Misadventures

Queenstown and Misadventure

I had an interview on Tuesday afternoon after I bunjee jumped (18th) for the Butterfli hostel, a tiny hostel with only about 6 rooms, up on the hill. I've since found out that it's only a few doors along, on the same street, as my friend from home, W. P sunbathed by the water when I went to my interview. The job was to be reception and other duties in a hostel, for 2 days a week – most likely the weekend. This didn't bother me as I've been working mostly all weekends for the past 5 years. During the interview, I got the feeling that she wasn't warming up to me. I was being all cheery with my answers and polite and smiling lots! She asked me if I'd applied for other jobs and I was honest, which she didn't like. If I get the job, I cannot have another. Working in the hostel would be for two days a week for free accommodation, but yet I couldn't have another job during the rest of the week. Why? Because she was setting up a side business and even though she would still be working, she'd need someone to rely on in case she got ill. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the maybe once every few months that a person might get ill, meant that I could not try and earn money elsewhere. Let's just say I didn't warm up to her either.

View from the Butterfli Hostel

On Wednesday morning, P and I got up early. We'd managed to book a trip on a website called bookme, which is a NZ site for getting discounts on activities. This was our first one through the site – but not the last! We had booked ourselves a trip to Milford Sound, which is one of the fjords on the south west coast of the South Island, which meets with the Tasman Sea. It rained the ENTIRE day. We had managed to get a coach-cruise-coach deal for $120, around £60. A bus alone to the ferry terminal is about the same one way on Intercity, so we were really lucky. The coach picked us up about 8.45am, and for 7 hours, we were on this bus. Because it was a tour, our driver spoke about the history, the geology and the views as we went. We also stopped once in Te Anau for about 40 minutes (look at my fish picture) and about 6 other times to take pictures and take short walks. It was torrential most of the way, but it also meant that the waterfalls were huge and there was a lot more of them. Milford Sound and most of the area around it is a national park, so I felt really privileged to know that if my grand-kids visit this place in 50 or 60 years time, apart from things growing, everything will be in the same place. Not even dogs are allowed in, and you have to take all of your rubbish away with you.

When I say it rained the entire day, I really mean it. The trees reminded me of a mixture of home and that of a jungle, as apparently you can find the same sort of trees in Patagonia from when we were all connected. When we were all Pangea, although, no offence to Alfred Wegener, but they seem to think down here that Pangea was for the northern hemisphere and there was a completely different mega continent for the southern hemisphere. We were also told that we were now in the southern most quarter of the world, where less than 1% of the world's population live. In the top 25%, there's most of Europe, Russia and North America, so the population is more like 10%. I really liked getting the history and geography lessons about NZ. Parts I already knew because of my reading before and during my trip so far, and also while being told on the cook connections bus on my way to Mt Cook.

P with those many waterfalls, just after the tunnel through the mountain

P and I wholeheartedly enjoyed the day. We got wet – but then again, we're Scottish so were used to it. We were on the Jucy boat cruise for 1h45, where we went all the way down the south side of the fjord, and then all the way up the north side. The waterfalls were massive and the mountains were fairly impressive – of what we could see of them. Lots of sheer cliffs covered in trees and waterfalls, and some cool u-shaped and v-shaped valleys above sea level, left there by the glacier. Our entire trip took about 13 hours. I really wanted it to be a sunny, blue sky day but I guess we can't have it all.

Me getting very wet when our boat reversed into the waterfall!

On our return to town, we met up with my friend W, who has lived in NZ for about 3 years now but will be returning back to old Caledonia in May. He's a friend of mine from high school, and apart from a mutual friends' wedding about 18 months ago, I hadn't really seen him since then. It was really nice to catch up though. We went out for another Fergburger (my second, still a southern swine and still amazing!) and then for a drink closer to our hostel before he drove our lazy bums back up the hill. We were tired and he offered, of course I'm going to say yes!

On Thursday, we were meant to go and find an adventure elsewhere, but after we got back from Milford Sound, and started looking at things, it was far too late to start looking at buses. They were either all full up, really expensive or timed awfully. Instead we made a joint decision to stay on until Saturday, when the next bus back up to Christchurch was. I used by bus pass, and booked P on the bus, $50. Our hostel unfortunately didn't have space for us any longer, so we had to move. I was actually quite thankful because our room was tiny and since the wifi didn't stretch all over the hostel and the best reception was right outside our room, I was glad we'd get a good sleep elsewhere. Listening to someone else's skype conversation at 2am is not fun! We managed to bag ourselves a twin room at the Alpine Lodge, just 5 minutes walk from the centre and 5 minutes from the supermarket. No hills there. We stayed there for two nights. It was nice enough there and both nights we had spaghetti bolognese. No more burgers – at least for dinner or any other late night snacks. On Thursday itself we had a lazy morning packing up our things in the hostel and watching most of an old video with some of the hostel crowd in the Bunji hostel – and then went hiking (or tramping as it's known over here) up Queenstown Hill. It is uphill all the way, obviously, but walking through the houses was nice and P and I found some houses that we would buy if we could, all with amazing views over the town and lake. I've found that the lake and main mountain facing the town, looks a lot like my home village of Glenfinnan.

The hill in the middle foreground, Queenstown

The hill to the left of my sister, H's head

The view from the hill is magnificent, and I'm sure I took the same picture – only from a different angle – several times! On coming down, we treated ourselves to a Starbucks. Yup, they've got one in this town too. But – here's the difference, folks! Instead of having my normal hot chocolate, I tried coffee... for the very first time! I had a soy caramel macchiato, and although some have said since that this is not a real coffee... give me time! But I liked it enough, it didn't give me jitters, and like I suspected, the caffeine gave me no boost. So much for me wanting to get coffee in the morning at some point in the near future, hoping it'll wake me up!

Me! Don't I look excited?

