of you look at a map and find Te Anau, you will see it's not a very large city. This means that there is not a whole lot to do there either. There are a lot of tramps that you can do, which on most any occation I would except, being sick twice in 4 weeks makes you paranoid about not getting better, so I was afraid to spend too much time outside just tramping around. So instead I sat around reading until the afternoon when I took a boat out to the otherside of the lake, Lake Te Anau (Second largest lake in New Zealand, after Lake Taupo, up in the North Island). On the otherside I took a tour through a cave. I guess you could say this cave is a lot like Lurray Caverns but not so much. This had a whole lot more water and a whole lot less stalactites. In fact, it only had one stalactite and it was a total of 1cm long. The water was much more impressive. It had ragging waterfalls and it was so tight in there that the water was not very far away. The highlight to this cave were the glow worms. These are little larva that look like worms incased in mucus. They create these like silk mucus strings that hang from the cave ceilings, then their little butts glow when they are hungry. All of this is to capture their food. So they have their butts glowing to attract the bugs that have ventured into the cave. It is to give the appearence of the stars glowing. The bugs fly too close and then they get caught in the mucus silk strings. I guess me putting it all like that, it doesn't sound too appealing, but when the lights are all turned out and you are sitting in a little row boat, and you are being pulled into this cave that is so dark you seriously cannot see your hand in front of you, and all of a sudden you look up and just see this cluster of little blue lights all around you, that is impressive.
Thursday, June 18
I caught a bus back up to Queenstown. So here I am going to Queenstown for the 3rd time now. This time, I chose a different hostel. The one I was staying at before was just too much for me. You could hear the bar across the street and the one under us. People would talk really loud in the hall all night long. Doors would be banging. People would throw their stuff every where. It was just not a place a look forward to go back to, so I stayed at another place. Unfortunately this place does not get very warm.
After I was all checked in, I walked down the street to town, only to be picked up by a shuttle. This shuttle took us up the road that leads to one of the ski fields. We, however, were not going to the ski fields. We were going up the mountain range, following the gold rush road, to get to the river on the otherside. I had decided not to go rafting because it was not my idea of fun to get wet in close to freezing water. I did, however, decide to go jet boating. This was such a strange feeling. This is a boat that is powered by sucking up the water and spitting it back out. Because it has no propeller it can manuver very well, such as making 360 degree turns. At fast speeds it can travel in water as shallow as... well I can't remember but it's really shallow. All I know is that it felt like we were just skidding over top of the water. Something that I'm sure people can appriciate, while on the jet boat we stopped at a Lord of the Rings spot. The scene were Arowen (Liv Tylor) rides across the river with Frodo, and the Ring Wraths are on the otherside, then the wave comes down the river.
I was trying to have a quite evening in but the other people were not having that. They decided that getting drunk and playing drinking games was their idea of fun. It didn't quite down until the manager from the hostel next door came up to yell at them for being too loud. Then I got some peace and quite.
Friday, June 19
This morning I did the one thing I said I was not going to do. Looking back on it, I'm so glad I did it. If everyone has guessed, I did not go see Hobbiton up in the North Island, because I was told I would be disapointing. Turns out it was a good thing because they have shut it down for the filming of "The Hobbit". So yes, I would have been disappointed. Well, I had to see something, so I went ahead and did a LOTR tour. This was a full day tour where we also got to play with weapons and wear costume pieces. The weapons were authentic exact replicas made for the movie, but the originals were given to the actors. The hobbit cloak was actually Sam Wise's one of his 5 different cloaks used for the movie. I got photos with all of it. I felt like I was geeking out more than I ever have. I can at least say, I was the least geeky person there. They all knew facts like you wouldn't even be able to think of about the movie and the books. I was just there because I loved the movies and there were great sights seen in the movies and I wanted a way to see those. I know that does not get me out of being a geek. I'll accept that.
The places that we did see were:
The river at the beginning of the first movie where Isildor loses the ring and then is shot. It was here that we learned, in order for the crew to disguise the filming of "The Lord of the Rings" they would put up signs for "Jamboree". For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a Boy Scout event. So everyone just thought there were always all these Boy Scout events going on all around New Zealand. They would disguise everything with that, even the scripts. Which we got to see the full screenplays for all three movies. OH man, it was crazy. We also got to see a full call sheet for just one days shoot. It's basically the packet I would set up if I were working in film. Not a bad idea I might add.
After that we moved on to the Arganoth. This was the part where in the first movie, they are floating down the river and pass though the opening were the two large statues of the kings are on either side. Of course those are not really there. In fact, the opening it not even there there. If you watch the movies we were standing at the top of about where the statue on the right would be. Across the way was not another another cliff. Across from us was a field. It was all digitally added, along with the statues.
The last place we went to was a place called Deer Park Heights. This is a whole area owned by one really old man. Who knows what this man really does because he doesn't farm any of this land, but it has been used for quite a few movies. It really is an ideal location though because it has the Remarkables mountain range in the back of it and across the way you can see Coronet Peak, and you can also look down on the city of Queenstown. All of those things I just mentioned were used as backgrounds in the film. The main scene filming portion that was done up here was the whole section in the second movie of them traveling to Helms Deep. What is so special about getting to visit these spots is that, since this land is owned by this old guy, it is private property and only this LOTR company are the only ones allowed access. Rock On!!!
