31/1/06 We woke up before the captain rung the bell for breakfast. We arrived back at shore about 9am and got on our coach, today we were heading back to civilisation where there was more adventurous stuff to do. On our way to Queenstown we stopped at Arrowroot which looked like something out of a western. Then we headed to the place where the first ever bungy jump took place over Kawarau Bridge and 12 of our group did it, looked like fun. Then we headed to Queenstown where we checked into our hotel and our room again had an amazing view over Lake Wakatipu, which is where some of the mountain scenes of Lord of the Rings was filmed. Before dinner we had a group pic by the lake and then headed to the Skyline Tower for an amzing dinner. At 10.30pm some of us headed back to the hotel as we wanted to chill before the next 2 days of doing stuff. 1/2/06 This was the start of my 2nd month of travelling. Today was the day of me going on the trip of Lord of the Rings. Itwasn't till the afternoon so after I got up and got ready I went into the main town and updated my journal online, as I was being told I hadn't updated anything so I thought I'd bettersort it out. Anyway in the afternoon I started my trip. I went with a group called Nomad Safaris and we went in a 4-wheel drive. The first stop was a place called Glenorchy which is a small village just before a place called Paradise, yes thats what I said Paradise. These were the places where alot of the mountain and river scenes were shot. When we reached Glenorchy our driver Ali told us she had a friend who was an extra in the movie and he played an orc. She asked us if we wanted to meet him. Ofcourse, we all said yes. We also asked him if he wanted to comewith us and he siad yes. We got a chance to have pictures with him at the place where Isengardwas shot. He had alot of stories about the shoot and what they got upto. We also went into the woods where all the forest scenes were shot and who can say they had coffee with an orc in the forest. While talking to Jeff we find out he was from Auckland, lived in Glenorchy and played and Orc, how funny is that. The day was wonderful and I guess we got more forour money than most people would. That night we headed to the Ice Bar in Queenstownwith our group. We had to dress up in gloves, fur coat and Ugg boots we did look pretty funny but it was good fun,but the temperature reminded me more of home and you can only bein there for 30mins. They had the most amazing ice sculptures in there. 2/2/06 Today was an ealry start as we were going on a jetboat and then white water rafting. We headed down to the Shotover River at 7.15am. When we arrived we had to get dressed in waterproofs and then jump in the speedboat. However, this wasn't just any speedboat this one went in water only 3inches deep, so basically over rocks. It was done in a canyon so we were weaving in and around rocks it was madness anddoing 360 degree turns it was wicked. The plan was to next do rafting on the Shotover but the water level was too low so we had to headover to Kawurau river and we were promisedthey would make it more adventurous as the river was only a level 1/2 in terms of rapids. So we got ready into our wetsuits, which was a feat in itself. We then had to walk down to the river and jump in our rafts. We headed down the river and we jumped in the water, which was freezing and we did a few stunts but nothing amazing and we fell in a couple of times but it was not very adrenaline pumping. We did tryget some of our money back but they were not budging, nevermind hopefully another time. As we didn't get a chance to get our adrenaline pumping we decided to go and do something else and we ended up paragliding. We got picked upfrom town about 5.30pm and headed up2 Coronet Point, which is where you jump from. I was harnessed up and then attached to my guy. He then told me to keep running and it was a steep hill, but I wasn't going very far but then suddenly we lifted off and he told meto sit. It was the most amazing view, so breathtaking. We took loads of pics and also some video footage. I landed first after doing loadsof spirals and stuff. However, the restof the group took ages as the wind had picked up. When Binita landedshe just ran off and when she came back she told me she threw up while up there, she had not been feeling well all afternoon, so I guess it made her feel better.