On Friday, we had planned to go and see Wanaka's glacier. Then we found out it was an hour's drive from Wanaka itself plus a 3 hour return walk. The walk we didn't mind, but the drive... well, neither of us drive! Plus we doubted anybody would let us hitch a ride with them. P wasn't very fond, or rather, didn't want to hitch anyway. I didn't want to either, so instead, we took the fun way out! We skyped with our families in the morning – she to her mum and me to my sister A – and then went out to do our bits and bobs about the town. I wrote out a cover letter and printed my CV for a job in town working in the tourist information centre for 6 months. A steady job and a finding a place to live for a long period of time seems to be a dream of mine now. I like travelling, but I'm tired of only staying some places for only 4 nights maximum. It gets old!

We went and played a round of mini golf. Crazy golf to the rest of the world! It was really rather sunny, thankfully, so we played our 18 holes in hot blazing sunshine! I won, surprisingly! By like 25 shots, I was very impressed with myself! At 5pm, we had booked ourselves (via that website again) a trip to the Below Zero Ice Bar. It was $12 (instead of $32) for entry and an alcoholic cocktail. We were given coats and gloves (with holes in might I add!), and warm ugg boots. Unfortunately, our tour included being with a bunch of 10 year old girls all dressed in onesies. It must have been a birthday party of some sort. They all got cocktails as well... only without the extra punch obviously. Our drinks were served in ice glasses, the sculptures were all ice, there was a photo booth made of ice, even the drinks containers for the juice and the alcohol were all made of ice. Pretty darn clever. And after, we got to smash our glasses into a bucket. The vodka in my drink made me quite ill. Sometimes I think my body hates me but I avoid vodka for a certain reason. It gives me a sore upper back. I know, I'm weird. But wow... I definitely got that sore back and an almost immediate sick feeling. We lasted in the bar about 20 minutes before we got too cold and had to leave. The toilets for the bar were the same for the bar next door, so after changing back into our warm weather gear, we headed into Cowboys, the same crowded bar we'd gone to on St Patrick's Day. Only there were now only 6 guys in the entire place. It was dead, but nice and quiet with country music on in the background. After watching these four guys playing some sort of wooden game, I asked if we could join in. It's like curling, but on wood and only about 3 metres long. There's no central ball either, you get two shots and you have to get them in between the lines on the board to achieve points, and they can't drop off the end of the board, either. On first glance, it looked like they were playing some sort of poker game – like with dice – same shape of game area anyway. The guys split P and I up, and she won 2-1. Nobody knows what it's called. I'm sure we could look it up!!

Sitting on the toadstools at Crazy/Mini Golf

Me and P in the Ice Bar

On Friday night, we headed back to the hostel to pack our bags. We made a picnic for the next day. Then my friend W text me and asked if we wanted to come around for a film at his, instead of going out for drinks and spending money. We got Thor at the video store (Blockbuster may have gone bust, but this one hasn't) and watched it with some of his flatmates and a few G&Ts. Turns out W lives in a fantastic 5 bedroom house with a massive sitting room overlooking the bay. I asked him, since he's leaving in May/June time, if I did get a job in Queenstown, could I perhaps have his room after he's gone? He said maybe.

Next day – Saturday – P and I got up at 7ish for our bus at 8.30am, leaving from Queenstown back up to Christchurch. We would get there at 5.30pm, head to our hostel (we'd managed to get a cheap twin room at Rucksackers, my favourite hostel so far) and then change and get a taxi to this youtube gig that P wanted to go to. We managed to persuade Fergburger to let us have one of their breakfast rolls (roll? Feast is more like it) early, even though it was 8am and they didn't open til 8.30am. We waited at the bus stop for the Naked Bus to arrive. On our confirmation email it said The Station, which is an information centre, and it also gave the intersecting streets. Sometimes NB can be early, but we thought we were fine because there were 3 others waiting with us. To make things more complicated, Intercity also have a bus leaving at 8.30am for Christchurch, but is obviously a bit more expensive. They're more like Citylink in this case, whereas NB would be Megabus. Intercity buses leave at Atholl street, around the corner. I even checked which bus was there, a white bus I assumed to be Intercity, when ours started to be a bit late.

We waited there for over an hour. We asked tourist centres in the area where the naked bus bus stop was, if they could look it up for us. And it all came down to one place: Atholl street and the sure sign that we had missed the bus. One of the other people waiting got them on the phone, and after a lot of talking to each of us, they reasoned with us and gave us a ticket on the bus the next day, on Sunday. But of course, this was no use to P and I – we had a early bus from Christchurch going to Kaikoura. And if that was all postponed, we would miss our kayak booking on Monday morning. Our non-transferable booking. So there really wasn't any other option. We would hitch. Two of the others, a couple, were only going to Wanaka, and after yelling expletives down the phone to customer service, they left before a deal was struck. The German girl, who was also travelling to Christchurch, and then on to Dunedin (silly, when you can just get an Intercity bus straight to Dunedin instead of going miles in the wrong direction only to come back again). She took the ticket for the next day, as did we, but we thought we'd try hitching first.

Hitching. 480km. The one thing that everybody tells you not to do, and then someone else tells you it's not so bad. There are mixed reviews, but for the most part, I'd heard good things from other travellers. But they were backpackers on their own, with one bag. P and I refused to leave each other. We also had three suitcases, two small backpacks and some bags of food between us. Not a lot of people would pick us up. And we were right.

We started around 10am at the top of the hill going out of the centre, beside the Bungi hostel. We'd gone to Subway where we made a sign and had a cookie. After around an hour of looking at other people getting picked up – Milford Sound, Te Anau, Dunedin – we were picked up by the owner of the Bunji hostel himself. He had two poodles with him and managed to drop us off at the turning for Wanaka. We were now in the middle of nowhere, trying to hitch along side a farm and in a place where cars see the 100km limit sign and just whizz past us. We were picked up after an hour again by a guy and another hitcher. They took us as far as Cromwell, home of the giant peach bum (see pic).

