SOUTH ISLAND PART 2 (continued)

After our very bad behavior we wallowed in having a much needed night off in the next place, being Lake Wanuka. The town was nice and quiet with a few restaurants and shops, and the lake was really pretty, a good place to stroll and reflect!! The evening here consisted of a $6 BBQ, absolutely NO alcohol and a little snuggle with a couple of films in the TV lounge. Before venturing to the mighty Queenstown we enjoyed a quick stop at 'Puzzle world' I’m sure it's supposed to be for kids but as you know we are the biggest ones out there and had lots of fun causing havoc in the illusion area- especially when we raced in the room of balance and our legs got away with us on the way back causing us to end in a heap on the floor hehe! Fun over and now the anticipation for what most of us had heard so much about and what we were so excited for... QUEENSTOWN baby! The home of the extreme!!

The town was thriving and there was a certain excited energy in the air all around as it was full of people who wanted thrills from crazy bungees in the day and partying at night... this was our kind of place! All settled in our last room together with the lads :o( we headed straight out for a wander around the shops (mum- get your pen and paper ready!) and a mini pit stop to erm.. how should we put this?!... Watch Katie forego a small alteration in her appearance - not spotted it yet? No... Don’t panic, not a tattoo. anyhoo, quickly changing the subject (eek) the time had come to go back to the room and get ready to hit the town Queenstown style!!

The boys and us met everybody in Altitude Bar from our bus (Middleborough girls- you know who you are! not forgetting the lovely Libby and Justine!) and started on the 2 for 1 drinks. A few games of pool with our now permanent partnerships (Katie and Olly, Jemma and Andy!) and we were ready to venture to the infamous world bar where the drinks are served in teapots!!!! As you can see from the pictures we are loving the novelty of it as we poured away into the shot glasses provided. A highlight of the evening was when our 'trip song' came on the speakers (Cam the bus driver chose a song that he played every day on our bus: Burning Fire- Tiki Tanne) and literally the whole bus swamped the dance floor and took over for a mass dance fest!! More dancing and socialising brought the fantastic evening to an end and we had become true fans of Queenstown already.

Feeling a little worse for wear there was no time to hang around the next morning as Katie was about to embark on a very scary adventure!!! A quick stop at the world famous "Ferg Burger" for those of you who don’t know Peter Jackson director of Lord of the Rings stumbled across a street vendor selling burgers and said it was the best burger he had ever tasted and so pumped loads of money into it making it into a proper shop with an astounding collection of burgers that make your mouth water just thinking about it!!!!! Seriously HUGE and very very yummy!!!!! (Wow bit carried away there sorry...mmm!) so next... to the thing we'd awaited since winning it at Franz Josef- the Nevis Arc, a huge swing 120m high above a valley... the scariest experience I have ever faced in my life! The journey there was 45 minutes- enough time to change my mind but thankfully the hangover meant I was feeling reasonably calm and my nerves were too lethargic to be going that crazy. When we arrived at the place we bumped into one of our bus drivers Josh who asked me to go tandem with him and I didn't refuse, It had to be better sharing the fear and excitement than going solo right? Right! Well, the walk across the long thin bridge to the ledge was enough to put anyone off, it was so high and I think Jemma was more scared than anyone- and she was just the photographer haha!!!!

Having my harness put on and attaching me to the wires is all a complete blur- I had no idea what was going on as all I could do was look over the edge and make high pitched noises, repeatedly asking if I was strapped in properly- much to the amusement of the guys working there! Oh my God.. the time had come, looking at the video I think Josh was more scared than I was- his face is a picture and he was holding onto me for dear life... the countdown 3... 2.... 1... My heart sank as the little b*****s didn't release us and just as I screamed "I hate you...." Away we went! The only words that come to mind thinking back are words that would be very inappropriate on this blog but I’m sure you can imagine! Being released to freefall over the ledge just missing the valley at the bottom and swinging up the either side let’s just say I got a very sore throat! (And so did Jemma by the sounds coming from the video!) But... It was AMAZING! After the shock of the freefall the feeling is indescribably- you want the buzz again, crave the thrill- as they slowly lifted us back up, teasing us by dangling us over the edge all I could say was " I want to do it again!" what a feeling, in that moment I think I got over my fear of heights (well for a split second!) So there you go. Bungee? No, that was enough for me.

Still wiping away the tears as we write this now our last night with our very lovely lads had finally arrived!! :-(
All set to make it one to remember we purchased our tickets (well Jems was free from her earlier pool prize!) for the "Big Night Out" Queenstown Pub Crawl! Along with the girls from our bus we made our way to the first bar on the agenda, "Buffalo Bar!" Slowly making our way around the bars with lots of free not so nice shots and a few stops for brilliant group photos (oh yea Jem had Katie on her shoulders!) we couldn’t tear ourselves away from the dance floors! One particular boogey Olly managed to get a bit carried away and off pinged Katie’s dress strap - now that’s a talent hehe! After dilly dallying around and missing our free drink in one bar we skipped next door for a sneaky one, the most random event of the night with a very drunk local approaching us for a chat - next thing we knew he had his trousers off and was dressed in fish net stockings and a red thong!! Not a pretty sight we can assure you especially as he whipped the top off and he had the matching bra! A scary sight as you can tell from the pics!
Lots more partying but sadly the night had to draw to a close and the morning was soon upon us.....it was time to get back on the bus just the two of us and say our Goodbyes!! :-(
All the lads came down with us in the morning and it was like a scene from a film! Haha - feeling hung-over and very very sad we parted ways whilst holding back the tears!

Onwards and upwards- we had booked to go White water rafting at Mount Cook and found ourselves with two of our lady friends in a gorgeous retreat in the middle of nowhere, just what we needed after a mad few days. The rafting was really good fun, with our guide Ben cracking jokes all day and making it all the more enjoyable. We must admit that we were expecting a little more of a challenge as there wasn't that many rapids and we often stopped in between each which slowed down the thrill of it. None the less we were glad to have done it together and made a good friend in Matt, who we would hang out with more along the way.

Back to Christchurch after doing a full circle of the South Island and time to reflect, another repeated stop at Kaikoura and then to Picton for the ferry.... onto the North Island where we find ourselves now ready to make new adventures, meet new people and see what else this amazing country has to offer.

As you can probably tell from this particular blog New Zealand has by far given us the best time in such a short period with so many varied activities and some really amazing friends. We have had a great couple of weeks, maybe even the best so far.... let’s hope we can keep it alive in the North.