Well, even though we only saw just a tiny tiny portion of locations for filming, I know that I'm going to be able to forever watch the films and know that I'm turely looking at New Zealand. It is now just an unmistakeable country to me. I say that and I"m sure I'll never be able to pick it out, but I can hope. Oh so the "Remarkables" to give you and idea of what they look like, they have been used in other movies to act as the Rockies.
Ok, I have really been typing for a very long time, and I'm for the most part caught up seeing as I've really done nothing today, so I"m going to leave you with this. The next time I'm updating I will most likely be finding myself in Australia. I really miss all of you. I love to hear the comments. Sorry I can't get back to all of them, it's just hard with internet being so limited, but it really makes my day to hear from you all.
Cheers from Queenstown again!!!
Thursday, June 11
After I was done telling you all about some really crazy stuff, Robert, Laura, Colleen and I (all of us who were still left from the Stray bus, plus Heiko, who went skiing) decided to take the Gondola up mountain so we could see the Remarkables mountain range. The Remarkables are the large mountain range that run from North to South in the background of most any photo of Queenstown. These things really are....well...remarkable. They are probably the best ski slop here by that will open tomorrow. The only Ski slop open is the Cornet. But now I'm off track.
So yes, we took the Gondola up. From there, we could see the most fantastic view. The lake, Lake Wakatipu, is the third largest lake in New Zealand and it is completely fresh water since it was made by a glacier, therefore, does not attach to any ocean. There is your random fact. If I'm good I may actually be able to throw a bunch of those out there this time.
Just as a side note, I have to say, I'm usually really good about remember locations, and places and things that I see there, but because all of these names here are from Maori decent I feel I just make noises so it's really hard to remember towns and lakes, unless they are the big places, so I'm really sorry for not always being real detailed. I do try to reference my Lonely Planet to help be along, so I don't make the names up, but you should hear me here when I'm trying to talk to someone and recall the places. I just say words that sound like they could fit.
So moving on...
At the top of the Gonodola you can go up a little more on a chair lift, so we did that. Then we could go up even further on a tramp (which is what they call hikes. In fact everyone in the world it seems calls hikes tramps, but us. I've got many more things that we say odd compared to everyone else. Maybe I'll just give them as I feel) After our tramp we got in these little go carts called a luge. They are not powered, but just use gravity. You can, however choose how fast you want to go. You push forward to let up on the brake and pull back to break. It was really a whole lot of fun. It's one of those things that make you feel like you turly are a kid again. I guess I was having too much fun that I forgot to pay attention and managed to flip my car around. I was going too fast through a tunnel and a sharp turn came up. Since it was wet and I was going too fast, woop, around I went. I was fine, just couldn't get my car back around.
After our exciting luge ride and our Gondola ride back down we stopped at a crepe place. Laura was sensable and got one with ham and cheese, but the rest of us got ones with Nutella. Who wants healthy food when you've got nutella.
It was a nice last even in Queenstown. Well, for the most part. Robert got it the worst. We were in an 8 person dorm. Only 3 of us knew each other (Robter, Heiko, and I) Two of the girls were probably 18 and were traveling just to party. They had no respect for their room mates. They came is talking as if they were still in the bar, and when asked to keep it down they got mad. I guess as a thank you, one of them decided to have a great night with some guy. I don't know how I slept through it all, but poor Robert was on the bunk above them. He went for many walks that nights because he was getting no sleep. It's amazing how desperate some people can be.
Friday, June 12
This morning, Robert, Heiko, Laura, Colleen, and I got picked up to go down to Dunedin. Since we were doing our trip to Dunedin as a package we had plans set for us. Our first plan was a tour of the campus. Now I know I have not been out of college long, but really. These two guys, I think they just saw in a pub and said, "Hey, we'll give you beer if you keep these people entertained for an hour." They never really seemed to have any solid facts on anything about the school, and they greeted us with beer and bagetts.
At least after that, things got more serious. We started with the steepest street in the world, despite what people may think of Lombard Street in San Fancisco. Baldwin street is not twisty but let me tell you, climbing it once in my life is enough. Hey, at least I climbed it. Many people didn't. But really, how can you visit the steepest street IN THE WORLD and not walk up it. Oh well.
From there we went to one of the orignial Speights Brewerys. Speights is one of their local beers. I guess you can find it every where here but it's more of a southern beer. It was really extensive. I feel not like anything you would find in the States. The best part to the tour was the beer tasting. Now that is not because we got all you could drink beer, plus they brought us pizza. In fact I was not too keen on the beer. There was really only one of the 6 types that I went back for more. What made the beer tasteing so cool was that we got to pour our own beer. I don't know, I guess I just found that fascinating. So I'm a dork, what are you going to do about it.
I guess the plan was to get us all to the brewery, and get everyone tipsy, so then they would go next door and drink even more. That was pretty much what everyone did. I on the other hand, knew that I needed to save my money for other things. Lucky I made that choice because as the night wore on, I started sneezing a lot. Then, very quickly I felt I was getting a cold. Yes, for those of you who have been following from the start, that does make 2 times in 4 weeks that I have gotten sick here in New Zealand. Well bugger.