Cromwell's peach bum

We left our stuff by the side of the road, and one at a time, nipped across to their Subway to use the bathroom. It was starting to get hot outside and I slapped on the suncream. It was around 12.30 and I kept thinking, in an hour, the bus will be in Twizel and we'll never be able to catch it up, or even, we're never going to get to Christchurch. I didn't say this out loud though. We got picked up soon enough by Katie, a German girl who was living in Glenorchy, near Queenstown. She was in a hurry to meet her Godmother in Dunedin, and so we spent about 3 hours or so with Katie, zooming down the twists and turns to the city. Also: the wrong direction. I worked out that this still put us at 390km away from Christchurch, and we had really only come 90km closer geographically. She asked to keep in touch with us. We'd gotten on with her pretty well, so I didn't see the harm in it. She got me to find myself on facebook on her iPhone, but when I did, I got a bit of a surprise. We had a friend in common! Sabine! My friend from Lake Tekapo which I met up with again in Christchurch when P arrived! Amazing! She said she'd met her in the North Island and her friend had also met her too. Small, small world!

Inside Dunedin Railway Station

She dropped P and I off at the train station, pretty central. We decided to keep going, so after a toilet stop and a few photos, we headed off towards the supermarkets, toward the Timaru road. We were picked up by a guy who only took us as far as the Timaru junction, but he was very nice. He told us that if we weren't picked up, and that we were stuck without accommodation for the night, we were to call him and he'd arrange something for us. A complete stranger. He said he'd hitched all over NZ and Europe and he knew how hard it was. I still need to email him and tell him we got there okay.

At Dunedin, I called the hostel in Christchuch. I realised it was too late to cancel and they'd charge us anyway, as we were supposed to arrive about that time. It was 5.30pm. They called me back and said, since they knew me (I had stayed three times before), they'd been able to work something out. Our room was private, so it meant we had a room in one of the out buildings. They said they'd leave the key in the room with an envelope for the money we owed. $56 for a twin room, that's better than some dorm rooms in other hostels. It was really very nice of them, and I was very grateful, as we might not have arrived at all.

We were picked up after about 40 minutes by two guys. Not sure of the drivers' name but the loud one was Devon, whose Dad apparently came from Devon originally. So, I remember him as Devon from Devon. They dropped us off in Blueskin, a tiny village about 20km along the Timaru road. They said that they had to pick up something, but if we were still there and not picked up by the time they got back, they'd be able to take us another 20km. Just as I thought I saw their car coming out of the junction 20 minutes later, we were picked up by a man in a land-rover with a terrier. A very inquisitive long-wired fox terrier. The dog soon warmed up to P and sat on her lap all the way to Palmerston. En-route, we found out about the Knight Bus, a bus that ran in the evening between Dunedin and Christchurch. We're saved! I looked them up online, $45 from Palmerston. We would take it! I called them up to see if they had any seats available. Crap. They don't run at weekends. Monday-Friday only. Useless!!

View from the Palmerston chippy

I ordered two haka fish (no chips). Last time I had it, they were tiny, hence the two. I couldn't even finish one! But they're cheap!

At Palmerston, we said goodbye to our 6^th lift and went to the only thing open: the chippy. We had fish n chips while we spoke of our rotten luck. But at least we'd gotten this far, further than we'd thought. There was a pub with rooms next door, if we failed here, we would be able to find somewhere to stay. We'd only been hitching for 15 minutes, and it was starting to get dark, when amazingly, we were picked up. Number 7 – never caught his name – took us all the way from Palmerston to Christchurch. Just over 4 hours driving. He had a pick up truck and only one wide front seat, but we squished ourselves in and chucked all of our bags in the back. It was 8pm.

Just along the road, we'd maybe been driving for 25 minutes or so, we came across an accident on the road. A lady had backed her car into a ditch and was stuck on the rock. Many people stopped to help, even two men with 1950s cars on trailers. She'd been trying to back down a road into a car park, no explanation as to why, and had accidentally gone into the ditch instead. It wasn't exactly a thin road. She said she was from New Zealand but had been driving around in Europe for the past few years and wasn't used to the roads here. As I come from Europe, I think that was a stupid excuse. We weren't on the motorway, a duel carriageway or a single track road. It shouldn't have been that difficult and it wasn't even dark yet.

We stopped again at Timaru for a stretch-the-legs and petrol stop. He wouldn't take any petrol money and kept repeating that he'd been coming this way anyway. He'd gone from Christchurch in the afternoon to drop a friend off in Dunedin (we suspected a female friend) and was now driving home again. We arrived in Christchurch at midnight and he dropped us off right outside our hostel. He was very good to us and we were very thankful. We fell asleep around 12.30, but had to get back up again at 5.45am for the bus to Kaikoura!

Dunedin & Two Days in Qtown

Week 6 – Dunedin and Queenstown

We arrived in Dunedin late afternoon on Thursday 13^th. I asked the lady in the bus terminal where our hostel was, and she kindly gave us both free tickets on the local bus so that we didn't have to drag our luggage through town. The bus driver helped us on and off the bus with our bags. A great start. We found our hostel – Central Backpackers – fairly easily after that. It was just off one of the main street, one block away from the Octagon, the very centre of town. The reception was up on level one, up some steep stairs, much to our disappointment. The first night we were both on top bunks but the for the second night onwards, I requested to move to a bottom bunk and was given the one below P. Dunedin is the twin city of Edinburgh, where I've been living for almost two years. A lot of the streets are the same. Their main street is Princes street like ours, but instead of being parallel, there's a George street which continues on from Princes street. There's also a Hanover and a Frederick street leading off George street. There are a lot of place names and street names the same as Edinburgh or named after places in Scotland, so we were on a mission to find as many as we could.

