The 8 hour bus ride here had absolutely amazing views the whole time, but you'll have to take my word for it. I haven't been to many countries at all but I can't imagine how any of them could possibly be any more beautiful than this one.
Let me take it back a few steps, though, and tell you all about Queenstown: the most awesome little city ever.
We got on our first plane to Christchurch on Saturday at 6:50, and after a super short flight we arrived. It felt like I only got to listen to three songs on my iPod. New Zealand is tiny. It was raining when we got to Christchurch, but we had 7
hours to kill so that didn't stop us. We took a bus into downtown, or as close as we could get to whats left of it after the earthquake. It was worse than I thought it was going to be. They really haven't been able to clean any of it up yet. I saw some workers carrying a set of plastic dorm shelves out of some rubble, though. Slowly but surely. All of downtown is blocked off and most of it is ruined. Sara, Tim and I joked about going to the hospital for a cup of coffee because that seemed to be the only place open, but when we asked one of the workers near the makeshift bus terminal where we could get a coffee, he directed us straight to the hospital, so that's where we went. Appropriate I guess.
We eventually caught our next super short flight to Queenstown and were IMMEDIATELY astounded at the beauty. Crazy huge mountains in every direction, and actual fall foliage! The town is small but jam packed with restaurants, bars, stores, and of course tons of opportunities for extreme adrenaline rush activities. I of course chose the highest bungee jump in all of New Zealand; 134 meters of gloriousness. That's 440 feet. In other words: wicked effing far, and wicked effing awesome.
We got checked in at the bungee jump station right down the block from our hostel at about 10:30 and were on a shuttle shortly after. It was about a 45 minute ride to the Nevis. On our way we dropped off some people at a different jumping spot, and the bus driver said "if you look out on the left you can see the bridge that some of you are getting dropped off at... those of you doing the Nevis, your jump is three times taller" ... WOW! I'm nuts. So we got all suited up and we took this little cable car out to the jumping pod. Looking back, on a normal day any of us would have been shitting ourselves just in that little cage riding out to the pod. It was tiny, hanging by a wire, and you could see right through the wire floor to your plummeting death. But it's all relative so it didn't even phase us that day. Sara jumped first. I barely got to watch it happened so quick. Plus they were suiting me up at the same time. It's actually not too climactic to watch your friends jump though, because they just turn into little specs they get so far away. Crazy stuff. It's fun in the pod though. They put plexi glass in as many places as possible so you can see below you and all around, and they bump loud fun music. I went completely LAST out of everyone, not by choice. I loved it. I was more worried about not making a cool looking jump for the video than I was about like... dying. That being said, I was so focused on the actual act of jumping that I didn't really think about how I'd be free falling for the next 8.7 seconds. As soon as I jumped and thought "I did it!" .04 seconds later I was like "WOAH NOW I'M FALLING" ... it's strange to jump off something and not immediately have a landing. I could't get the foot release pin out once I got to the bottom, so I got pulled back up upside down. Haha embarrassing. I gave it 3 good attempts before giving up. Each attempt got scarier though because I pulled harder each time, and it just feels extremely counter-intuitive to be yanking on the ropes that are holding you up a million feet in the air.
I have a DVD of my jump and I considered posting it on here. Obviously it would spruce it up a bit. The thing is I want to see my family's reaction in person, so I'm gonna hold off on that. Sorry guys. Here's a few pics though!!!!!
After bungee Sara and Tim took a boat ride around the lake and I tried to find somewhere to get internet. I planned on writing a blog update here:
but even after purchasing something in order to get the wifi password, the internet didn't work. At least I bonded over the bad connection with a fellow bungee-er who was also there. Turns out he had JUST graduated high school and was taking a year off to travel. He had a huge backpack and a cardboard sign that said "DUNEDIN" and planned on hitch-hiking there that night. I found out he moved around and lived in all kinds of crazy countries during his life: Rome, Brazil, Italy, all kinds of stuff. I told him I was jealous and that I'd basically been in Massachusetts my entire life, he said "yeah but you probably have friends."After Tim and Sara got back we got a few beers at an Irish pub and sat by the fire and it was really relaxing. We found a cool restaurant that was made inside what used to be the courthouse, and I had an absolutely delicious burger with a side of fries and aioli. I love aioli. It's mayo and garlic and lemon and probably a few other things and it goes on burgers and you can dip your fries in it. SO SO delicious. I will definitely miss it when I leave, but the general consensus is: NZ doesn't really know how to do food. It has let us down numerous times. Burgers they got down, though.
The next day, our last day in Queenstown, we got up and there was snow on the mountains! So exciting! We hiked a pretty strenuous but rewarding hike that morning. Tons of pictures were taken. I love Queenstown. Absolutely beautiful. We also went to the under-water observatory where you can go under the lake and see huge 50lb trout and eels! We only spent about 15 minutes in there but it was crazy. The water is so clear. Apparently it's 99.9% pure, too! Drinkable even! I didn't though. Oh and another random fact: There are no native trees in Queenstown. They were all wiped out by the glaciers back in the day a few thousand years ago and all the trees there now have been brought in from the States! Weird.
Monday night we got weird at a few bars and had a really great time. Sara and I shot a few games of pool and talked to a bearded man who said his life didn't start until he was 40 and moved to Queenstown.
Also we asked around and found out why our roommates had their bags packed up and taken away by hostel staff who would only tell us "there was an incident and they had to get out of town fast." Turns out they were "provoked" by a bartender and ended up in a fight with him a few weeks back. They finally got charged the other day and now are in New Zealand jail for a month before being deported back to Norway. Crazy stuff.
Now I'm in Franz Josef and my camera is not. Tonight we just watched some movies in the hostel. There is nothing to do in Franz Josef other than see glaciers. It's a tiny place. Tomorrow we're doing a big big BIG glacier hike. A full day one. It says 8 hour round trip but I'm sure it'll take us longer than that. Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!
Click here to see my facebook album of pictures in Christchurch and Queenstown!
superb post.....i like the Queenstown Bay
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