Saturday, June 13
It was very definate that I was sick this morning. But, I knew I had to keep pushing on. I had a whole days worth of stuff that I had already paid for and who knows if I'll ever get to do any of it again. I got to start the day out by doing a tour of the Cadbury factory. Well, since it was a Saturday the factory was not open but we did get chocolate, and learned about how it was made. We also got to see a ton of chocolate drop down the chocolate waterfall. Oh how I love chocolate. I guess that's proof by the fact that here I am right now stuffing my face with chocolate. But, chocolate here is like no other. Even the white chocolate it better than any white chocolate you could even dream of in the states. It is purely from sugar, milk, and coco butter. Plus all dairy products here are more pure than anything you could get in the States because the cows only eat grass which gives you the most pure product. Who knows if this makes any sense, but there you go, another random fact.
We got picked up at the hostel to be taken to a local pub that is really just run by the students. I didn't really see the appeal, but I was happy since they had face painting. Everyone goes to the bar and I was first in line to get my face painted. In case I've just not mentioned why I was in Dunedin here it is. I was there to watch the rugby match of the All Blacks vs. France. Now from what I've learned the All Blacks are THE New Zealand rugby team, and over the past 20 years, they have the best record in the world. True that has been going down the last few years, but still. For the most part, if I'm going to get to see only one rugby team ever in my life, the All Blacks are a good choice to see. So as for this face painting, it's all for the All Blacks rugby game. The best part about getting to root for the All Blacks is that I could get away with wearing...well...all black. It's the first team that is geared toward all of us stage hands. I guess that made me giggle. No one else seemed to find the humor in it. Either you just have to be a stage hand to get it, or I'm really just that off in the head.
The most shocking part of the afternoon had to be the feasco we got to witness next. It was the all nude rugby match with the Cocks vs. the All Nudes. Get it. It's the pun of France vs. the All Blacks. Yeah, I can't really tell you what was going through my head at the time moment I saw 16 all naked guys run out onto the field. Now this was not the field that the big game was being played. It was local and we were able to stand right on the field line. I do know, that I took photos just to show that 16 guys were crazy enough to run around in front of a crowd of over 200 people in about 5 degree C weather, in the nude. Apparently, me taking photos caught the attention of some guy with a French radio station, so he came over and interviewed me. So, some where in France I was on a radio station, and believe me, you could hear the blushing in my voice.
Before the game we went to a lodge where they fed us, but the most exciting part that happened there was that I one the face painting contest. I had a black fern going up one side of my face. Then going down the other side I had a fern shaped black and white checkered print going down. It was kind of cool to finally win something. That's all I guess I really had to say about that.
From there we just walked over to the rugby field. We were warned that if we heard water falling, then to spread your legs apart and stand on your toes. It's not someone just pouring a beer. We were in a standing area that was just the die hard fans so none of them like to leave long enough to go to the bathroom so they would just do it right there. In fact Anna had someone go to the bathroom right on her leg. Although when I went to the bathroom, I could see why they wouldn't want to go. It was a 30min wait with only 4 toilets.
Well, the match started with the Haka performed by the All Blacks team. The Haka is a war dance that the Maori would dance to scare their enemy. Rugby is like a very fast paced football game. Unfortunately this was a fast paced game to a failure. The French won 27 to 22. So it was a sad night. Many people to get rid of their woahs decided to drink all night. I on the other hand I was getting so sick that I had to just go to bed.
Sunday, June 14
I can say, I don't remember too much from this day because I was just so sick, but I will do my best to recall it for you. We headed back to Queenstown first thing in the morning. The bus driver could tell that everyone was HUNG OVER. It's really quite funny how badly drunk everyone got the night before. I must have also looked hung over because he made a comment to me.
I guess being sick really kind of cramps your style because all I had energy to do was go have a cup of tea with Robert and Heiko. After that I just curled up in bed and read then slept for a whole 14 hours. There was just no point in staying up if it was only going to make me more sick.
Monday, June 15
I took a bus from Queenstown to Te Anau (tay.on.oo). It was a cute little place that was pretty empty. But, they at least had a fire going, which I just curled up next to read my book, still trying to recoving knowing that I was going to be out on the water all the next day.
Tuesday, June 16
I had a bus pick me up to take me out to Lake Manapouri. I had to go to the lake as my first stop to get to Doubtful Sound. Here comes another fact. Doubtful Sound is not actually a Sound. It is actually a Fiord. Fiord are areas created by glaciers. So it is incorrect that they call Doubtful Sound, sound, but they do it any ways and there is no changing that. So back to the point. I had to take an hour boat ride to get over to the Fiord. I was nervous when I woke up because there was a layer of snow on the ground. I thought that the snow would ruin the sight and that I was not going to get the best view. Well, on the boat ride so far, I was not disapointed. All of the mountains were white across the top and it was like nothing I have ever seen before. I was really lucking out too because the sun was just coming out to play and it was making all of the snow glow.