Our first night we explored the main town, took some pictures of some buildings and found out that there was some comedy going on in the evening. We actually knew before we came to the small city that there was a festival – a Fringe just like Edinburgh, only very, very small in comparison and we'd arrived just in time. We paid $25 each for a comedy night in the Town Hall, a two hour show which then extended to three hours. Each comedian was funny in their own right, although some only parts. I can't remember the first person. The announcer was good and kept us entertained until the acts were ready. Second up was a Maori guy from the North Island. He was good but slagged off his family a bit which I guess is what some people do in comedy, but it just ended up annoying me. He also made references to New Zealand things which neither P or I got. We had to ask the couple at our table for answers. Next there was a girl who spoke about fan-fiction and had made her own one up on the spot about Snake. As in, the older Nokia phone game, Snake. P and I remember reading fan-f when we were younger, and I should probably admit now, still do for certain films or books I've just seen or read, if I don't like the ending, I look for another! But for a game like Snake, never. It was quite amusing! Last there was a guy who'd been doing comedy for 30 odd years, though I don't remember his name. He was great, I was crying with laughter. Most of his set was about how he was getting older and how things have changed since he was younger. Even though I'm only in my mid-to-late twenties, I could relate to a few things. Another part of his set was about sex. Sometimes comedians can be really crude about it but he was very funny and got to the point on a few things that even I got. Like a girls' hair getting all over the place and that arms make it impossible to be comfortable, compared to what it looks like in movies. It was a very good night though and well worth the £12 or so that we paid.

After we returned, we found out just how noisy the Dunedin folk are at night. Very. It was like having a hostel on the Grassmarket. If you live or have ever been to Edinburgh, you'll know what I mean! There were people walking past screaming and laughing and shouting until the wee hours, plus the odd car or seven with their too loud music. I seriously feel sometimes as if I'm too old for this. I feel like I'm older than I am. At least, I'm usually at least 5 years older than most people I meet. I'd love to go out on the town with people I meet, but most of the time they don't want to, so I don't. Even with P being here with me, we didn't go out in Dunedin apart from that one comedy night. Every single night, people were being noisy right outside the window – single pane – so I always had my earplugs in.

On the Friday, we both woke up early-ish to skype our families. I managed to talk to my Dad for a bit. It wasn't easy to find a quiet space, so I just used the dorm room. There were three guys in our room packing, but they said they didn't mind. Afterwards, they asked if he was my granddad, and I said no – my Dad, and asked why. They told me he had a BBC English accent to them (German and French) and was really easy to understand. I guess it was hard not to listen in being in the same room. But I'm sure my Dad'll love the compliment!

We went to Portobello in the daytime. We managed to get the bus outside the supermarket and it took about 40 minutes to get there on a long winding road very close to the waters edge. Much like Loch Lomond, but without ANY barriers. New Zealand's just like that. P has lived in Portobello by Edinburgh for a long time, and we thought it best to go and see the other one and see how it compared. First off, the Scottish Portobello has a way better beach. The one in NZ is tiny and doesn't look very good for swimming, even though the water is mostly crystal clear. The village itself is minuscule. A handful of houses at the waterfront and a few more up lanes, but not nearly as many as home. They do manage to have a few pubs, ice cream shop and fish n chips. We had an ice cream on arrival before walking over to the other side of the peninsula. We couldn't go all the way to the end as the bus didn't go much further. Certainly not the extra 11km we needed to go to see the yellow-eyed penguins. Neither of us drive, which isn't a helpful but there is a tour that can go out there – at a whopping $120 for the privilege. A guy in our hostel did it and said it was worth it, but P and I decided we'd rather spend our money on something a little more worthwhile.

The views from the top of the hill and down into the bay were beautiful. Our walk back was through a fern-covered forest and the path was called “Leith Walk”, which we loved. Anyone from Edinburgh will know the reason behind that. Let's just say that this one was prettier and definitely a lot steeper with no shops!

Saturday we decided to see more of the city. We'd been told of Baldwin street by the man at reception. The steepest residential street in the world. Here's a true story for you, though I'm not sure if all the details are right, but since it's true, you could probably look it up. About 10-15 years ago, on this street, a couple thought it would be cool to try and go down this very street in a wheelie bin. A green council bin just like ours in the UK. The boyfriend fell out half way, breaking his leg and was knocked unconscious. The girlfriend continued down, collided with a truck... and was beheaded. Yikes! We certainly weren't trying anything like that, just the walk up it! As it turned out, it was a hill day for P and I! First we visited the farmers' market at the train station, picking up a bagel each and a load of fruit before the attempt. The street itself has a slow curve upwards and reminded me of the slide at Bowwood when we were kids (A & H should get my reference here). At the top you could see a definite dip, especially when we saw a few cars go down and disappear into it before reappearing at the bottom. Imagine living on this street. P said, what if you had a buggy or shopping you'd have to carry or push up here every day. I wouldn't even want to cycle down it, I'd have the breaks on the entire time. This should give you an idea of the street itself! We were quite glad to come back down again! (oh, and at the top there was a Buchanan street!)

After Baldwin street, we took the bus to St. Clair beach. It's a lovely, sandy beach but very windy. We sat near the dunes for a bit – I sunbathed and P read her kindle, but in the end the wind became too cool and we decided to move on. Now, here's where I was silly. In the i-site on Thursday when we arrived, I told the lady at the counter I wanted to find Glenfinnan Place. She pointed to it on the map and we saw that it was just off the map near the beach. But we didn't write it down. I should have done. Because after we left the beach, we went looking for it. In the wrong place. I didn't know it at the time, but we went up one hill, when really we should've gone up the on the opposite side of the valley. Suffice to say, we never found it. But we did find Corstorphine, Aberdeen street, Erskine street and Bruntsfield Place.

