Friday 8 October 2004

Week 85, Day 559

I believe the last thing I wrote was about hiking up the Franz Josef glacier. The next day (Tuesday) we went on a long walk and then in the afternoon, kayaked across the big lake in Franz Josef and made it back for sunset. We got some awesome pictures but sadly, I can't put them up until I get back home.

The following day we headed further south to a tiny place called Makarora. And when I say tiny, I mean it. There was one walking track, which was a 6 hour retrun trip, and we did 3 hours of it. It was straight up a mountain and I managed to get us lost by not following the arrows properly, so I decided that Alex had a sense of direction afterall, and he led the way from there. I felt very healthy after that. As there was no bus the next day we had to stick around. Luckily for us, it was the last time that the Magic Bus tour would ever stop overnight at Makarora so a big party was held the second night we were there. We got drunk playing drinking games with our bus driver (Bevan - he's the funniest one we've had so far) and some people dressed up in horrid outfits but it was all in the name of fun.

Finally made it to Queenstown after that, and that's where we've been since. I owe my mother big time for setting up the apartment for us because it's been great not being in hostels. Don't get me wrong, the hostels in NZ are the best I've ever been to, but it's nice having your own kitchen and doing your own thing. It's a pity it's about 6km from Queenstown but as we've been doing so much, we get tired by about 7:30pm and have only been out on the town once - the night we arrived. Yes, we went to the World bar there and had some teapots. For those that don't know what I'm talking about, The World bar is known for its cocktails served in teapots, and you drink them with shot glasses. They've got happy hour between 10 and 11 (two for one!) AND we also had a voucher for $5 our first one so drinking was on the cards that night. We were also impressed with the cigarette machine that had a picture of Freddy Mercury holding a mic with the caption 'Fag Machine' across it.

Finally made it to Milford Sound. While it's not that far from Queenstown, you have to go south, then west, and then north to get to the place because of all the mountains inbetween. The journey there was actually much lovlier than the cruise along Milford Sound - it was so overcast. We did see seals, and some lovely waterfalls. But the best part had to be on boat on the way bac when two dolphins decided to play tag with the boat. I tried to get photos, but they didn't turn out well (damn digital camera delay) and then I realised too late that I could have just filmed them - duh! It's ok though, we've decided to fork out the money to go swimming with them when we head back up to Kaikoura as one of the other girls did it and she said it was awesome (she had 100 dolphins swimming with her!).

Monday we hired a car and hit the snow slopes. We went to Cardrona which is the furtherest feild but it came highly recommended, and rightly so! There are so many more beginners tracks on Cardrona, the snow is better and even the beginners slope is longer and much better. Not so crowded either, and not too badly priced. I can't believe what a gem it is. So yeah, we spent Monday just on the beginners slope, getting with it. Alex was good enough to go try out a track and almost peed his pants when he ended up on a cliff part with no fence (that'll teach him!) but managed to crawl out of that track on to a much safer one down a valley.

Tuesday the ski fields were closed due to bad weather, so we took the opportunity to do the touristy thing we had planned to do later in the week. We went to see a few Lord of the Rings sites, headed to Glenorchy and stopped on the way to get some nice scenic shots. Headed back and decided on a whim to do a bungy jump off NZ's first Bungy site - Kawarau River (also home to part of the LOTR filming). It was brilliant! I recommend it to everyone. It was the freakiest feeling but you get the biggest rush! Well worth the money. To see the pics go here (sorry but it doesn't work when you link it, so you have to cut and paste the link into your browser):
http://www.rapidimage.net/media/mediaView.php?media_id=1327476
http://www.rapidimage.net/media/mediaView.php?media_id=1327531
http://www.rapidimage.net/media/mediaView.php?media_id=1327585

Wednesday we went back on the fields. That has been the best day yet. After the horrible bruises I got from Monday from all the falling, landing on the snow was not so painful as there was about 5-10cm of new snow from the night before. I also finally got the knack of turning on my board and lost my fear of speed. So, feeling like I could finally do it, I headed up the beginners track with Alex who told me all about it before we went up so I knew what I was in for. It was nothing as bad as I thought and really enjoyed the trip down. We did it a second time and I was over the moon.

Unfortunately, after the great snow day on Wednesday, Thursday morning brought us icy slopes but at least we had a clear view from the top of the mountain. As we're not all experienced on the slope, snowboarding on ice was not easy and I gave up pretty fast after struggling down the mountain and hurting my butt from falling so much. Knowing I had to sit down for hours the next day on the bus again stopped me from trying to conquer the icy slopes. It was a shame because all the confidence I had built up from the day before was instantly wiped in a few seconds. I do hope to do some more snowboarding soon though! As we got back home early we trekked up to the top of Queenstown hill (and it was steep!) which made me feel a bit better about the day. Came home to a dinner of a nice rump steak (it was on special - bonus!) and creamy pasta so not all was lost.

Today we travelled to Dunedin with the most boring bus driver EVER. We've just walked around, indulged in the sunshine in the botanical gardens and going to the movies tonight. We're doing everything possible to avoid the horrendous walk back up the hill to our hostel.

It's so hard to believe that it's been over two weeks now since arriving in NZ and there's about two to go. We head for Lake Tekapo tomorrow which is near Mount Cook, the highest peak in NZ. Hoping for some nice scenic walks there.

Till next time!

x
Vanessa