After we got off the boat, we got back onto a bus to make the drive up and over the mountain to the Fiordland. I have never seen snow look so spectacular. In fact, there was a look out that our driver took us to. He said that it was the money spot, but with the snow covering everything it was the Million dollar money spot. It was SO perfect that it really looked like a painting. I even have a photo of me infront of it that looks like I'm standing infront of a blue screen, but I swear to you that I'm standing there.
We got onto this boat that was just luxury inside. It was warm and they had food if you wanted some. It was nice. But, what we were all really there for was the scenery. There really is just no way to describe the Fiordlands. When you are out on the water all you can see is the water and mountains covered in green and white in this case. There were also waterfalls almost every where you look. There weren't as many as there can be, because there are more when it rains, which it rains on average about 7-9 meters a year there. (That's a whole lot of rain and that's another fact. Yeah buddy I'm on a roll.) Doubtful Sound is the number one most peacful place I have ever seen. They actually took 5 minutes where they shut of all of the motors and had everyone sit outside and be perfectly still so we could just hear everything around us. The whole thing felt like one of those recordings that is put on in the background of some meditation. We could hear a large waterfall on one side, and a small one on the other. The birds just echoed, and we could hear the wind in the trees. I know this all sounds cheesy but it was just perfect. I think I've humiliated myself enough that I can even admit that it all made me tear up a little.
We took our bus ride back over the mountain, but before stopping at the boat we took a detour to the largest powerplant in New Zealand. We drove 100 meters belowe sea level, which who knows how deep we were into the mountain, to see an underground power station.
When I got into the hostel, I would have never guessed that I was in the same hostel as the daybefore. There had to be about 20 people in the kitchen and this was one of the most poorly built kitchens. Lucky for me, I was just making pasta, oh wait, that's what everyone was making. Dang... well, it was all ok. I did get to work on re-learning some of my girl scout skills by building a fire. I must not have learned a lot because we didn't get the fire going too well. That is until asked the guy sitting there if he would mind helping little ole me out and get some small wood from the shed. I love being a girl sometimes. I'm sure me sounding sick as a dog helped because I would have done it myself if I had not been so sick. Once he got the wood, we were in buisness. There were 4 of us just hovering by the fire trying to keep warm. As I'm sure I've said already, but there is just no place that is warm around here. In fact, right now, I am in my coat and wrapped up in a blanket and still cold, and no I am not sitting outside.
Wednesday, June 17
If any of you look at a map and find Te Anau, you will see it's not a very large city. This means that there is not a whole lot to do there either. There are a lot of tramps that you can do, which on most any occation I would except, being sick twice in 4 weeks makes you paranoid about not getting better, so I was afraid to spend too much time outside just tramping around. So instead I sat around reading until the afternoon when I took a boat out to the otherside of the lake, Lake Te Anau (Second largest lake in New Zealand, after Lake Taupo, up in the North Island). On the otherside I took a tour through a cave. I guess you could say this cave is a lot like Lurray Caverns but not so much. This had a whole lot more water and a whole lot less stalactites. In fact, it only had one stalactite and it was a total of 1cm long. The water was much more impressive. It had ragging waterfalls and it was so tight in there that the water was not very far away. The highlight to this cave were the glow worms. These are little larva that look like worms incased in mucus. They create these like silk mucus strings that hang from the cave ceilings, then their little butts glow when they are hungry. All of this is to capture their food. So they have their butts glowing to attract the bugs that have ventured into the cave. It is to give the appearence of the stars glowing. The bugs fly too close and then they get caught in the mucus silk strings. I guess me putting it all like that, it doesn't sound too appealing, but when the lights are all turned out and you are sitting in a little row boat, and you are being pulled into this cave that is so dark you seriously cannot see your hand in front of you, and all of a sudden you look up and just see this cluster of little blue lights all around you, that is impressive.
Thursday, June 18
I caught a bus back up to Queenstown. So here I am going to Queenstown for the 3rd time now. This time, I chose a different hostel. The one I was staying at before was just too much for me. You could hear the bar across the street and the one under us. People would talk really loud in the hall all night long. Doors would be banging. People would throw their stuff every where. It was just not a place a look forward to go back to, so I stayed at another place. Unfortunately this place does not get very warm.
After I was all checked in, I walked down the street to town, only to be picked up by a shuttle. This shuttle took us up the road that leads to one of the ski fields. We, however, were not going to the ski fields. We were going up the mountain range, following the gold rush road, to get to the river on the otherside. I had decided not to go rafting because it was not my idea of fun to get wet in close to freezing water. I did, however, decide to go jet boating. This was such a strange feeling. This is a boat that is powered by sucking up the water and spitting it back out. Because it has no propeller it can manuver very well, such as making 360 degree turns. At fast speeds it can travel in water as shallow as... well I can't remember but it's really shallow. All I know is that it felt like we were just skidding over top of the water. Something that I'm sure people can appriciate, while on the jet boat we stopped at a Lord of the Rings spot. The scene were Arowen (Liv Tylor) rides across the river with Frodo, and the Ring Wraths are on the otherside, then the wave comes down the river.
