19th AugustI cant believe it is the 19th already! Time is flying by and its nearly time to leave! Well I have improved alot since the last addition. I am now boarding onto the boxes and rails. Only the ride on ones though! First I tried the really long flat one. Kev told me what to do and stood behind when I was on it which made me more confident. I did the long one at Cardrona, but when you come off you drop and pick up speed which is the scary bit. Then I tried another box which you ride up to and again the drop at the end is big, bigger than the other and scares me to death! So I can do the two ride on ones at Cardrona. I'm more confident now, going fast and calving all the way down without stopping or slowing too much. We went to Coronet Peak to see Shelly and Cairns the other week and I showed Matt what I could do by riding onto the rail there, I think this prompted him to have a go and we were both buzzing at the end! We both attempted the rainbow rail which is really wide and thick so should have been quite easy to do but we both failed miserabley. I think it was slanted at one side so thats our excuse. You can see the video's that I have put on here of our attempts! Then we both did a kinked rail, first kinked rail i've done which was good. Shell let us stay at the hostel for free which was good. When we headed down the mountain Matt had locked the keys in their van, the spare was in their bedroom, but the bedroom key was in the van. So basically all keys were locked up. Matt and Mike went back to the hostel where they burgled their way through one of the windows they managed to wedge open and Shell and me relaxed and had a mulled wine and a cig. (yes I had a bit of a cig no idea why i dont usually!) We then all went to get a FERG BURGER. I've highlighted this word as these burgers are LEGENDARY in Queenstown! They are super delicous. Very small takeaway that is always crammed with people day and night, they open and everyone loves them. They will surely have been approached to branch out into a franchise, i dont know why they dont expand? These are the questions everyone asks! We went back to the hostel and had a few drinks and went to bed. The next day Shelly made me some porriage and brown sugar, which i havent had before and Matt (Cairns) made Mike poached eggs on toast. We then all went and got the Gondola up and went on the luge, which is like mini cart thing that you race and go down hill. I won the race but was very scared as the breaks were very sketchy when I tried to use them and you could easily tip over which I nearly did several times! We had something to eat at the top and looked at the views of Queenstown which were great. It was a cold day though and cloudy so the sun wasnt shining through to give a strong warmth like it ususally does. After that we said our goodbyes and headed back to Wanaka. The next day i did the box again and went absolutely crack, bang, splat, on my head, ribs, cracked and banged my knee and my body was all twisted trying to get my board out the snow. I head alot of "oooohs" and "aaahhhs" from Elle and her crew behind me who were filming for themselves and her boyf came over to see if I was alive. I put my thumb up like everyone does here to show I hadnt broken anything and was still breathing and snowboarded down the mountain very shaken. I've never really fallen that hard before and it was on a metal box. I was fine but Mike made me go and see the Physio which is free in Wanaka for everyone. My ankles both felt bruised aswell so I went to see the Physio and guess where she's from? Only Poulton Le Fylde! How crazy. She sa id she has never met anyone from Poulton or Blackpool in the 7 years she has been a Physio here. I was surprised at this as we meet lots of English here, but i suppose no-one from our area. The next day Mike made us both rest so I reluctantly didnt go up the mountain. I wanted to get straight back on the rails to get over my fear as the Physio said there was nothing wrong and my ankles were just strained and my knee was just bruised. The next day I had work at Tango's 11.00 - 6.15 then quickly home to get changed and have tea then off to Oakridge 7.00pm - 9.00pm to work with Mike. Long day and still itching to get up the mountain.3 Day Road TripScenic Route. Wanaka - The Catlins - Invercargill - Riverton - Tuatapere - Te Anau - Milford Sound5 hours 2hrs 40mins 50mins 1.30hrs 2hrs We filled up our tank and used out 10c off per litre voucher that we get with our shopping bill at New World, it came to around $90. We went to The CATLINS, south of the South Island of NZ called South Otago. Wasnt the best of weather really cold and quite windy. Not the best time of the year to do this kind of beach travelling! Me and Mike had 3 days off booked that Shell and Cairns were supposed to come to Wanaka but they couldnt so we used this time to see a bit of NZ before we left. We went to Curio Bay where they have local dolfins that reside close to the shore. Unfortuntately they only come in the summer warmer months so we didnt see any. There was also a part where penguins come on some rocky sure adjacent to Curio Bay at around 4.00pm and 5.30ish when it starts to get dark. We went and had a look and sure enough two penguins in the wild natural habitat came and resided on the rocks! we tried to get as close as we could without scaring them and took some pictures. Crazy to see them in their own enviroment right infront of us! We then went further up the shore (there are lots of gorgeous beaches, coves etc) where some local sea lions at Waipapa Point, were often found on the beach. Sure enough there they were Big Daddy, mummy and 2 little ens. The big Daddy was fierce and was trying to fight with one of the young, we were again quite close and they were just chilling on the beach. Again we took some pictures sureal experience to see them in the