After church we all met back at the airport and got our gorgeous, red rental van! The lady said she had never seen 10 girls so excited about a big red van before and thought it was hilarious how excited we were! Our first stop was Hamner Springs were we stopped for lunch and a dip in the Hot Springs. They ended up smelling like rotten eggs because of the sulfur but felt really nice because it was so cold out. We then continued on all night towards Fox Glacier. The roads on the way were honestly the scariest I have ever seen in my life and were not the type of roads someone should be learning how to drive a manual 11 person van on the other side of the road! We even got pulled over for being too far to the left of the road! However, thankfully we made it out alive and stayed at Fox Glacier Inn that night and we all quickly fell asleep after our awful night in the airport.
The next morning we all woke up very excited and ready to go climb a glacier! The company supplied us with sock, boots, spikes and jackets. We opted for the 4 hour, half-day hike. It was really on climbing through the mountain on the side of the glacier because it was a rainforest but once we got on the glacier we were FREEZING! The wind whipped through and left us all shivering after gettig so sweaty! The glacier was huge and very blue. It was a really cool sight and was an overall awesome experience.
After the glacier we all bought groceries and headed out towards Queenstown. The views along the way were absolutely breathtaking and probably the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen or ever will see. Sadly though we got pulled over again on the way for being too far to the RIGHT! We apologized and headed out again, only be pulled over 5 minutes later. We thought we must have been speeding but the cop said "I'm really sorry, but you girls are going way to SLOW! You're going about 55kmph, that's like 30mph!" We all had to laugh at that one and it turned out to be one of the funniest things of the whole trip :)
We made it to Queenstown finally and stayed at Base X Hostel for the next couple of nights. In the morning we woke up, all with a feeling of dread. Today was the day we were all going to bungy jump...off the second highest bungy in the world! The NEVIS BUNGY was one of the scariest sights I have ever seen knowing that I would be throwing myself off the tower in a few short minutes. They strapped us all up and I would be going third. Total fear was gripping my body making it hard to enjoy the reactions of the two girls before me. Finally, it was my turn and I decided then and there to toughen up and as soon as the man said "5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" I WENT! I didn't pause or look down, I just jumped! I remember screaming most of the way down and thinking I was probably just going to crash to the ground any second. Then I started laughing histerically when I bounced and enjoyed the feeling of being upside down, with mountains all around me. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as they pulled me up and felt like I had truely accomplished something amazing. Afterwards, we were all starving because of the adrenaline rush and went to get Furgbergers (fish for me!) which are GIANT burgers that are famous around New Zealand. We barely spoke as we scarfed them down and felt really proud of our selves after such hard day.
The next day we went white water rafting on the most gorgeous river. The water was crystal-clear and BLUE from all the glacier water. We even went through an old gold mining cave. It was my first time and I was actually expecting something much more hardcore but it was probably a good experience for me, not knowing anything about rafting. Afterwards we went back to the city and took a gondola up a mountain and got to ride a luge down! It was really fun and we all did it a couple times.
The next morning we got up and went for a walk around the lake and went to a beautiful rose garden with every color rose and size imaginable. Queenstown ended up being my favorite place of the whole trip. It was so beautiful and it also helped that it was their falltime, my favorite season :) I could imagine myself living there someday and I will definitely be returning there in the future.
After the walk we all met up and went to Gibbston Valley Wines where I had found a winery tour for only ten dollars! We also ordered a gorgeous cheese platter before the tour with cracker, cheese, sundried tomatoes, olives, pesto, bread olive oil and grapes! It was delicious and sitting on the patio outside in the warm sun with crisp air felt like heaven. We then toured the winery where we got to see the different types of grapes growing and went into their wine cave where we tried three types of wine. Yum!
Friday morning it was time to hit the road again and this time we were off to Dunedin. We stayed at YHA backpackers. A few of us did the Speight's Brewery Tour that night which was really fun. At the end we had 20-30 minutes to drink as much beer as we wanted and then the tour guide told us he once had a girl play piano for more beer, so naturally I volunteered. He told me if I was good I'd get a free beer and if I was REALLY good then everyone on the tour would get a free round, so we all got free beer! Afterwards we went back to the hostel and watched a movie and went bed. Saturday morning we woke up and went to the Cadbury Factory tour where we got free chocolates! I'm not really big on chocolate so I gave mine away but it was still fun.
We also stopped at the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street, but didn't dare drive up it with our heavy van full girls and luggage. We also stopped at Omaru Blue Penguin Colony to try to see some cute penguins but they only come out later at night. Also on our way we stopped to see some boulders that were formed by nature and were weirdly round. They looked like giant eggs sticking out of the sand. We hit the road right after and this time were headed back to Christchurch.
We stayed a Base X Hostel once again and got a free night because we had stayed there before! Becase we didn't have a set plan in Christchurch it was really nice to relax and explore at our own leisure. The town was really nice and it reminded me of Canada somewhat. They even had another rose garden! Near the end of the trip I got pretty sick and had an allergic reaction with my eye so I was sad to leave New Zealand but ready to be back in Australia with my own room and my own space. I'll never forget that trip with some of the most amazing girls I have ever met, Allison Meyers, Courtney Thomson, Carrie Jones, Stephanie Krombach, Jenna Baer, Abby Kane, Kelly O'Donnell, Lindsey Cynewski and Kathyrn Capone <3
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