Christmas in New Zealand: The South Island Adventure!

January 3rd had a waking up to get a 5am taxi to the airport. We got to the airport to be greeted with possibly one of the worst organised check-in I’d ever been to. It seemed that the staff was playing catch up – passengers on flights leaving in 15 minutes were being shepherded to the front of the line meaning that we were waiting for more than an hour to check in! Once we finally got to our gate, we were then told that our gate had changed and we had to be at a different one. We were led out of the waiting area and let down some emergency stairs to our new gate as the staff felt sorry for us, as even they didn’t know what was going on! Needless to say, our flight was delayed, but it all worked out ok as we didn’t have plans for the day so we weren’t late for anything. We got to the very nice Queenstown airport and got into our very nice, big hire car and made the short journey down to our hostel.

Touch down at Queenstown

Our car for the next four days

The rooms weren’t ready yet so we dropped our bags off and went for brunch at Joe’s Garage. This was a nice little place that had been recommended to us, where I got a breakfast roll with scrambled eggs, sausages and bacon. Yum! Then there was time to take a look around the shops, starting with the British Lolly Shop! Oh dear me, did I have to control myself. Chocolate and sweets from England surrounded me as I walked into the shop – chocolates which I had forgotten about and was pleasantly reminded of, and chocolate that I had been dreaming about since I left England over a year ago! I could have spent hundreds of dollars in this shop (seeing as every chocolate bar was $2.50) however, luckily the price held me back. Converting the price into English pounds I found that I couldn’t bring myself to buy much of what I wanted because I knew I would be paying an extortionate amount for them. Things that really got me was looking at the original boxes the sweets came in advertising them at 15p, but being sold at $1 a pop! A pack of jaffa cakes had printed on the original box 2 for £2.50, but was being sold at $6 for one box alone! I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, and as much as it pained me to do so, I left the shop with only 4 items totally $10, and needless to say, they didn’t last very long!

So. Much. Temptation!

After leaving the shop we looked around the other shops in the town, popping in and out of various tourist shops, taking a brief look at the lake in Queenstown, before gathering together at the car and heading up to our first planned event of the day – the Skyline Gondola and Luging!

Great view over Queenstown

We took the gondola up to the top of one of the mountains surrounding Queenstown and donned our helmets ready for the luge. The luge is pretty much a small go-kart without an engine. You sit very close to the ground and steer around corners using the handle bars in front heading down the slope at sometimes quite a speed! It was exhilarating, and for those of you who have played Mario Kart on any games console, it felt very much like you were participating in a race like that! You were given only the briefest of instructions of how to use your luge before being able to streak off down the hill, racing the person you were next to! It was so much fun and we were glad that we had opted to buy tickets giving us three rides on the luge as one just wouldn’t have been enough. Another highlight of this was getting the chairlift back up to the starting point. One time when we were going up it started to rain. At first I was gutted that (after having bright sunshine all day) the rain chose this moment to hit. However, looking back down the mountain and down to Queenstown, I was quieted at the sight of a wonderful rainbow falling over and encompassing the entire town! It was a spectacular sight to see.

Ready to luge!

Rainbow!

After this, it was back down the mountain for a late lunch/early dinner. I had been told by any friend who had been to, or lived in Queenstown, that I simply must go to Fergburger to get one of their famous burgers. So that is exactly what we did once we got back into town. There was a huge queue outside the shop (living up to the famous hype) and it took us a good 45 minutes to get a burger (good job we went for an early dinner) but what a burger it was. This thing was absolutely huge! It was about as big as my head and it tasted amazing! I would now also recommend anyone heading to Queenstown to go and get a Fergburger.

Waiting for our burgers

Oh good god!

After this is was time to head back to the hostel quickly before heading out for an evening I had been looking forward to since I knew I was coming to New Zealand. When I was in Canada, I met a wonderful guy called JP. We started dating but decided when I left Canada that it would be best for us to break up – the long distance relationship wasn’t really what either of us wanted. Anyway, we stayed in touch and, happily for me, he was taking a break from living in Australia and was currently living in Queenstown! Good news indeed as I was really looking forward to catching up and hearing about all of his adventures over the past 4 years. However, that’s not all. When I posted on Facebook that I was headed towards New Zealand, a friend from University got in contact with me saying that he was now living in Queenstown and it would be great to catch up! I couldn’t believe my luck and I was incredibly happy when I was able to arrange a time and a place to meet up with both of them. How surreal, and what an incredibly small world in that I can live in Japan, have a holiday in New Zealand, and meet up with friends who had nothing in common with each other apart from their friendship with me?! It was a wonderful evening being able to see the two of them again, and I was only sad that we didn’t have longer to chat because I had to make it an early night due to our next morning’s activity. I was incredibly happy anyway and it really boosted my experience and memory of Queenstown.