I was trying to have a quite evening in but the other people were not having that. They decided that getting drunk and playing drinking games was their idea of fun. It didn't quite down until the manager from the hostel next door came up to yell at them for being too loud. Then I got some peace and quite.
Friday, June 19
This morning I did the one thing I said I was not going to do. Looking back on it, I'm so glad I did it. If everyone has guessed, I did not go see Hobbiton up in the North Island, because I was told I would be disapointing. Turns out it was a good thing because they have shut it down for the filming of "The Hobbit". So yes, I would have been disappointed. Well, I had to see something, so I went ahead and did a LOTR tour. This was a full day tour where we also got to play with weapons and wear costume pieces. The weapons were authentic exact replicas made for the movie, but the originals were given to the actors. The hobbit cloak was actually Sam Wise's one of his 5 different cloaks used for the movie. I got photos with all of it. I felt like I was geeking out more than I ever have. I can at least say, I was the least geeky person there. They all knew facts like you wouldn't even be able to think of about the movie and the books. I was just there because I loved the movies and there were great sights seen in the movies and I wanted a way to see those. I know that does not get me out of being a geek. I'll accept that.
The places that we did see were:
The river at the beginning of the first movie where Isildor loses the ring and then is shot. It was here that we learned, in order for the crew to disguise the filming of "The Lord of the Rings" they would put up signs for "Jamboree". For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a Boy Scout event. So everyone just thought there were always all these Boy Scout events going on all around New Zealand. They would disguise everything with that, even the scripts. Which we got to see the full screenplays for all three movies. OH man, it was crazy. We also got to see a full call sheet for just one days shoot. It's basically the packet I would set up if I were working in film. Not a bad idea I might add.
After that we moved on to the Arganoth. This was the part where in the first movie, they are floating down the river and pass though the opening were the two large statues of the kings are on either side. Of course those are not really there. In fact, the opening it not even there there. If you watch the movies we were standing at the top of about where the statue on the right would be. Across the way was not another another cliff. Across from us was a field. It was all digitally added, along with the statues.
The last place we went to was a place called Deer Park Heights. This is a whole area owned by one really old man. Who knows what this man really does because he doesn't farm any of this land, but it has been used for quite a few movies. It really is an ideal location though because it has the Remarkables mountain range in the back of it and across the way you can see Coronet Peak, and you can also look down on the city of Queenstown. All of those things I just mentioned were used as backgrounds in the film. The main scene filming portion that was done up here was the whole section in the second movie of them traveling to Helms Deep. What is so special about getting to visit these spots is that, since this land is owned by this old guy, it is private property and only this LOTR company are the only ones allowed access. Rock On!!!
Well, even though we only saw just a tiny tiny portion of locations for filming, I know that I'm going to be able to forever watch the films and know that I'm turely looking at New Zealand. It is now just an unmistakeable country to me. I say that and I"m sure I'll never be able to pick it out, but I can hope. Oh so the "Remarkables" to give you and idea of what they look like, they have been used in other movies to act as the Rockies.
Ok, I have really been typing for a very long time, and I'm for the most part caught up seeing as I've really done nothing today, so I"m going to leave you with this. The next time I'm updating I will most likely be finding myself in Australia. I really miss all of you. I love to hear the comments. Sorry I can't get back to all of them, it's just hard with internet being so limited, but it really makes my day to hear from you all.
Cheers from Queenstown again!!!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Franz Josef Glacier climbing and Queenstown (The beginning)
Hello Hello from the chilly land down under. Well it's not really the land down under but it is kind of under most of you reading this, and believe me, it's chilly. Especially if you consider the things I've done.
Saturday, June 6
We left Berrytown, which was the place I was in when I made my last blog and had no idea where we were. Really it was just a couple of houses, this one hostel and a beach. That night many people drank, while I had to bat of the smelly possum killing local. My bus mates were not helping either. Oh man did he smell. I sometimes feel his smell is just stuck some where in my nose and I get whiffs of him every once in a while. Gross!!!
So yes we left Berrytown to go to the Pancake rocks. These are rocks that as they have formed, they appear to be in layers giving them the slightest appearance of pancakes. To be honest I didn't see the pancakes, but it was still really cool. We were along the Tasmanian Sea which is a very rough sea. So the waves hitting the rocks was so impressive.
Later in the day we made it down to Bushmount Peats where we learned all about the deer hunting here. First it was necessary since the deer just over ran the country, which tells you a lot since deer are not native here. They were brought by white man about 200 years ago. Well, they got to a point of killing too many deer that they had to create a system involving a helicopter, a net gun and a very very brave man. They would fly right over the deer, shoot the net onto it, then the man would jump out of the moving helicopter onto the deer, where he would tie it up so they could fly it to farm. This place also had a great sense of humor. The weather forcast basically said, [we believe it's supposed to be sunny, but don't ask us, we have no time. It's your vacation. If you really want to know, find out yourself.] Ok I guess it's funnier if you read the whole thing. They also had some live possums. Why?? Who knows, it's just what they do.
That night we made it to Franz Joseph, where most of us just crashed. It had been a long day and we were all going to be doing some kind of activity the next day.