On Sunday, we had to leave Dunedin for Queenstown, but our bus wasn't until 2pm from a really random part of town. It was also raining pretty hard, so we decided to go to the Otago Settler's Museum. It was very interesting in there, there was a whole part on transport and electronics through the ages, as well as Maori history and of course: the settlers. I found 6 McLaren's (my Mum's maiden name) who had come over in the mid 1800's. Maybe we're related! I found the museum pretty good, they had clever interactives – a bit like Amelia or Vasco – but on a script. There were three scenes were the characters just started moving and talked about life in early Dunedin. There was also a part on the settler's journey here by boat, including a section of the dorms for the women.

After we'd spend sufficient time in the museum, we set off for the bus stop. Of course Intercity's bus stop is in the middle of a industrial estate, on a random street, on the other side of the railway. Torrential rain was still upon us once we got outside and we got absolutely soaked!! We had our jackets on of course, but my trousers stuck to my legs in no time at all and my trainers were wet all the way through. When we got to the stop, there was no time to change and we had to get straight on the bus. I had to take my shoes and socks off, the feeling was disgusting, and P only took her shoes off. We couldn't see much of the view the entire way to Queenstown as it rained most of the time, but thankfully when we did arrive – about 7.30pm, it was raining no longer. The bad thing was we had to put our wet shoes back on, and drag our suitcases up this rather steep hill to our hostel. What a journey!!

Monday was St Patrick's day. We don't really celebrate St Andrew's back home like everybody celebrates the Irish patron saint around the world, so we went out in style! During the day, we took a wonder around the town. We had brunch in an Irish bar whilst sitting outside in the sun, sharing our table with a couple from Ireland. The man talked to us quite a bit, and talked about his travels – and his bungy jump. There are many things that Queenstown can offer. There's the usual biking and water sports. Then there's skydiving, paragliding, bungy jumping, bungy swings, gondola rides, jet boats and boat trips. There's quite a lot I probably haven't mentioned. Basically, if you have the money, the time and the interest for it, you wouldn't be bored in Queenstown.

After our meal, we took another wonder around the streets. I saw that there was a job advertised in the i-site, working at the counter – minimum 6 months. It's a long time, but that would last me all of winter and would look great on my CV. I also booked the Kawarau bungy jump for Tuesday. Sounds crazy, right? Even more so when you find this out: I'm terrified of heights and have a fear of falling. Why a bungy jump? I thought I'd never have the courage to do it again. I had P with me too, so she was my encouragement. We also found the supermarket, and went out in our sandals as our shoes were still soaked from the day before. Of course, it started to rain, again and we got wet, again. But we'd bought ourselves a chicken and, after preparing it with garlic butter and herbs, we waited for it to be ready. The good thing about our hostel was that, at 6pm, the staff there made a big pot of soup, free. We had soup most nights, so by the time the chicken was ready about 9pm, we weren't really hungry any more. But wow, it was good (if I do say so myself)!

We got ready for St Paddy's (into our green t-shirts we go!), and went out with a bunch of drunken people from our hostel around 10.30. We'd had two G&T's by this point but we were nowhere near as wasted as these people were. P had her face smudged with green paint by a guy who then tried to make it look like a loveheart. Let's just say he didn't do a good job. He tried to get my face too, but I just dipped my finger in the paint instead and went to the bathroom to try and draw a 4-leaf clover on my face. It was raining hard by the time we left, and all of us got soaked, again. The pub we aimed for, the same one we had our brunch in that day, was full and we were looking at a 30 minute wait. Instead we ended up in a bar called Cowboys. It was full to the brim with people and had karaoke going on in the background. We stayed long enough to have one drink ($8 for a tall G&T), get drink spilled down by back and take a picture of the random moose in the bar before we moved on. We went to a bar on Ballarat street instead, where the clientèle, let's say, were a little older than the last place – or closer ages to us. We had another drink and a bowl of chips (why does everything come with aioli?), and were chatted up by a 30 something Irishman who told us he came here 7 years ago and never left. We got back to the hostel around half 12, nice and sensible. One of our room-mates was still awake, I never heard the other one come in, although she said the next day it was more like 4am so I'm not surprised.

At 8, P and I got up so that I could do my bungy jump. We had to be at The Station, the bungy jumping information centre, at 9.30, but we got there early so got to use the computers there for a while. I was very nervous and twitchy by this point. On the wall, you could watch videos of people doing the various jumps you could do. I was going to do the bridge jump – the original jump of 43 metres. You could do the Nevis jump, at 134m, where you free fall for 8 seconds. The smaller one was hard enough for me, and I'd promised my Dad, that if I ever did a jump it would be over water, just in case anything went wrong. We got the bus around 10am to the jump, and we met one of the girls that had been out with us originally the night before, V. Her boyfriend and other friends were doing the Nevis jump and it was nice to see someone I recognised also doing this jump.

When we got there, I was first up to sign my form and get weighed. They told me I could then go any time. I thought I was going to be sick. I asked if anyone had ever thrown up on the way down – no. Hopefully I wouldn't either, but I was terrified by then. P went and stood in the viewing area while I went up onto the bridge. There were a lot of tourists milling around taking photos and for a moment, I wished I was just one of them. The bridge was freezing. I was in my shorts and a hoodie, but the wind was piercing and I wasn't the only one shivering. I'm pretty sure I was shaking for other reasons too but I forced myself not to think of it.