JP, myself, and Seb

So what was this early morning activity meaning that I had to cut my evening short with my friends? Well, as I hope you know, New Zealand is the home of the original bungy jump, so no visit to New Zealand would be complete without us throwing ourselves off a stupidly high platform with a bungy cord attached to our legs! So the morning saw us up and raring to get our bungy on. Once we got checked and weighed in, we all piled in the bus headed towards our bungy destination. Nevis Bungy.

Harnessed up and ready to go!

(For more information, check the website: http://www.bungy.co.nz/the-nevis/the-nevis-bungy)
This bungy promised to be exhilarating and a once in a lifetime experience (highly recommended to us by JP) we had decided to do this bungy as it is the highest bungy in Australasia standing at 134m. On our way up to the bungy we drove past the bridge that was the location of the original bungy, and it looked pretty impressive, that was until we got to our bungy which promptly made the bridge bungy look a little pathetic. We got harnessed up and were shuttled into a gondola that took us across to the small enclosed platform where we would soon be jumping off.

In the background is the cabin we would jump from.

View from the jump!

Taking the gondola over to the jump point!

Everyone else’s nerves were running high but I was just excited. I don’t want to sound crazy or big-headed but I was not nervous at all. People kept asking me and I would say, not yet, maybe right before I jump. We got to the platform and pads were attached to our ankles. Without fully realising, Broc had already jumped and we hastened to get photos and videos of him. From then on I watched as one by one, other people that we were bungying with headed off the platform and down into the chasm below.

Getting our ankles strapped up

A little nervous?

A successful jump

Are you sure you want to do this?.....

Well ok then!

Definitely ready!

Unfortunately, because I was the lightest there, I had to wait for everyone to go before it was my turn. It was extremely entertaining watching my friends jump, hearing their screams and shouts as they plummeted down, and saw the elation and excitement in their faces when they were pulled back up again. However, it was a little frustrating for me as, as each person recounted how amazing it was, I grew more and more impatient to jump. Eventually it was my turn though (yes!) and I was placed into a chair whilst the instructor attached my legs together to the bungy cord. I was then shuffled to the platform and without really time to breath I heard the “Three, Two, One, See ya” said by the guy and I jumped!!!.....

Wow.
I mean. Wow.
No nerves, just pure adrenaline and excitement!
It was wonderful!
The best feeling was after the initial fall when you were bungied back up again. At one point you stop your upwards momentum but have yet to start your downwards momentum and for the briefest of moments you are completely weightless. What a feeling!

People keep asking me ‘was I nervous’ and I have to tell them, the only time I was nervous was when I reached to bottom of my first jump and the pads around my ankles pulled upwards, slightly dislodging my shoes! I was fearful that I might lose my precious shoes. Other than that.. no.. no nervousness. It was great!!

Bring it on!

It was actually quite sad that we couldn’t go again, but that didn’t mean we were finished for the morning, oh no. Next up… the world’s highest swing!
So this is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, but happily we could do tandem swings if we wanted to so Natasha and Dani went together, and me and Todd went together. We decided to go upside down, which afterwards I kind of regretted as it was pretty painful and a little disorientating, however it makes for a great spectacle.

After this it was time to head back to town to enjoy another Mexican lunch before doing a little more exploring in the surrounding areas. Then it was back to the hostel to get ready for another night of frivolities. Now I know you won’t be too interested in my antics involving drinks, but I would like to share a little bit of this night with you are we decided to join a pub crawl, as this was our last night in town and we wanted to see a bit of what Queenstown nightlife had to offer before we left. There are two things that I wanted to share. Number one is the novelty of drinking cocktails from a teapot in the first bar. Yup, just what it sounds like, we drank our drinks in small cups poured from a teapot!

The second thing was the ice bar that we went to. The ice bar lives up to its name by being a bar in which everything is made of ice. Unfortunately when we went, they had run out of ice glasses (drinking glasses made from ice!) but we still had a fantastic time being served at the ice bar, sitting on seats made of ice, resting our drinks on ice tables. We just had to be careful that we put our glasses on the designated rubber coasters, otherwise they would just slip straight onto the floor! It was surreal putting on a thick coat and gloves before going into a bar, but it was a great experience and lots of fun!

Another highlight of the bar crawl was winning some of the mini games held throughout the night (you’re looking at the champion of limbo) meaning we were entered into the grand prize game at the end of the night. It ended up being just Dani, Todd and myself entering the final game with Todd and I combining to beat Dani (not that it mattered) winning us a ticket for a boat cruise in Queenstown whenever we wanted to use it. Unfortunately it was our last night there so we wouldn’t be able to use it, but we all decided that it would be great to give it to Ashleigh and Anthony when we saw them before we headed home, just to thank them for their hospitality and generosity, and I think they really appreciated it.

