Ok. So I realise I've got about three weeks behind with the old blog, but there is kind of a very good reason - i.e. I wanted the package I sent home to get there and be opened and my skydive DVD be watched before I told anyone I'd done it! I had booked to do a skydive in Wanaka on 3rd January. I hadn't originally wanted to do anything as stupid as that when I started my trip, but given that nearly everyone I've met has done one and loved it, I decided to have a go. So the bus came to pick me up bright and early and I was taken down to Wanaka airport, Arwa in tow. I was kitted out in a kind of boiler suit, stood on the scales (not a pleasant experience 2 months in to travelling) and signed all the paperwork to confirm that yes, I was mad and wanted to jump out of a plane at 15000 ft and we were ready to go. I had my harness put on and checked twice before my instructor/tandem Geoff came to check it again. He was lovely, put me completely at ease, despite the "did you pay for a door?" comment made when I questioned why the door wasn't closed as we started to take off! There were about 5 pairs of us squeezed into this tiny plane with a clear plastic door. We got in pretty much last so were right by the open bit, hence my concern. as we took off and rose higher and higher - it already seemed too high - Geoff told me "1000ft". Hmmm. Now I was scared! There was only one guy who had opted for 12000 so he was thrown out first - then I went from scared to terrified, and started to wonder if it was too late to pull out. It was just the speed he fell away from the door! When we got to 15000ft and I had my hat, gloves and goggles firmly secured and Geoff had tightened the harnesses together, we edged to the opening of the plane and I hung out, weight totally out of the plane, hands on harness, head back. Then Geoff launched us out. The first few seconds I thought I'd hate it as it felt like falling, then it didn't! It was amazing, we were falling, it was cold, the wind was hitting my face and the land was getting closer, but I wasn't scared anymore. A few seconds in and Geoff touched my shoulder, which meant I could let go of my harness and adopt the free fall position. It was the most incredible feeling in the world and the mountains and lake looked indescribably beautiful. The free fall ended far too quickly (despite being a whole minute!) and Geoff pulled on the rip cord and the parachute was out with a jerk. This was totally different, but still awesome. He used the handle things - no idea of the technical name! - to make us spin round and round. It was so peaceful, I wanted it to go on for ever! Unfortunately it didn't, and we were soon approaching the drop site and the dots of people waiting for us to land were getting bigger. As we came in for impact I had to raise my legs in a kind of pike position and Geoff slowed us right down so that we came down to sit gently on the grass, and it was over! It was such a buzz I wanted to get straight back in the plane and do it again! We watched my DVD and I bought the necessary proof of skydive T-shirt before being taken back to our hostel. I then felt weird all day after the adrenaline of the jump. I had been building up to it for so long and suddenly it was over and I was sad. We got on with it anyway, Arwa only had that whole day in Wanaka - I had already decided I wanted to come back here after she went home - so we booked to go on a boat trip in the lake. This was a really nice way to spend a sunny but slightly chilly afternoon and we were taken out across the lake and to one of the smaller islands where our boat driver took us on a mini nature walk. The people on our trip were really lovely, especially and american couple who lived in Hollywood - she an obs and gynae conultant, he a lawyer to the stars! That evening we had booked to go to the Cinema Paradiso - round the corner from our hostel. Its this small quirky cinema where all the seats are sofas and armchairs and all different sorts of chairs, including an actual morris minor! Its an amazing set up, you can order your dinner either before, or to be ready in the intermission so we took a bottle of red wine in with us - we chose the one with the funniest name (but I can't remember it - Arwa message on board please if you read this!). We also ordered a full meal for the intermission which was ready on a table when we came out - very organised! We went back in for the second half of the film (a random Keanu Reeves sci-fi remake film) armed with home made ice-cream. It was so much better than a normal cinema experience it was almost irrelevant what film we were watching! On our last morning in Wanaka we drove to Puzzling world which is a kind of theme park place with a huge 3D outside maze and 4 illusion rooms that were pretty cool. I invested in a 3D globe jigsaw in the shop, since we had got into doing jigsaws again in Abel Tasman. After we had conquered the maze and visited all the rooms we headed up to the west coast via the beautiful if windy and scary Haast pass. We drove on up to Fox glacier, on the way discovering that Kim and John had booked to do the same "nimble fox" guiding trip as us - this was even more random than the first time we'd bumped into them as we didn't even know they were in the area! after Haast Arwa had to drive over another very long single lane bridge -something she really loves! - before hitting the coastal road. We got out at one point to look out from a headland, but after a very brief look over the cliff and a rather vicious attack by sand flies we jumped straight back in the car and headed off - taking several trapped flies with us! Our hostel in Fox was not as nice as we'd been led to believe, but we still managed to over-eat a pretty average thai vegatable curry we'd made, drink some goon and construct all the land mass parts of the globe before hitting the sack and trying to sleep through some very loud snoring from the finnish guy in our dorm! Early morning we collected our random assortment of clothes - what do you pack for a glacier? - and headed across the road to the guiding centre. We were kitted out with boots and crampons and were bundled in the bus to drive up to the glacier. We split into groups, with Kim and John, Arwa and I all going in a group together with Jono and Dean as our guides. We started the trudge up to the ice - apparently over 600 steps (Jono had a bored 8 year old count them for him recently!) - as we couldn't enter the glacier from the terminal face as it was too unstable. This was proved just 3 days after we were there as two australian tourists were killed by 1000 tonnes of ice falling on them at that point - when we heard this we were even more grateful for Jono and Dean. When we reached the ice we strapped on the crampons and headed up the ice steps that some of the guides had already cut in the glacier, picking up an alpenstock each on the way. When we reached the end of the pre-cut steps our progress got slower as Jono and Dean had to cut new steps with their axes to help us continue across the ice. There were loads of crevasses and steep bits we had to negotiate, luckily the crampons appeared to work pretty well! Just before lunch we found an ice cave which we all explored before finding warmish rocks to sit on to eat. After lunch we headed further up the glacier, the ice getting steeper and less easy to cross. When we finally got to a bit that we couldn't find a way round, we started to head back. At one point I tried to place my alpenstock in a shallow puddle to help me balance, only to find the shallow puddle extened deeper than the length of my alpenstock! I'm glad it wasn't my foot there! When we finally got back to the solid ground, slightly chilly and sore, we removed our crampons and headed back to base. It was such a relief to take off the boots! We then drove in convoy (with Kim and Jonn's spaceship Crux) the short distance up to Franz-Josef where we were all staying and Arwa and I made use of the free hot spring to relax our stiff muscles and thaw out! We met up with Kim and John for dinner at a pretty nice restaurant and ate far too much and probably drank too much too! Then it was back to our hostel for a really good nights sleep!