wild, sharing our world. We also went to Slope point which which is the most southernly point of the South Island, it is 7km further south than Bluff, we tried to go to the end but it was too muddy so we just quickly looked at Stewart Island in the distance and scrambled back into the car with the wind blowing us sideways. We went to the Dolphin Hostel on beach of Curio Beach. $55 dollars for a double room. We'd aleady checked in, but after bumping into a woman from Sanfransisco sighting the penguins and the Sea Lions, she told us that the Cathedral Caves were closed (out of season, cold and the tide was not right) and Nugget Point which were were going to see a further 2 hours away was not worth the drive. As we would stop there and turn around and drive a further 5 hours in the opposite direction. So we decided we didnt need to stay in Curio Bay, as beautiful as it was it was cold, windy and not ideal for surfing which is what it was known for. Plus we felt like the only travellers at this time of year! We went back to the hostel to see Quinton and old guy from Down South and Robert a french guy staying there. The lady on duty had gone out and we wanted out money back. So after a phonecall to the owner Robert gave us our $50 (Mike told him to keep the $5 for their trouble) back and he was going to get it from the owner who ran a cafe down the road. We had a cup of coffee and headed to Invicargill to stay the night and give us a head start in the morning. We stayed in a FANTASTIC HOSTEL called Tuatara Lodge. It was $60 a night had the comfiest bed, 2 HUGE livingrooms with sky T.V and pianno GIGANTIC kitchen, power showers and we were one of the only people there! We also got some from blueberry bread in the morning. Towls were $1 each, as we didnt think to bring towls. We dumped out stuff after about 7hrs of driving that day and headed next door to Speights Ale House. We had a gorgeous meal there and chocloate cake for dessert mmmm! We never eat out so we thought we would treat ourselves! The next day we were travelling to Te Anau and got up at 8.00am and was out for 8.30am. We were running out of fruit and sandwhiches which I had made for the 3 day journey. We agreed we would eat breakfast and lunch from our lunch bags each day and have our evening meal out as a treat. Dom our friend had given us about 7 croissants as he works at the Dough Bin Bakery in Wanaka. Its so hard being on a diet when you get croissants for free! Anyway we headed to Te Anau which is where everyone stays before they go to Milford Sound. On the way we stopped off at Riverton which is a cute little fishing villiage, very quaint and loverly beach we we strolled accross very briefly before the wind blew us back into the car. It was like walking on Blackpool beach front in the winter! (alot nice but you get the feel of the weather!). Would have been lovely.... again in the summer. Then we stopped in Tuatapere and filled up our Petrol wasnt very impressed with this town but again it is winter so we couldnt do any of the touristy things.! Infact most of the towns looked desserted no-one around, no cars, nothing was open in any of the places! We quickly headed to Te Anau and stayed at the Anchorage Motel which is the cheapest place to stay apart from the Holiday Park and the Hostel. It was a lovely room, Sky T.V, wall heater which we quickly put on, the guy gave us a bottle of milk for our brews! We dumped our stuff and went and booked the Glow Worm Caves. I think this is the biggest tourist attraction here. $55 each nearly as expensive as Milford! We went deep into the limestone caves which were 55,000 years old, relatively young for a cave and had to duck and watch our step, and we walked further and further in the cave and watched the water flow through. Then we went on a little boat and it was pitch black and everyone had to be quiet. You could then see lots of lights all over and the sound of the boat and water pushing against the edge. Very good experience and well worth doing. We then went for something to eat at the local Italian where you got 2 meals for $42. Starter, main and dessert. Thats twice in a row i've had chocolate cake and i'm supposed to be on a bloody diet, damn! We got a couple of beers and drank them at the motel watching a bit of T.V and then early to bed. Up again the next day at 6.30am no rest for the wicked. We seem to be voluntarily getting up early than we did in the UK! We ate our cereal and fruit and were out the door for 7.00am our cruise round the famous Milford Sound was at 10.00 and I didnt want to be late. Surely enough we arrived an hour early ooops. The road to Milford is often closed in Winter due to bad conditions. It rains 2 / 3 days in Milford and they have been known to have 1000 earthquakes in one month! We had a coffee and a bit of a walk to the Wharf and got on the boat. I forgot to say that I cheekly got the cruise for me and Mike for free! I called up and said that I worked on reception at Oakridge and often helped the guests choose which cruise to go on. The cruise should have cost $75 each. So a huge saving there very happy with myself! We went on the cruise and as expected with everything in NZ the views were like nothing on earth. Dolfins often swim with the boat but not for us oh well! Great scenery drifting in and out of the huge rock formations made from previous Glaciers, a trip said by one exporer as the 8th Wonder of the world. (is it 8th? well whatever the last wonder of teh world was!)Ok my leg is getting cramped now from typing so long. Was a huge drive back 6 hours, we stopped in QT for a Big Mac Meal again not good on the diet, but when in QT you always have to get a takeway as there are none in Wanaka! Got home and are now chillin on the couch watching T.V and me writing this! Bye for now guys I'm tired and looking forward to attempting some rails tomorrow.... Peace.