So our last two days were spent down in the town of Wanaka, a great little town situated right on Rob Roy glacier lake. Our first activity took us to a little place called Puzzling World – something that I had been very excited about since researching New Zealand. It was a great little place with rooms full of optical illusions, including a room that made one side look huge, and the other look tiny, and a room where the floor was so slanted it made it almost impossible to stand up and was really disorientating. There was a room where the walls were many concave faces that followed you when you covered one eye. There was also a maze out the back which was fun for a little while, but was actually quite hard and apart from Broc, who had no problem finishing it, everyone was a little hot and bothered by the time they had reached all four corners and had made it out again.

apart....

...together!

Communal toilets...

Navigating the maze

Then it was back to the hostel for a bit of a relax, as we were all starting to crash at this point, and Todd and I took the opportunity to go for an explore the town and enjoy each other’s company on our own, which is almost impossible to do when you travel in a group! It was really nice and was a perfect way to spend an evening. We had an excellent dinner at a pub that overlooked the water and enjoyed a few drinks whilst reminiscing about our trip. Finishing this off with an ice cream and a stroll along the lake made the whole evening bitter sweet, as it was such a nice time, but made us more aware that it was the second to last night we would be spending in New Zealand.

Not letting that hold us back, the next day saw us driving to the Rob Roy Trek, a path that would take us up to a glacier. It was hard work but as most of it was in the shade it was certainly bearable and at times incredibly enjoyable taking in the beautiful scenes surrounding us. We finally made it to the top after a couple of hours trekking and set ourselves down on some rocks to enjoy the picnic we had brought. It was a fantastic view at the top. With the weather being so warm, a lot of the glacier had melted causing multiple waterfalls around us, with one huge waterfall being a spectacle to see. It was incredibly enjoyable sitting there looking at the surroundings and feeling a sense of accomplishment at getting so far. We also got acquainted with a local, as no sooner had we sat down and began our lunch, a rather greedy parrot came to check us out to see what he could get out of us. It was lots of fun trying to get great shots of the parrot and it just added to the whole experience. We then packed up our lunch and began the downwards journey back to the car (this time it only took us an hour and twenty minutes). We had all run out of water by the walk down but were not worried as there were little streams everywhere with crystal clear water running down them. We filled up our bottles using fresh glacier water and, whether it was just because we had run out or not, it was the most refreshing water I have ever had!

Great spot for a picnic!

We made it!

Meeting the locals

Fresh water!

Back at the hostel we decided a great way to soothe our overworked muscles was to go for a swim in the lake… ouch. Being a glacier lake, the water was freezing, and it definitely didn’t help that the wind had picked up that afternoon. However, we fought through the pain and enjoyed a brief swim, and we all agreed that it probably helped our muscles as none of us felt too achy the next morning.

A little chilly!

For our last meal we decided to take advantage of the hostel’s bbq and grilled up some hotdogs to eat. It was a really nice and relaxing way to spend our last night. Afterwards we played a game of Pictionary before packing some last minute bits and pieces and crashing into bed.

The last day went by in a bit of a blur. We drove from Wanaka to Queenstown, dropped the car back off and took a plane back to Auckland. Here we had a bit of time and were very happy to find that our Auckland friends (Ash, Ant, Matt and Luke) could all come down to the airport for one final gathering. We went to a nearby pub and enjoyed a final meal all together. It was a really nice way to end the trip and meant that we left on a high. We then got back to the airport and began our long journey home.

Last touristy photo before getting on the plane!

So New Zealand was absolutely fantastic, and hands down my new favourite country! I can’t believe how extremely lucky I am to have friends in all of these places that I can go and visit, as well as the money and time to do so. New Zealand has been on my Bucket List since I was in school, so to be able to fulfill this dream so early in life (and so epically if I do say so myself) is an absolute miracle and one that I feel incredibly grateful for even now. I look back on my entire trip and there is not a single thing I would change*. A huge thanks goes to my friends in New Zealand, and the friends who I went with, without whom, this trip would not have been the same (whether for better or worse, we will never know!)

Before I went to New Zealand, my overall idea of it was that it was very much like England, but maybe a little prettier. Now I have been I feel safe to say it is a little bit like England, but has all the good parts, and none of the bad parts, and I will never do it the disservice of comparing it to England again! Anyway, enough of me ranting. I hope you’ve enjoyed these posts and you’ve managed to make your way all the way through them (even if you only looked at the photos!). Sorry they’re so long but I think that just emphasises exactly just how much we were able to achieve over our two weeks.

Fantastic!

*apart from not doing the swing upside down!