Day 5 continued….
I believe I left off right before I did the ledge swing. It was fun, but not nearly as thrilling as the bungy jump. So that night was a free night. We went out for some Thai food and I got to bed relatively early.
Day 6: Off the Franz Josef. We got into Franz Josef in the early afternoon. We immediately started gearing up for the glacier hike. They gave you special boots to wear, and crampons so that you wouldn’t slip on the ice. We had a short hike through the forest and then we were on the glacier for about an hour. I thought the hike was fun and the glacier was just spectacular. It was a pretty cool experience. Went back to the lodge and had a pretty chill night. Minus the ridiculous showers that would not stay on for more than 20 seconds at a time Ate a less than satisfying dinner at the lodge, hung out for a while, and then fell asleep studying. *oops*
Day 7: Ate breakfast and prepared to the loooong drive to Christchurch. Probably about 6.5 hours. Made a stop in Hokitika where we visited the Jade Factory. Then drove through Arthur’s Pass and got into Christchurch at about 4pm. While everyone was resting at the hotel, I ran back to my flat to back up all of my pictures. One of the girls lost her camera in the glacier, so I figured I better play it safe knowing what a clutz I am. We had dinner at the hotel in Christchurch. It was our final night on the South Island. A lot of people were leaving the tour the next morning so we spent a lot of time hanging out and saying goodbye.
Day 8: Today we had a super early start. 6:45 a.m. bags to bus. We drove 4 or 5 hours up to Picton, where we caught the Interislander ferry across the Cook Strait to the North Island. It was a nice ride. By far the biggest boat I had ever been on. The boat ride was about 3 hours and I used the time to study and nap. We arrived in Wellington mid-afternoon. We had some time to chill out and then went to dinner at this really cool bar called Blend. Hung out there until pretty late and went to bed.
Day 9: Today’s activity: Quad biking! One of the most fun things I have ever done. We drove about 45 minutes to get to the place and they suited us up in a helmet, biking jacket and pants, and boots so we wouldn’t get muddy or cold. Then we were off. Basically what we did is go off-roading on 4×4 bikes. Totally awesome. It took me a little while to get used to the steering, but it was great. We went knee deep through mud and through a river. And we got to drive it down a road at top speed. At the end were treated to lovely tea and scones. lol. After that activity I went back to my hotel and showered. Then went out Halloween shopping with Kim, a girl from Australia. Finding a Halloween costume was a lot harder than we had thought (they don’t really celebrate Halloween in New Zealand). Two and half hours later, and (after watching someone get arrested on Cuba St. for 20 minutes!) we ended up buying a bunch of random stuff from a $2 store. I found a grass skirt and leis for my costume. I was tired from all the walking, but after dropping my stuff back at the hotel, I decided to explore the city for a bit. I went to the musuem, which just happens to be the largest National Museum in the southern hemisphere. It was pretty cool. I found some Maori exhibits that actually helped me study for my exam! lol! I then attempted to find the parliament building, known as the beehive because of its shape. Unfortuantely, it was a bit farther than I had expected, and I walked around for a very long time trying to find. But finally i was able to and took a couple pictures. I was pretty impressed with Wellington overall. It has some cool art sculptures scattered around the city and is right by the water. It’s not too big, but big enough that it was comfortable and felt like a real city.
Day 10: This mornign we were off to Taupo. Pretty long drive. But pretty chill day. I chose not to do any of the activities that day and just sat and relaxed during the day. That night though was a ton of fun. It was our dinner / party cruise. The theme Halloween! It lasted about 2 hours. We played games, had a scavanger hunt, and even a pinata. We danced and had karaoke. It made me feel like a little kid. It was one of the most fun nights I’ve had this trip!!
Day 11: Rotorua. Pretty short drive up there. On the way up there we stopped at Huka Falls. A part of the Waikato River that overturns like ridiulous amounts of water per second. As in, people have died kayaking through it because its so dangerous. Once, we got to Rotorua we got a quick city sites tour. Now Rotorua is in a highly volcanic area. There are tons of geysers everywhere. There the town smells like sulfur. Everywhere. Pretty awful actually. After the tour we went straight to the Agrodome where we got to watch a corny little show about sheep. They actually sheared a sheep on stage, which I’ll be honest was a little hard to watch. It was cute though when some people from the audience got to feed the baby lambs and try to milk a cow. That afternoon, some of us took the gondola up to go luging, which was a lot of fun. At night we went to Hangi (Maori feast) and Maori concert.
Day 12: This morning before heading up to Waitomo we stopped to go Zorbing. Something I have been looking forward to this whole trip. Basically what you do is get into a giant plastic ball, they throw some water in and then you roll down a hill. Sounds completely ridiculous, but so much fun!! After zorbing we drove to Waitomo Caves for Black Water Rafting. For this, we got suited up in full wet suits. We each were handed an inner tube, it involved a little bit of walking through the cave and a little bit of floating. Pretty cool. At one point in the tour we heard a loud boom. We were all confused as to what it was, until we looked up. Thousands of glowworms hanging from the ceiling. At one point the ceiling was so high that looking up at the glowworms, looked like looking up at the stars. You may be wondering why the worms glow, well, as the tour guide put it, it is “glowing maggot poo.” Yep. thats right. sounds gross, but it was really cool. After getting all showered, we had had pizza at the hotel. I turned it in pretty early for my last night.
Day 13: The last day of my tour. Pretty much all it involved was driving 3 hours 2.5 hours from Waitomo to Auckland. We got to Auckland at about 11 and had lunch at the food court in the mall. Then it was time to say goodbye. It was kind of sad since we had all been together for 2 weeks. Half the tour was still moving on to the Bay of Islands, so those of us staying behind waved the bus off. At that time I had about 7 hours to go explore Auckland. I walked around with anothe American, Kimmy, who leaving the same time as me. We went up to the top of the Sky Tower, which wasn’t terribly exciting, but it gave us a good view of the city. After that wandered around mostly. Randomly ran into 4 other people who were on our tour wandering around Auckland. I must say I was a little disappointed with Auckland. Granted I didn’t get to spend much time there, but it wasn’t anything special. Around 7, Kimmy and I took the shuttle to the airport and said goodbye. It was a one hour flight from Auckland to Christchurch and I got back at 11 the night before my first exam. lol
Overall, the trip was pretty awesome and I’m relaly glad I decided to do it. I saw a lot and met a lot of cool people from all over the world. So now its Tuesday and I’m two finals down and one to go. Then Sydney in a week!!!
TIl next time
~Brittany
Photo links:
Road to Lake Ohau