I was given my harness – just like a climbing one – and the guy helped tighten my straps. I was white as a sheet as I queued up for my jump. When it was my turn, I was asked to sit on the ledge before the jump area, while they tied me onto everything. Then I was asked to sit down on the small preparation shelf, where they took off my sandals, and tied a towel with a thick rope around my ankles. They asked me about myself and my day ahead. I had an interview to go to for a hostel job and they were chatting to me as if we were just chatting in a bar. I was now bound by my feet and shaking even more. I was thinking, what the f*** am I doing? and then the next second telling myself, you can do it, you can do it KP. There were two ledges next to each other so they can get one person to jump while they prepare the next. I saw one person jump, and then it was my turn. I couldn't move my feet, I could only really shuffle, and I was helped into position by the guy who tied my feet. My sandals were clipped onto my back and I was told they might hit my bum on the way down. At the edge, my first mistake was looking down. It was a long way down. I could see the blue of the river and I could see the yellow dinghy with two people in it all the way down there. It looked like a toy. I was gripping onto the handle near the edge with fear as I shuffled forward even more. I was told to put my toes over the edge and I started to panic. My heart was going so fast, but I was still telling myself I could do it. Right Kirsty, they said, look at the camera here, look at the camera there (I waved to P on the viewing platform) and then the dreaded: whenever you're ready. I could feel them holding onto the harness at the back. I wasn't ready. I would never be ready. But if I didn't do this, I would be labelling myself as a chicken all my life. So I opened my arms, and fell forward.

I don't remember much about falling, only seeing that the water was coming up fast and that maybe I could touch it. I don't remember screaming, but since my throat hurt after, I must've done. I bounced back into the air – once, twice. And then started twisting and swaying to the side. Suddenly, the boat was under me and I had to grab onto a pole and then a guy's hands to get into the boat. I was told to lift my head up so that they could roll me backwards into the boat. And then I was down and they untied me. I was told to look back up at the bridge. All I felt was relief and through the pictures here, although I look awful, was relief. It didn't last a long time, but wow, what a rush. I'd finally done something nobody in my family would ever dream of me doing. The guys in the boat got me quickly to shore, and with my legs like jelly, I hiked back up the cliff face to P.

Seeing my pictures on the screen – and the awful video – brought it all back again. But I was glad I had done it. There was only one or two good shots of me, ones where you couldn't see how terrified I was, but for my blog viewers only, here's the full deal. I got both my video and my photos. Proof. And I have a certificate and a t-shirt. It's a conversation starter for sure! The video won't upload so I'll just show you my oh so wonderful pics instead!!

V and I after jumping

We saw V jump and she looked so calm in comparison, she was even smiling! I could never have been that brave! On our return to town, we went for an infamous Fergburger together. My favourite is the Southern Swine. They do it so well! Huge beef burger, bacon, salad, tomato chutney and avocado. We ate them in the park. I was so glad it was sunny that day!

And I will continue with my stories another day! I think 5 pages is enough for now. Only a week behind in updating now (sorry)! Hope you enjoy the photos and film!! Keep in touch!  

Weeks in NZ (at this point): 5.5

Week 5 - Hokitika and Picking up P

Week 5

On Friday, I was packed by 10, and was told to be ready by 11 – but wasn't picked up until long after 1. Danielle had been running around town running errands and the traffic really wasn't helping. She picked me up, and then Luanna, and then we went back to hers to sort out the cars. Beko met us there in his sports car, and between us we divided up all the tents and sleeping bags. My suitcase stayed at Danielle's. I wouldn't have wanted to lug it around all weekend and it was really great of her to offer. I ended up going with Beko – front seat, extra legroom – and Luanna with Danielle, and they'd pick up Rianna on the way. The drive over was really beautiful. Lots of huge mountains, blue sky and I even saw Castle Hill, which is in the second LOTR film at the very beginning. Arthur's Pass is a tiny village with a few cafés and a petrol pump (where you have to ring up the assistant to come help you), but we stopped for a bite to eat anyway. I had breaded fish (that's all), but put it in a sandwich with humus from my bag of food in the car. Tasted pretty good actually.

Going over Arthur's Pass between Christchurch and Hokitika

By the time we got to Hokitika it was after 7 and we took some time setting up before the others arrived. There was around 9 of us in total, everyone was pretty friendly. I chummed Rianna and Luanna into town to get pizza, and because it smelt so good, ended up getting on of my own: the Kung Fu, with chicken, cashews and satay sauce. It was actually really amazing without cheese! On our return, we had a few drinks and a bit of chat before heading to bed. Some people kept drinking until the early hours but I wanted to be awake properly for the festival the next day. We were in the noisy camp and I was glad I had ear plugs. I must sound like an old granny, but when you want to sleep, the last thing you want to hear is loud music from a few tents over. They had massive speakers too we soon found out, and wanted everyone to listen. The fireworks were quite pretty though.

The next day, Beko fried up some sausages for us all and Rianna, Luanna and I had leftover pizza for breakfast too. I'd recommend Fat Pipi's Pizza to anyone visiting the area. Pretty awesome cold! It wasn't until around 10 that everyone was up, a few of us went for the showers. Saw a few interesting costumes on the day. The theme was “adventure”. I saw someone dressed as a penis in a see-through costume – lovely... not. There were a lot of skimpily dressed sailors and superheroes. The best costumes I saw were a bunch of sheep and their shepherds and a whole group dressed as snails.

Once we all got into our costumes: a fairy queen, a pirate, a captain with her boat (me), lara croft, an elf, scotty from star wars, a ladybird, a prisoner and a biker, we headed into town. I got a few funny looks. Okay, more than a few, but once we got to the festival all was okay. It was really just a large playing field with tents all over it. There were two music stages, both of which were obsessed with playing Johnny Cash over and over. We made a little place for ourselves near to the first stage and left Danielle and Mike there to have a break. They had the largest hangovers!

Danielle multi-tasking

I took a spin of the field twice with some of the gang, trying fried grubs, grasshopper, mutton bird, eel, kangaroo, wallaby, goat, crocodile and wild pig. The grub was like biting into something and then the insides exploding in your mouth. The grasshopper was crunchy, covered in peanut sauce on a slice of baguette so you couldn't really taste it. I ate the body first but refused to eat my second half with just the wings and some feet. Mutton bird was greasy, salty and pretty disgusting. It was cooked, but it had a consistency of rubber. Eel wasn't bad, just like another piece of fish, much like mackerel. Crocodile was by far nicest of the weirder foods I tried, tasted a bit like chicken, yet more succulent and not too dry. As for drinks, I tried moonshine which was strong and minty and also had three cups of mandarin alcoholic lemonade and a glass of elderflower “bubbly”, which I'm sure was more like juice rather than the advertised champagne. I bumped into a friend from home, GS, while at the festival. I knew he'd be there but we only managed an awkward hello for 2 minutes before I ate the grasshopper. I didn't manage to see him the rest of the weekend as we never did go out on the town.

