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Hello!
Well, from my last entry in kaikoura we have traveled around the whole of the south island from east to west, north to south. We have had thee most amazing time. After kaikoura we went up to a village called Picton, the gateway to the south island from the north. There we did a lovely 3hour walk up to the snout of one the sounds (sunken islands) which was very nice and we had a perfect day for it. We stayed at a hostel there called 'The villa' which was lovely but had swrams of flies everywhere which insisted on waking you up in the morning by crawling all over your face...! We only stayed one night in Picton, then we headed for Abel Tasmen national park.
The day we arrived we had a nice relaxing evening in our hut, we went to bed at 8:30pm can you believe...first early night i have had in ages.... then i got up early the next morning to go sailing around the park...absolutly fantastic, went round all the little bays, learnt how to sail a bit, and everyone on the oat was wicked and we all got really wet and swam in the sea which was great.
Then we stayed there one more night then left early the next morning for Barry town... now barrytown is an interesting town, it is basically a pub with a few houses and that is it... as it was st patricks day we all dressed up in green, got absoltuly wasted, and all the guys got on the bar and stripped to thier boxers (very nice i can tell you), but this one guy got all the way to his birthday suite, and we all cringed as he danced around naked on the bar, he then got the nickname "little J" as his name was josh and he had a little....well im sure you know what i am talking about... anyways, hadn't been that drunk in ages and turned out to be an awesome night.
The next day, everyone got on the bus very hungover and we headed for Frans Josef to see the glacier. We stayed at a place called rainforest retreat, which had a hot tub that fitted 18 people in it! There we had a quiet night as i was so tired. The next morning, i got up at 8am to go on a power walk with these two swedish guys i met....picture this, they train every single day and have only recently left the army, and me a girl who obviously doesnt train every day and has recently gain a stone and a half since leaving england.... but i kept up - i had a point to prove! Then we returned for breakfast at 9am, then after that went for a walk to the glacier ... which by the way you can't just walk on it as we found out (you need crampons to stick you into the ice), so we had a little slide on the bottom of it then got off and went for a 3 hour walk through the rainforest which was brilliant, never had been in a rainforest before and it looks just like the ones on TV (well discovery channel). Then we stayed one more night there at Frans Josef then left the next day for makarora.
There we stayed only one night, and spent the day mooching around, checking out the sights, then in the evening we had a karaoke night at the local bar - which was interesting to say the least..... chloe cant sing for s***... haha jokes, as if she would actually get up and sing. Ed did, but we left the bar by then as we didnt want to hear that kind of thing.... hehe jokes ed! you have a lovely voice. In Makarora we stayed in these A frame huts, which we great cos it like having one big sleep over with everyone from your bus, which is great cos we all made really good friends.
The next day we headed for Queens town - andrenaline capital of the world. That day we arrived i did a bungy jump off the bridge that did the first ever commercial bungy jump in 1988. I have never been so s***ting scared in all of my life... i finally found the will power to jump and when i did it felt absolutly amazing...freefalling has to be one of the best feelings in the world, and its also something very addictive. That night we stayed at Discovery lodge, which was a great hostel, and had a crazy night out, Chloe got so wrecked that it was funny. That was a really good night out.
The next day, me and Ed a canyon swing, which is the biggest swing in the world. You free fall over a canyon then swing an arc of around 200m. I was so s***ting scared at this point aswell but you know the feelingis just to good to pass up. My first jump i did backwards, i was standing on the ledge with my heels just over the edge facing down into a canyon and i was facing the guys, after about 10mins of almost crying on thier shoulders i just went for it and fell back, freefalling around 60m. I screamed so loudly! Then i did a second jump, but this one was more interesting, then dangled me upside down tieing my feet to this harness in the air, and they swung me out above the canyon with my head facing the floor and my feet tired up above me, so theres me looking down into this huge canyon thinking....f***......... then suddenly i hear this 'click' and i fall face first into the canyon....great experience, loved every mintue of it and i also got the DVD, so you can all see it when i get back!
After the canyon swing, i went for a walk with this swedish girl and two swedish guys on this hour walk up to the skyline cafe to see a beautiful view of Queenstown. Whilst i was working up a sweat, clo and ed got the cable car up - lazy people honestly! Then when we got up we saw the views took some picis, then went on 'the luge' which is this little racing car things that does a little course. they go really fast, so all of us went on them all with these little helmets on looking like gimps and was so much fun, 6 of us all trying to get to the bottom first on a track about a metre wide... Then that night we went out on the lash AGAIN.....we just cant keep up, so i thought ill limit my drink and have redbulls to keep my going, in the end i did end up drinking and also having 6 cans of red bull...i was so awake that i didnt sleep one bit and i have never felt that sick in all my life the next morning, seriously it was a dash for the toilet every 5 mins. Luckily the skydive the next day was delayed, and we ended up jumping a lot later than planned which worked out better for my health. The skydive has to be the most amazing experiences of my life, we all go up in this tiny plane, not even big enough to stand up in, and we reach an altitude of 12000ft, approx 2 and a half miles up. I am the first to jump and i am strapped to my tandem master peering over the edge down at the ground. I am pooping my pants as the airplane door opens, i have to lean out the plane and wrap my legs underneath the plane and look up, so im slightly off the plane whilst my instructor is sitting comfortably on the ledge. Im at this point thinking, its only down from here, he then rocks 3 times counting 1...2...3... then he jumps and we freefal and i see the plane whizzing away fromme as i fall in the air at 200km an hour, my face is flapping about, and i cud see all th snowy mountain tops and the beautiful lake and the lush scenary ....we free fall for about 45 seconds (which believe me is a long time to be free falling) then he pulls the parachute, we shoot back up again and glide down appreciating the scenary in a more tranquil manor. Absolutly fantastic experience..... that night i was too wacked to do anything, infact i fell asleep on the bus on the ride back from the skydive. Me and and ed have become ill from partying all night then doing adrenaline sports which takes a lot out of you believe me, so subsequently we have become a touch ill....sneezing, sore head, the works.
After Queenstown, we headed for christchurch for our last night, nothing to do there, bit of a dead town really. It has to be an early night as we have to get up for 3:30am to get out shuttle bus to the airport for our flight back to OZ. All i can say that these past two weeks have been 100% brilliant to the max. There have been other little stops on out bus routes of different things we saw etc, but i f i was to tell you everything i wouldn't leave the computer so there are the highlights!
Anyways, hope everything is well back home in sunny england...missing everyone lots!
Muahxxx
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