Sunday, June 7
This morning 5 of us went to go climb a glacier. This was another thing I had really been looking forward to doing. We just don't have glaciers around us, so just even the fact that I was getting to see one was impressive. When you look at the glacier it really just looks like a bunch of snow on the side of the mountain. It's not until you get up onto the ice, that you realize it's a really really thick layer of ice all the way up. Everyone said that the best way to see the glaciers was to do the helicopter ride, but who can really afford that, plus, I can see photos of that. Photos can't create the feeling of climbing up the glacier. Since it was a glacier it is always moving. In fact, it moves about 1 meter a day. Since it is moving, our guide had to carve out steps for us at times. In fact, at lunch he ran off to create a whole new path. We got to see crevices that I had difficulty getting through they were so skinny. There were caves and tunnels. We even got to do a bit of ice climbing out of one. Some how I managed to get out of that hole by getting my feet up first. Who knows how that happens. Hopefully someone has photos of that.
The two best parts to climbing this glacier were the pure blue ice that we saw and the perfect blue pool. This water was so pure that we all filled up our water bottles and had fresh glacier water. Oh it was amazing.
After our glacier climb we all took a nice warm dip in the sauna. The only problem with this sauna is that it was outside, so you had to freeze to get to it and freeze even more to get back to your room. Luckily they had warm shows, unlike our last place.
Monday, June 8
This was just a long drive to Makaroa, with many stops along the way. We stopped in Fox Glacier at Lake Matason which is really impressive, because the minerals that flow into cause it to do perfect reflections of the trees and mountains. After that we stopped at Knights point where we finally got our first clear sunny day view of the ocean. We also got to run out to the ocean, where if we were daring enough could put our feet in the Tasmanian Sea. I was not the brave. Towards the end of the day we stopped at two different water falls. The second one was more memorable because, the way that the rocks have formed and the way that the water fall falls, if you stare at the water fall for about a minute then focus on the rocks, it looks like the rocks are stretching up. It was so trippy. I loved how one guy said that he used to pay a lot of money to get that feeling and I said that, "This is why I never had to pay money for that feeling. There are enough chances to get it for free."
Tuesday, June 9
We stopped in Wanaka because a lot of people wanted to go sky diving. The rest of us got to play for two hours in Puzzle world. This was a whole place that had mind teasers, things to getting you thinking, things that mess with your head and illusions. There was a whole room that was on a slop but other things were slopped the other way, then you had to try to get your brain to wrap around the fact that things could roll up hill, or when you jumped in the room why you would move. There was another room that if you stood at one side you looked tiny and the other side you looked like a giant. The best part though way the maze. I was thinking this maze was going to be silly because it doesn't look that large, but wow it really messed with our heads. We some how broke into two groups. Freddy and I were one group and Ian and Anna were the other. Ian and Anna totally won the maze, but Freddy and I just cheated and exited one of the do not exit doors.
After that we went to the home of the AJ Hackett Bungy Jump site. This was the bridge that was the first commercial Bungy Jumping ever. This, however, was not the tallest in NZ. Some how I found myself signing up to do the tallest, The Neivs, with Anna, Freddy and Ian. I am crazy. For real for real, never again. But I'll get into that when it happened.
Once we got to Queenstown I had a few things to get together. I had to for one get a new camera. Up on Franz Josef my small camera decided to stop working and they would not be able to get it fixed. I also had to make my plans for after Queenstown since I was breaking off from the bus, intending to go to Doubtful Sounds. In the meantime I heard about a rugby match in Dunedin (Doo.nee.din) with the "All Blacks". They are THE team to watch, at least in NZ. When that happens I'll tell you all about it.
This night was the night to go out. We started at a pizza place, sort of as a "this is the end of our journeys together" thing. Of course it then turned into, "who can get the most drunk". I don't ever want to hear that it's always Americans who go traveling and make a fool of themselves because they are always getting trashed. I've have seen more people from every where get more trashed than any of the Americans. Of course I know I'm an exception, but still. I did have fun going out dancing. It's not typical for me, but I had a lot of fun. Of course I called it and "early night". at 2:00am.
Wednesday, June 10
This was my day to make a great leap. 1:00pm We went down to the
AJ Hackett place in town to check in, then we were on a bus going up to the tallest Bungy in NZ. The tallest in the world is in Japan which is more than double what the Nevis is. Crazy people. This jump is the one that I'm sure most of you have seen. It is suspended on these wires and you have to go out to the pod. There are just canyons all around with a tiny little river underneath. It was the scariest thing ever to see. I won't lie, I cried. They got me all strapped up and as I was getting out of the chair to go to the edge I freaked out. The guy was able to get me to the edge and the fear just made me freak. Then he told me to look straight out and as he counted down all brain cells went dead and I jumped, screaming bloody murder the whole way down. It really wasn't until my ride up did I start to cry. It was just like all fear turned into tears. They were because of relief and joy and fear all in one. Just because of all the work it took to get me to jump I got the video. It will be fantastic to look back on.
That night we decided to do something unique and went to an Ice bar. It was a tiny little bar, where they dress you up in all kinds of warm cloths because it is -5 degress inside. Everything is made of ice, ever the seats and the glasses. Of course it was meant for you to have a cocktail, but I had juice. It was yummier and I got two. Then right next door was the boiler room. So we went from cold to hot. It really was quite unique.