Grasshopper anyone?

At around 4, a Parry, Luanna, Rianna and I headed back to the campsite via the town market. Once back we all had a wee snooze for a bit, then into town for curry. After dinner – where we saw a very drunk, sick pirate puke into a bread basket and then leave it for the waiter without saying anything – we were all a bit relieved to get back to the camp. It was quieter tonight, no heavy thumping music. The weather had turned cold and I sat on the blanket wrapped in my sleeping bag for a bit, drinking a cider from the supermarket – apple and peach. Not very nice, but it tasted like a Magners so after the curry, I came back and drank the rest – still cold, but flat, on the table. There was some activity on the beach, so five of us to a wonder down with some marshmallows to roast them. We managed to find an abandoned but well kept fire to do this and we all ate at least 5 each. I did anyway. I love to let them burn and then take off a layer, and then burn again.

We stayed on the beach for a long time, keeping warm by the fire and listening to the surf. At midnight we returned to our tents, to find everyone else had long gone to bed. Apart from listening to a couple nearby fight about mussels, there wasn't much night noise until the crowds came back from the pubs around 2. So that's where they were!

In the morning, I was awoken around 8 by Jim, motorbike man, shaking out his tent. I got up around 9 and joined the others while they had tea and coffee before packing up our tents. We all had breakfast in a deli café on the main street before going our separate ways again. Danielle, Luanna, Beko, Rianna and I looked around the tourist shops. I got myself some nice Paua shell earrings but I was really aiming for something with Jade in it, but they were all incredibly expensive.

I had a ride back with Beko again. I did offer to swap, we were all going to the same place after all. We almost broke down on the way back. As an automatic, and someone not used to an automatic, Beko got very annoyed with not being able to change his own gears whilst going up hill, and accidentally put the car into neutral while going up hill. It took a few minutes for it to start back up again, and I was so relieved when it did. I did not want to be stuck in the middle of the mountains, in the middle of nowhere with someone I did not know very well.

We arrived at Danielle's house just before she did, and on collecting my things from her house, she dropped me off at my new hostel on Worcester St, the Vagabond. It had actual beds – not bunks – and after being in a tent all weekend on the ground, I was really rather glad to be able to stretch out.

Back in Christchurch, I took a wander around the town from this angle. I was much closer to the Cardboard Cathedral this time, and there was a whole new part of the town to get to know. I found another library and found I was much closer to another pac n save so did my weekly shopping there. I also booked a doctor's appointment for P, who had told me before she left Korea that she thought she had bronchitis. I kept on getting a sensitive tooth as well, so I emailed a ton of surgeries in the area in case they had space for me.

On Tuesday I picked up P from the airport. After settling in the hostel, we went to her appointment. All okay, but she's been given medication to make it better. We had a late lunch in the nearby mall before having a wee look around Christchurch. The next day, I had managed to get a dentist appointment up in Merivale, so I went to that, thinking it was only a check up. A tooth in the back of my mouth had a hole in it. It wasn't the sensitive one so I had ignored it. Stupidly, I had thought it was a wisdom tooth coming in and pushing the other tooth out. They did the filling on the sensitive tooth and had a look at my other tooth and told me: either it came out or I had to have a root canal. Taking it out seemed the better option. My mouth was injected with local anaesthetic and after the tooth was out, and after I found P in the mall opposite (as I had been longer than originally planned, I'd asked the nurse to give her my mobile just so I'd know where she was), we went into the ladies and I saw how much my face was still numb. Of course, I could feel it, but to see it in the mirror was a bit strange. Smiling at myself, my nose wouldn't move, neither would an entire half of my face. I looked as if I was having a stroke. I tried drinking some water and dribbled all over myself. I had to stand over the sink, holding my lips closed, just to swallow anything. I looked awful. I still had to rinse my mouth out with salt water as the dentist had instructed and that definitely wasn't easy. We missed the return bus so walked back to the hostel.

In the afternoon, we had an explore in the centre. I showed P the parts I've liked, including the Greek food van at the re:start mall. Falafel and Lamb in a huge pita that's more like a naan in thickness, with plenty of home made tomato sauce and salad. Mine was without tzaziki, but P really liked hers. It's very filling though. I'd totally recommend it if you're ever in Christchurch, it's like two meals in one! Watch out for the seagulls when you're there, they can be really vicious!! This is the picture she took of me. Notice one side of my face droops on one side... that's from the dentists... it took 6 hours for me to feel me flaring my nostrils again (my test).

Mmm Greek Food!

Next day we left for Dunedin. We were sharing a room with one Swedish guy and one ageing hippy who snored like a chainsaw in his sleep, yelled in his sleep (like nonsensical yelling) and then when we were all getting up at 6am (apart from him) there was some peeing in a cup on his part even though we were less than 5m from the bathroom. Ahhhh!!!

Next blog will be on Dunedin, I'm about 4 days behind at the moment because we've been doing so much and then we haven't been having great internet either. Will try my best later!!

Over and Out!

Lake Tekapo & Mt Cook

Hello all!

Yes, I realise it's been over a week since I last wrote this, and I didn't mean to forget, I really didn't! I've had some lazy days and some busy days and most of those I didn't have internet access... so here goes!

