Day 4  Franz Josef Glacier-Queenstown

The next morning was the last leg of our trip and the longest one at that, to Queenstown. Again we stopped along the way taking in the spectacular scenery that was around us, brilliant blue skies and the snow topped southern alps. In the middle of nowhere we reached our breakfast stop, a beautiful mirror lake. I thought that this was the most beautiful place I had seen in NZ so far, although I found the entire South Island stunning which made it difficult to put my camera down! Later that day, after a lovely coach journey through the mountains we arrived at the first original AJ Hackett bungy site, the K-bridge. At only 43 metres it is one of the smaller bungy jumps in NZ but adequate for a beginner I thought. So with nothing but a blue towel and rope fastened to legs I hopped out to the end of a wooden plank looking over a beautiful river.  The trick was not to hesitate, and being the first one of our group to do it, I had to set a good example!! I did, modelling a beautiful swan dive I touched the water before springing back up and then being rescued by a dingy below. Others on the bus were less elegant and were fully submerged! We arrived at Queenstown at 6pm, and were given a little tour around the town before being dropped off at our hostel. We all dumped or bags down and went to explore teh town further. Queenstown is a gorgeous mountainous ski town with a huge lake known for being the adventure capital of NZ. The lake strangely has a tide that rises and falls as much as 12 cms in one day. No one really knows why this happens, it is currently being investigated. However the Maori believe it is due to giant's beating heart that sits on the bottom of the lake.  We went out for some dinner and absorbed the atmosphere which unlike the rest of NZ was actually present on a week day.