Day 61 - Tues 30th Dec - Queenstown

8am bus departure time for the trip to Queenstown. Numerous stops along the way (photo stops, toilet stops, pick up drop off stops, unneccesary spend money stops, bungy stops, sky dive stops etc etc. Rosan and Leticia did the skydive and said it was amazing).

We got to Queenstown about 6pm and I got dropped off in the centre. The bus only stops at designated hostels, and as it was New Year I had pre-booked my hostel before I left home as they were all getting booked up. So I had to walk from the centre to my hostel. There are some very steep hills in Queenstown!!! Especially when you have a backpack and all your bags.

As soon as I checked in I headed back into town as we needed to book onward accomodation and buses at the office before it closed at 7pm. In the office were three girls from the bus who had heard me saying at the sky diving place early that I was considering doing it, but needed someone else to do it with me in order to get the courage. Turned out they were there to book a sky dive and some how talked me in to booking one for the next day at 7.30am!

I then went out for dinner with them (turns out they were from Reading!) and we all tried hard not to think too much about what was going to happen the following morning.

Day 62 - Weds 31st Dec (New Years Eve) - Queenstown

Woke up at 6.30am ready for my sky dive! feeling a little bit nervous and quite excited. They had told us to call them at 7am to confirm the everything was ok befor3 they picked us up. I had a peak out the curtain and it was a very grey cloudy looking day.

Used the payhone downstairs to call them, and they said that it was raining over the drop zone and it would have to be cancelled (10 mins later it started raining there too). They said that the other girls had just called and re-scheduled for 3.30pm the next day (should be long enough for the hangover to subside), so I re-booked for the same time. Was feeling disappointed that it had been cancelled - then headed back to bed for a bit more sleep.

In the afternoon I had booked a jetboat trip along the lake and down one of the rivers. The second the boat pulled away it started raining again and it was very windy. The jetboat was ok, kept thinking I was going to fall out the side (as I had thought in Iguassu too) as I was sitting on the outside and all of his spins seemed to be in my direction.

At the pier for the boat they have an underwater viewing room where you can see what is going on in the late. I had been considering swimming in the lake (weather permitting) but after seeing the 3ft long trout and 5ft long eels through the window I thought better of it! Was fascinating watching the ducks diving down though, they looked like silver bullets.

In the evening I met up with about 15 people from the bus for a bite to eat as the driver had arranged somewhere for us to go. Then later on 4 of us (Rosan, Leticia & Gustavo) left the others as we wanted to go outside and watch the fireworks by the lake, they had bands and DJs on out there too. The weather had been dreadful all day, but luckily the rain stopped for about 15 mins between 11.50-12.05 so it was great for the fireworks. After that we headed into the Irish pub (I know, they really are everywhere!) for a few more drinks.

I had taken it quite easy all night and didn't have a very late night as I was worried about not being in a fit state to throw myself out of a plance the next day! Went to bed about 2am.

Day 63 - Thurs 1st Jan (New Years Day) - Queenstown

I had a bit of lie in then went for a big brunch about 11am as I thought I should probably not have any lunch and that should have been long enough for the food to be digested.

I then waited around like a nervous wreck for the next 4 hours waiting to call them to confirm the pick up. It wasn't raining today and it was actually sunny, so it looked more likely to be be on today.

Called them at 3pm to be told that it was too windy!! Cancelled again and I had to get a refund as I had no other spare days to Queenstown to reschedule it for. Rather than disappointment, I have to admit a slight wave of relief ran over me as I think with an extra 36 hours to think about it I had got myself a bit worked up.

Met up with Rosan, Leticia, Gustavo and Dennis in the evening for a meal as it was our last night together there as they were heading off to Dunedin the next day and I was going to Milford Sound.

Set my alram for 7.00 as bus was leaving at 8.00.

Day 64 - Fri 2nd jan - Queenstown

Woke up at 8.23!!!! Missed the bus.

Turns out I set the alarm for 7pm not am! Muppet. Was really gutted as I planned to leave the next day and I had spent $180 on the trip to Milford. I ran down to the office as quickly as I could to see if there was any way I could catch up with the bus or catch a different trip. They said there wasn't but I think they took pity on me (was the same people I had booked my sky dive through) so they agreed to change it to the following day (which they weren't supposed to do).

As I had to stay an extra night and spent a couple of hours in the internet cafe re-arranging buses and accomodation. Then I went to a bar for a nice lunch, glass of wine and sat there for a while catching up with my diary (it was raining again so no point being outside!).

I then checked my alarm clock four times to make sure I had set it correctly this time.

Between sky diving and missing the bus - its been a very 'lucky' start to the year!!