Queenstown, Queenstown, Queenstown - what an epic place.

"Epic" because whilst we've been here that seems to have been a recurring word - epic scenery, epic fiords and lakes, epic drives...and epically stupid extreme "sports". Yes, the adventure bug bit me and not only did I deem it a good idea to take up Mum and Dad's belated Christmas present of throwing myself out of a plane (I was attached to a man and his parachute, but still, a subtle hint perhaps...?!), but also decided to test the elasticity of a bit of rope by tackling the world's first commercial bungee jump site. And all I can say about those experiences is...I'LL BE DOING THEM AGAIN!!!!! The skydive was incredible, scenically and literally breathtaking (I didn't figure out quite how you were supposed to breath during freefall, stick your head out of a car window at about 70mph and you'll get the rough idea) with one hell of a view of the lakes as we plummeted towards the earth. And it didn't exactly hurt that my instructor was one yummy specimen of French Swiss adventure sports instructor types (skydiving in the summer, skiing in the winter. It really doesn't get much better). The bungee...well you're sort of on your own for that, it's a much more terrifying prospect, and at the very least an interesting way to spend a Monday morning. Up until about 15 minutes before I jumped, including the entire drive, I was questioning WHY OH WHY I was doing this - something that, until Auckland, I had sworn I would NEVER do in my life if you paid me. And there I was happily forking out to put myself through it. Mum and Dad kept pointing out that I didn't have to do it - but oh yes I did. I'm terrible when I get competitive with myself. But every single one of those 6 seconds was worth it (and the few seconds afterwards when your kind of boinging and hanging upside down trying to land on a boat to be untied, the most bizarre feeling in the world!) - even getting dunked into the river up to my knees after requesting to "touch" the water (rather than get drowned) was completely exhilirating. I was shaking all over and giggling my head off for quite a while afterwards. In fact, looking back on it, I think Mum and Dad - who got to stand and watch helplessly as their youngest daughter flung herself off a 43m bridge - were probably the braver party.

The other highlight of Queenstown - besides the town itself, which is stunning and buzzing and deservedly loved by all sorts of people - was our day trip to Milford Sound. Another stack of brownie points to Dad for doing the driving whilst Mum and I mostly slept (sorry Dad - we really did end up being rather useless travel companions!), although we did stay awake for most of the journey there, which was very worth it! Winding through the mountains past green forests and huge waterfalls was beautiful - this country really doesn't have any clue of how to do boring, uninspiring scenery - but I have to confess that when we got to Milford Sound, I was a little on the unimpressed side. Then we took a boat trip out onto the fiord itself - and I was an immediate fan. The sheer size of the fiord is amazing enough, but when taken with the geological-storybook rocks, cascading waterfalls (that were quite fun to stand under. I did not stay very dry on this particular boat trip.) and vistas up to snow-capped mountains - it's a part of the world I will not forget in a hurry, I could have stared and stared for hours. We also went to the underwater observatory, which is great because it allows you to see black coral (that is very rare and actually white), usually a life form of close on 80m below the surface, but only about 17m down in Milford Sound because of the freshwater layer on top of the saltwater that creates the right light conditions for the coral to grow. It was amazing to see, but did make me wish I'd got organised enough to take up the suggestion of the Paihia divers to do a dive in Milford Sound - ah well, another one for "next time"! (This next trip is turning into a bit of an epic...and there's that word again!)

So all in all Queenstown rocked. It was perfect in every way - except for the fact that we eventually had to leave. On to Christchurch - hard to believe it, but we only have 4 days left here.