So on the way to the Westcoast, we stopped off at Lake ... We did a little loop walk in the forest around there. The lake is really popular with swimmers and stuff in the summer, but when we were there, it was freezing and there were white horses on the lake. That afternoon I went jet-boating on the Buller River. It was a nice trip, we had a normal boat ride up the river for half an hour or so and then when it turned round, it was time for being thrown around and drenched. It was pretty chilly on the river but fortunately, they gave us lots of waterproof garments so we didnt get wet. A chilled out night in the hostel at Westport that night in front of a nice fire and watching Toy Story 2 for the first time. Apparantly Westport is well known for its in-breads and there are lots of people that live there with webbed feet and 6 fingers etc etc. We were challened on the bus to go out with our cameras and have a photo competition of finding the ugliest looking in-bred... but I decided to stay in.
The next day, we left Westport to head down to Cape Foulwind. This days driving was lovely as it was all along the West Coast. It was really pretty. We went for a walk for an hour or so along Cape Foulwind and saw a Seal Colony. From there we headed down to a place called Pancake rocks thats a pretty spot with wierd shaped rocks that look like a stack of pancakes, hence the name, but noone really knows how theyve formed the way they have. There's a blowhole there too, but thesea was too calm for us to see that.
From there we headed into Greymouth. That's where the monteiths brewery is, I would have liked to go there but it was a sunday so it was closed. They make very nice Cider...
From there it was a fairly short drive to where we stayed the night, on the side of a lake called... M,.. pua or a pub known as the poo pub. We were told we had to dress up that night... the theme was bin bags so it wasnt too bad.
The next day I had to get up early to do my skydive. Because the weather is unpredictable, the guy from the skydive centre drove 2hrs to pick us up and then drove us the 2 hrs back to the Fox Glacier so we could dive before the cloud started coming over the mountains. We were really lucky, the weather was perfect for the dive. It was absolutely amazing! The plane we went up in was tiny, could only hold 4 people at a time (2 lots of tandem skydivers). We had a 20 minute scenic flight over the fox glacier and got some amazing views of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman. Then we jumped from 12,000ft. Soooooo much fun!! Really, really enjoyed it! Once the parachute's opened, you're gently drivting down. I got to steer the parachute for a bit which was fun, then we landed in a field. Brilliant! And the good thing about that skydive was that they allowed you to take your own camera up with you so you could get some good pictures without having to pay loads for their pictures and DVDs. I'll definitely consider doing another one, shame they're so expensive...
The next day I went for a walk up to the Franz Josef glacier. It was about a 40 min walk to the glacier from the town, but a nice couple picked me up as I was walking along the side of the road - how nice! Went for a walk around the area which was nice, and there were some really nice still pools so I got some great pictures of the mountains reflected in it.
THe next day I got up early for a glacier climb. It was a good day, we had a good 6 hours on the ice. Got all equipped with crampons and stuff. It was a 40 min walk to get to the base of the glacier from the car park, its pretty deceptive, the distance to where it starts, but it wasnt too bad. Then we got all kitted up to go trekking. The ice was much harder and bluer than the ice on the South American Glaciers, I thought. We went through many more narrow crevices and wormholes than in SA. One we had to crawl through, you hardly had space to move, you couldnt push with your arms as they were pinned to your sides, you sort of had to shuffle along on your bum. It was fun though!
The next day was a lovely drive through the Southern Alps. We stopped off at Lake Matheson which is a lovely mirror lake. We got to Wanaka. I loved Wanaka! It was so pretty and quiet and undisturbed. The hostel was lovely and warm and nice and the place itself was so lovely, it was lovely being there. I would have loved to base myself there and find a job, but it was already rammed with backpackers looking for jobs so they can be near the ski fields :(
The next day was very gentle, I went for a walk round the lake and sat in the sunshine looking at all the snow capped mountains. That night we were planning to go to Cinema Paradiso to see the new Twilight movie, but it was fully booked, so we went to the pub instead.
THe next day was another gentle day. We finally got round to seeing Twilight. It was a brilliant cinema. ITs tiny and the seats are a load of old settees and a car to sit in! They have an interval in the middle and make amazing cookies for you to buy. The cookies are INCREDIBLE! All newly baked and still warm and gooey in the middle - yum!
The next day was another fairly gentle day... that's just the feeling Wanaka gives off, its a lovely place to relax and unwind. Adam and Anna, my friends I keep meeting on and off during my trip down arrived at the hostel the day before and we went to look for some ski hire equipment for the next couple of days. I hired a ski jacket and some trousers and we found a good deal at the Cardrona ski field for 4hrs worth of lessons, equipment and ski pass for around 50 pounds. It would have cost us another 15 or so to get the bus up, so we decided to hitch hike. It was quite fun standing with your thumb out waiting to be picked up! Anyway, it didnt take too long for someone nice to pick us up and give us a ride up there. We had a good days skiing but it was the school holidays so quite full of children. But it was good having lessons to build up confidence. I had a bit of a frustrating time in between lessons when I was trying to ski on my own, I couldnt get my ski's on for the life of me and was getting more and more annoyed for half an hour until my next lesson.. then I discovered I had a big chunk of ice on my boot so it wouldnt go into the clips - doh. The second lesson of the day was ok, but slower than the other one because of crowds to get up the slope again, but I was getting confident at doing my turns and stuff.
The next day, we had another lesson and we went up on the big mountain, not just the baby slope where I'd been the day before. It was good, but I fell fo the ski lift when I first tried to get on it, then I kept falling over loads in my lesson so it knocked my confidence a bit, also the difference in the steepness of the slopes were quite substantial so it was a bit nerve-racking, but still fun. The afternoon was much better, we went up the mountain on our own and went down in our own time, rather than feeling you had to keep up with the instructor and the rest of the lesson.
The next day we went to the cinema again to see Toy story 3 (its a good job I watched no 2 only a few weeks before!) for more cookies! The next day I chilled out in the hostel with my book while Adam and Anna went skiing again.
The next day we headed down to Queenstown, via Puzzling world which was a good bit of fun. There's an illusion room and a big maze, and then loads of tables with irritating puzzles on them that I couldnt do, but a fun way to spend an hour or so! We also stopped off at the K bridge, where they first set up the Bungy jumping business and watched a few people throw themselves off, then we went to Arrowtown which is a cool old mining town with old buildings that reminds me of the wild west a bit. We saw some gold nuggets there.
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