Well a small group of us that are still left in Queenstown and will go to the All Blacks are going to go up the mountain and have a little fun.
I miss all of you!!
Cheers from Queenstown!!
Saturday, June 6
We left Berrytown, which was the place I was in when I made my last blog and had no idea where we were. Really it was just a couple of houses, this one hostel and a beach. That night many people drank, while I had to bat of the smelly possum killing local. My bus mates were not helping either. Oh man did he smell. I sometimes feel his smell is just stuck some where in my nose and I get whiffs of him every once in a while. Gross!!!
So yes we left Berrytown to go to the Pancake rocks. These are rocks that as they have formed, they appear to be in layers giving them the slightest appearance of pancakes. To be honest I didn't see the pancakes, but it was still really cool. We were along the Tasmanian Sea which is a very rough sea. So the waves hitting the rocks was so impressive.
Later in the day we made it down to Bushmount Peats where we learned all about the deer hunting here. First it was necessary since the deer just over ran the country, which tells you a lot since deer are not native here. They were brought by white man about 200 years ago. Well, they got to a point of killing too many deer that they had to create a system involving a helicopter, a net gun and a very very brave man. They would fly right over the deer, shoot the net onto it, then the man would jump out of the moving helicopter onto the deer, where he would tie it up so they could fly it to farm. This place also had a great sense of humor. The weather forcast basically said, [we believe it's supposed to be sunny, but don't ask us, we have no time. It's your vacation. If you really want to know, find out yourself.] Ok I guess it's funnier if you read the whole thing. They also had some live possums. Why?? Who knows, it's just what they do.
That night we made it to Franz Joseph, where most of us just crashed. It had been a long day and we were all going to be doing some kind of activity the next day.
Sunday, June 7
This morning 5 of us went to go climb a glacier. This was another thing I had really been looking forward to doing. We just don't have glaciers around us, so just even the fact that I was getting to see one was impressive. When you look at the glacier it really just looks like a bunch of snow on the side of the mountain. It's not until you get up onto the ice, that you realize it's a really really thick layer of ice all the way up. Everyone said that the best way to see the glaciers was to do the helicopter ride, but who can really afford that, plus, I can see photos of that. Photos can't create the feeling of climbing up the glacier. Since it was a glacier it is always moving. In fact, it moves about 1 meter a day. Since it is moving, our guide had to carve out steps for us at times. In fact, at lunch he ran off to create a whole new path. We got to see crevices that I had difficulty getting through they were so skinny. There were caves and tunnels. We even got to do a bit of ice climbing out of one. Some how I managed to get out of that hole by getting my feet up first. Who knows how that happens. Hopefully someone has photos of that.
The two best parts to climbing this glacier were the pure blue ice that we saw and the perfect blue pool. This water was so pure that we all filled up our water bottles and had fresh glacier water. Oh it was amazing.
After our glacier climb we all took a nice warm dip in the sauna. The only problem with this sauna is that it was outside, so you had to freeze to get to it and freeze even more to get back to your room. Luckily they had warm shows, unlike our last place.
Monday, June 8
This was just a long drive to Makaroa, with many stops along the way. We stopped in Fox Glacier at Lake Matason which is really impressive, because the minerals that flow into cause it to do perfect reflections of the trees and mountains. After that we stopped at Knights point where we finally got our first clear sunny day view of the ocean. We also got to run out to the ocean, where if we were daring enough could put our feet in the Tasmanian Sea. I was not the brave. Towards the end of the day we stopped at two different water falls. The second one was more memorable because, the way that the rocks have formed and the way that the water fall falls, if you stare at the water fall for about a minute then focus on the rocks, it looks like the rocks are stretching up. It was so trippy. I loved how one guy said that he used to pay a lot of money to get that feeling and I said that, "This is why I never had to pay money for that feeling. There are enough chances to get it for free."
Tuesday, June 9
We stopped in Wanaka because a lot of people wanted to go sky diving. The rest of us got to play for two hours in Puzzle world. This was a whole place that had mind teasers, things to getting you thinking, things that mess with your head and illusions. There was a whole room that was on a slop but other things were slopped the other way, then you had to try to get your brain to wrap around the fact that things could roll up hill, or when you jumped in the room why you would move. There was another room that if you stood at one side you looked tiny and the other side you looked like a giant. The best part though way the maze. I was thinking this maze was going to be silly because it doesn't look that large, but wow it really messed with our heads. We some how broke into two groups. Freddy and I were one group and Ian and Anna were the other. Ian and Anna totally won the maze, but Freddy and I just cheated and exited one of the do not exit doors.
After that we went to the home of the AJ Hackett Bungy Jump site. This was the bridge that was the first commercial Bungy Jumping ever. This, however, was not the tallest in NZ. Some how I found myself signing up to do the tallest, The Neivs, with Anna, Freddy and Ian. I am crazy. For real for real, never again. But I'll get into that when it happened.
