South Island Part 2

So after our wild night in Barry town, dressed like idiots, it was a fairly early start off to Franz Joseph. Franz Joseph is famous for it's glacier. Apparently one of the only glaciers sounded by rainforest in the world (at least I think that's what they said). So as we arrived into the town we stopped by the glacier booking place to book our trip for the day after. here we were informed that the weather was going to be really bad the next day. About half the group pulled out but we stayed strong and just hoped they'd got the forecast wrong. Unfortunatley they had not got the forecast wrong. The next day was the worst day we've had in the whole of New Zealand. It did not stop raining. However we hired all our gear (waterproofs, walking boots, hats, gloves, socks, Snow clamps (in massive bum bags!) and managed to enjoy our day despite the weather. The glacier was absolutely stunning. Even though I studied them at uni i really had no idea what they looked like so it was good to experience one. At one point we were in a gully within the glacier with walls of ice towering above us at eaither side. We then heard a very loud rumbling noise hetting louder and louder. Our guide shouted "avalanche" and then "run!" I have never moved so fast in my life. God knows where I thought i was running to. I dont think im quick enough to outrun an avalanche somehow. Anyway when I got out of the gully I realised to my relief that the avalanche was coming no where near us and that the quide was telling us to run so that we could watch it. How was i to know that though!? Apparently they only see one each year on average so we were lucky apparently!

The next day was one of the lads birthdays on our bus so our driver decorated it all with balloons and we all had party poppers and cake which was nice. We were heading for Makarora (another small town in the middle of nowhere) and on the way we stopped at the mirror lake (pictured). As you can see it reflects everything in it like a mirror and was really beautiful. There was also a really good bakery next to it!!

The accommodation in Makarora was really nice. We stayed in little wooden huts and single beds (No bunk beds) which was such a treat! That night we had lamb shank and mulled wine. Sooo good! we all went to the local pub and sang karaoke all night. If you haven't seen Hannah's rendition of "my heart will go on" yet, please go to her facebook page! We also sang "like a prayer" and i even pulled out a bit of eminem! Other highlights were "time of my life" complete with lift and the boys singing "like a virgin!" Another really funny night in the middle of nowhere!

The next day we were headed for Queenstown. We were so excited to get here as we'd heard amazing things from everyone. We definately weren't disappointed. The town was set right next to another gorgeous lake and the town was really quaint with lots of bars, restaurants and cafes. The first thing we did here was sign up for the Nevis bungy. This is the biggest one in NZ and the 3rd biggest in the world i think. We booked it for the next day to get it out the way as i was losing sleep over it! Anyway the next day came and as you all know we did it!!! I didn't look down once until i was falling towards the floor and i think this was definitely the way to go. They make it hard for you though and have a glass floor to the cable car. Not nice! Anyway i jumped and it was the best feeling ever. i felt like i was flying - sooo good! They tell you before you jump to pull a chord at your feet on your second bounce and you flip round the right way up. I tried so hard to pull this chord but it was not moving, which meant i was raised 134m upside down. The scariest bit of the whole bungy was dangling upside down at the top while they brought me in. Very funny though!

The rest of our time in Queenstown was spent playing going up the cable car to see the amazing views over queenstown and playing crazy golf. Hannah thought she'd won by one shot so I though I'll just double check her maths. Turned out we had the same score the little cheater! Of course there was also some time spare for a couple of nights out.

We were sad to leave Queenstown as it meant saying goodbye to everyone on our south island bus as we were all going our separate ways. We were so lucky to have such good people as being stuck in some of the middle of nowhere towns with boring people would have been a drag!

So we headed north to Chritchurch and then from Christchurch all the way up to Auckland to beging the north island adventure!