Wow has this been busy week. There is so much to fill you all in on but internet is so expensive here it’s gonna have to be brief.
So I last left you in Wellington where my mum and I had a great three days, again doing a lot of the touristy stuff but it was all good fun. Following the Lord of the Rings theme we went to see a movie (a very weird movie) in the embassy cinema where the premiers of LOTR were shown. It’s all been renovated inside and we had leather armchairs to sit on! We also went to see the Hobbit on stage which was quite good, but it does make you realise how much of the imagery from the movies is accepted in your mind as correct so when Gandalf is shown wearing blue velvet robes and a conical hat it doesn’t look right. We also got to go up on the old cable car to a hill overlooking Wellington and got some great pictures. We went to see the Te Papa museum which has to be the best museum I’ve ever been to with loads of interactive displays and actually interesting facts, including an earthquake simulator. Our hostel was really nice and in a great location, right in the middle of town with a view of the embassy but the six floors we had to go up (ok, by lift, but still) every time we wanted to go to our rooms got a little boring.
Wellington
While we were there we also headed out to a couple more Lord of the Rings locations including Kaitoke national park where Rivendell was set and to the Chocolate Fish Cafe where the tables are set across the road from the restaurant so all the waiters have to wear reflective jackets. Apparently the cast and crew ate there all the time.
After Wellington we headed back across the Cook Strait into Picton on our way to Kaikoura. Here we went out the first night to a cafe owned by the manager of our hostel where they were cooking up a Sunday roast for us and the Kiwi and Magic bus passengers. This was great because I got to talk to them about travelling on the buses which helped me make some decisions about what I was going to do when my mum left. We finished off a bottle of wine between us then went back to the hostel to get some sleep before our whale watching in the morning. They did warn everyone about how bumpy the waters were going to be going as far as saying that the trip will likely result in seasickness. We all signed up straight away. It was a really good day, vomit aside, and we saw way above the average of two wales. We ended up seeing four different wales and an entire pod of dolphins. The wales are definitely magnificent and absolutely huge but seeing hundreds of dolphin swimming all around the boat and jumping up and doing tricks reduced me to a six year old with a huge grin on my face. Just amazing and I’m definitely looking into swimming with the dolphins although Kaikoura may be a little cold. Especially as it was -3 degress here last night. Yes, all you people in hot countries I can tell you’re gloating right now, you know who you are.
So after the whale watching we took some time for my mum to recover before completing our last drive down back to Christchurch. That night we went back to the restaurant we had been to the second night and really enjoyed and then an early night. The next day was tying up all the loose ends, returning the car, buying Sarah some food to survive on etc. (Which I might add has lasted me a week and I haven’t had to buy anything extra except bread) So I went with my mum to the airport and we watched the planes for a while before she had to get on the plane and I had to make my way back to Christchurch… alone!
I’ll admit now, the first night I was terrified, but I got myself out and went to see Closer at the cinema (a really good movie by the way). The next day I checked myself into the Base backpacker’s hostel and got myself sorted by booking my kiwi experience bus pass. I wasn’t feeling great about the whole being on my own thing but then before I knew it I had struck up conversation with this guy and was down in the bar with him and his friends having drinks bought for me. Not too bad for my first night.
I had to be up at 6:15 the next morning for my first kiwi bus pickup. After the fiasco with meeting my mum at the airport I was terrified of oversleeping, but I managed to get out there and on the bus. So far I’ve been on the bus for 5 days and I’m loving it. There are just so many people around all the time and everyone’s really nice. I’ve discovered I actually can talk to strangers and I’ve met loads of nice people. There are two girls from Hereford who will be at Swansea and cardiff unis in September which works out well for me as I’ve now accepted my place at Glamorgan uni to study Live Event technology. (For those I haven’t told already – it’s a mix of lighting and sound engineering with event management so at the end I should be able to organise and technically assist on live events such as concerts, gigs, theatres and conferences.) There’s also a girl on the bus from Clayhall. This really is a small world. The first day we drove across Arthur’s Pass, to Greymouth, met up with another bus and headed down to a place called Mahinapua (I think) which is basically a pub on the side of the road, owned by a very cool old guy called les. We had a theme party that night
Fancy Dress in Mahinapua
with a theme of heroes.
Early the next morning we started towards the Franz Joseph glacier. We stopped to let off the skydivers (a very nervous bunch of people including the girls form Hereford and a Canadian guy named Jon). We went on to do some gold panning which was fun but very very cold and the whole time we were attacked by sandflies, which I’ve decided are a very unsophisticated form of mosquito as they don’t even bother with any anaesthetic. So I’m now covered with bites, although not as bad as Kate’s Fraser island experience. But I did get some gold as well as the January birth stone. We got to Franz Joseph and met the skydivers who were all grinning from ear to ear. The next day we were on a glacier hike which was absolutely amazing, shattering but amazing. It was a six hour hike with four hours on the ice. We all had Talonz on our boots and got to go up and down stairs carved into the ice, through caves and very tiny ice crevices.
Hiking on the Glacier
A very cool experience (and dad and Barry, you guys would have loved it). But I and most other people were in bed by 8 that night. The next day we went down from Franz to Wanaka where I stayed just the one night and the Hereford girls (Jayne and Laura for future reference) made me a stir fry because they were worried I wasn’t eating properly, based on one dinner of jam on toast. Wanaka is a very chilled place and really nice, but unfortunately I didn’t get to see a lot of it. We did get to watch 40 days and 40 nights and King Arthur in the hostel though!
The first stop out of Wanaka was Puzzling world, a place with a maze and some illusion rooms. We got to try the Lord of the rings illusion with the distorted room throwing off the height of whoever stood in there. Very very weird. Then we headed down to Queenstown where we stopped just before for some of the crazier members of the bus to do their bungy jump at the A J Hackett site, home of the world’s first commercial bungy. Scary just to watch as they jumped off a bridge 43m over a river touching their hands in the water at the bottom. Jon even opted to jump backwards. When they were all done risking their lives we made our way into Queenstown where I am now at a computer.
Puzzling World
So much for a brief email. I’m very impressed by the commitment of those still reading and I promise to try and update again before too much happens. I’ll be in Queenstown for the next four or five days including a day trip to Milford sound.
Hope everyone’s well and having a great time whatever you’re doing.
Sarah xxxx
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