Once we got to Queenstown I had a few things to get together. I had to for one get a new camera. Up on Franz Josef my small camera decided to stop working and they would not be able to get it fixed. I also had to make my plans for after Queenstown since I was breaking off from the bus, intending to go to Doubtful Sounds. In the meantime I heard about a rugby match in Dunedin (Doo.nee.din) with the "All Blacks". They are THE team to watch, at least in NZ. When that happens I'll tell you all about it.
This night was the night to go out. We started at a pizza place, sort of as a "this is the end of our journeys together" thing. Of course it then turned into, "who can get the most drunk". I don't ever want to hear that it's always Americans who go traveling and make a fool of themselves because they are always getting trashed. I've have seen more people from every where get more trashed than any of the Americans. Of course I know I'm an exception, but still. I did have fun going out dancing. It's not typical for me, but I had a lot of fun. Of course I called it and "early night". at 2:00am.
Wednesday, June 10
This was my day to make a great leap. 1:00pm We went down to the
AJ Hackett place in town to check in, then we were on a bus going up to the tallest Bungy in NZ. The tallest in the world is in Japan which is more than double what the Nevis is. Crazy people. This jump is the one that I'm sure most of you have seen. It is suspended on these wires and you have to go out to the pod. There are just canyons all around with a tiny little river underneath. It was the scariest thing ever to see. I won't lie, I cried. They got me all strapped up and as I was getting out of the chair to go to the edge I freaked out. The guy was able to get me to the edge and the fear just made me freak. Then he told me to look straight out and as he counted down all brain cells went dead and I jumped, screaming bloody murder the whole way down. It really wasn't until my ride up did I start to cry. It was just like all fear turned into tears. They were because of relief and joy and fear all in one. Just because of all the work it took to get me to jump I got the video. It will be fantastic to look back on.
That night we decided to do something unique and went to an Ice bar. It was a tiny little bar, where they dress you up in all kinds of warm cloths because it is -5 degress inside. Everything is made of ice, ever the seats and the glasses. Of course it was meant for you to have a cocktail, but I had juice. It was yummier and I got two. Then right next door was the boiler room. So we went from cold to hot. It really was quite unique.
Well a small group of us that are still left in Queenstown and will go to the All Blacks are going to go up the mountain and have a little fun.
I miss all of you!!
Cheers from Queenstown!!
Friday, June 5, 2009
South Island beginnings
As I left you all... I am feeling better. Had a bit of a sore throat for a couple days after but totally up to par and have met some great people who have helped me though.
Shortly after I last posted I was moving on to the South Island. I ferried out on a fantastic day. Totally beat the days before. The sun rose over the water and it made coming into the South Island breath taking. There are just mountains every where and it's all green. I landed in Picton but shortly found out there was nothing to do there. I just sat out on the beach. When I got cold in went inside, where I met some of the most....peculiar people in the world. The family that ran the hostel sailed from, ironical, Arlington Virginia to New Zealand over something like 5 years. But they had cats so that made me happy.
I finally picked up the hop on/off bus in Picton where I have very quickly gotten to know, Heigle, Robert, and Anne from Germany, Laura from Scotland, Colleen from Ireland, Maria and Freddy from Canada, Ian from USA, and our driver, Cougar from England. I'm really glad I did this because I'm getting to share my experiences with these fantastic people.
Our first stop was Able Tasman where Maria and I did an all day Kayak trip where we got to see a seal colony. Then this morning, Maria, Ian, Freddy and I all went Hang gliding over the Able
Tasman area which was just breath taking. We got to walk out and see another seal colony today and are now at a hostel in the middle of no where. We have all dressed up and I promise there will be photos. It's just too funny.
Sorry there doesn't seem to be much to say. I do really miss you all. I wish I could just call all of you and talk to you about everything. Who knows, in the next couple days I just might give calls. Lots of love. Hugs all around.
Cheers from who knows where!!!
Shortly after I last posted I was moving on to the South Island. I ferried out on a fantastic day. Totally beat the days before. The sun rose over the water and it made coming into the South Island breath taking. There are just mountains every where and it's all green. I landed in Picton but shortly found out there was nothing to do there. I just sat out on the beach. When I got cold in went inside, where I met some of the most....peculiar people in the world. The family that ran the hostel sailed from, ironical, Arlington Virginia to New Zealand over something like 5 years. But they had cats so that made me happy.
I finally picked up the hop on/off bus in Picton where I have very quickly gotten to know, Heigle, Robert, and Anne from Germany, Laura from Scotland, Colleen from Ireland, Maria and Freddy from Canada, Ian from USA, and our driver, Cougar from England. I'm really glad I did this because I'm getting to share my experiences with these fantastic people.
Our first stop was Able Tasman where Maria and I did an all day Kayak trip where we got to see a seal colony. Then this morning, Maria, Ian, Freddy and I all went Hang gliding over the Able
Tasman area which was just breath taking. We got to walk out and see another seal colony today and are now at a hostel in the middle of no where. We have all dressed up and I promise there will be photos. It's just too funny.
Sorry there doesn't seem to be much to say. I do really miss you all. I wish I could just call all of you and talk to you about everything. Who knows, in the next couple days I just might give calls. Lots of love. Hugs all around.
Cheers from who knows where!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)