Geraldine - Lake Tekapo

When I left Geraldine, the sun was still shining. I'd had some Dairy-Free Apple sorbet from a wee shop there and eaten it while basking in the heat. Still have sensitive teeth so maybe it wasn't the most brilliant of ideas I've had. The bus was cool (air conditioning all the way as usual) but by the time I got to Lake Tekapo, only an hour later, it was getting windy. It was a 1km haul along a track to my backpackers and then I had to wait an hour to check in. Bus arrived 45 minutes early – don't trust the Naked Bus arrival times, they're never exact! On getting to my room, I discovered I thankfully had a lower bunk bed and met my roomie for the night – Sabine. She and I are actually meeting up again in Christchurch soon! As it was only around 3pm, I still had time for a walk and decided to walk up nearby Mt John (1031m). Sabine suggested I take the long route up: walking to the end of the peninsula, and then taking a not so steep gradient up the hill to the Observatory. I'm glad she did suggest it as, once I'd got around the corner and was almost at the top, the clouds started to roll in obstructing my view. Lake Tekapo is a glacier lake, and it's water is literally sky blue. It's caused by the “rock flour”, when the glacier grates the rocks and produces sediment that, when the light hits it on the water, it becomes a murky sky blue. Lake Pukaki near Mt Cook and Twizel is the same. My jaunt took me around 3 hours. I'm surprised it didn't take longer considering the amount of time I stopped to take a breath/photos. One thing was for sure, I was definitely in Rohan!

Lake Tekapo from Mt John

Lake Tekapo – Mt Cook

I awoke to snow on the hills and was glad I'd done my walk the day before! I'd booked the Cook Connections bus, and although it was late, it did turn up, thankfully! Whilst waiting, I met another passenger, Sian, who is from Cornwall. We made friends on the bus and, once I'd dropped all my stuff off at the hostel in Mt Cook, we went walking together. Sian's really lovely and we have a lot in common. She's off travelling outside NZ for a bit but I hope to meet up with her when she returns in May/June. We walked up Hooker Valley together. The walk is 4 hours but it really didn't seem so long. It's a rough but well made path most of the way, with three rather high swing bridges over the glacial rivers. We had followed a school trip up from the camp site and were pretty glad when they stopped after the second bridge, when the weather turned. We got some really great pictures of Mt Sefton and the footstool, plus I got one amazing one of Mt Cook before the clouds came in. Unfortunately, I thought Mt Sefton was Mt Cook and vice versa. Oops. I was corrected in the visitor centre after, but they're great pictures none-the-less. There's a little hut about ¾ of the way up the track, but we decided to have our lunch there on the way back instead. It was another 40 minutes or so to the top of the track, and once we got around the corner, we were met with an amazing view... ICEBERGS! Real ones, floating around on the lake. By now, it had started to hail, so we didn't stay longer than to take a few pictures. We got back to Mt Cook village around 3pm and had a quick bite to eat and hot choc in one of the cafes before Sian had to get the bus back to Lake Tekapo. She's got a pass on the kiwi experience buses. I did consider them myself as you get accommodation with your ticket, but I can't afford it, hence the Naked Bus pass instead. She was only a day-visitor to Mt Cook, but we've kept in touch and I'll hopefully see her soon enough!

Sian and Me

My first night in the hostel, I spent most of my time updating my CV and applying for winter jobs. It was only $4 in this hostel for 24 hours although it didn't always work. I've applied for a job in the ticket office for Coronet Peak/the Remarkables, which are the two mountains near Queenstown. The season won't start until mid-June but it's a start on finding somewhere a bit more permanent than hostels. I also know 4 people who live nearby there so I wouldn't be completely alone either. My roommate for both nights was a 60+ American called Bob. He'd worked at the Hermitage, the posh hotel in Mt Cook, in the 1970s and was back to see how much had changed. He showed me pictures of what it used to be like, 40 odd years ago. He said he was back to apologise to his old boss, who still worked there, and, jokingly, ask for his old job back. He was a hoot, was Bob. He's given me his business card so we can keep in touch. When I met him, he'd just come from 3 months working in Antarctica. His business card says “Emperor Penguin Waxer”, although, he told me, that's what he told the folks at home (and they believed him). Instead he was just a kitchen porter. He said it was easy enough getting a job out there, but all you have to spend your money on is alcohol and souvenirs. I'm sure that'd get boring after a while... but what an experience! I'd definitely be able to make a snowman on my birthday there!!

Mt Cook

My second day in Mt Cook, I hired a bike from the backpackers for $35, and headed, alone this time, to the Tasman Glacier, over the other side of Mt Edmonton, which sits in the middle of the valley. It was a rough, gravel track, being worked on almost the entire way and only smoothed out, after 6 miles, at the car park. According to the workmen, who stopped me at one point due to a one way patch, I was “hardy” to come out in such cold weather. It had snowed again overnight, I did wish I had bike gloves but then I did have 4 layers on under my waterproof so I was okay. I locked up my bike on the sign and had a quick snack before I joined the other tourists on the path up to the view point. About half way up there was a sign to the Blue Lakes, which I dutifully followed to get away from the en mass of people heading the other way. The Blue Lakes, according to my lonely planet, are great to swim in summer. I could see that when I found them, although they didn't look that deep. I followed the tiny path around three of these tiny glacial lakes, before being led down a steep hill onto a gravel track. Instead of turning back towards the car park, I carried on up the path and was given advice from a fellow walker going the other way, on where to scramble back up the slope to get a good view of the Tasman Lake. A huge big boulder the size of a house showed me the way up, and up I went. At the very top, there was a sheer cliff down into the water, one I didn't fancy go near, but I stood at the top for a while for pictures and then retreated to a huge rock to eat lunch. Only one iceberg on the lake this time, but you could see more of the glacier. It was indeed a perfect view and right in the sun. I wanted to stay longer but after 15 minutes or so, the wind had picked up and I realised I still had to walk to the carpark and cycle back, so I did exactly that. It took me about 40 minutes to cycle 6 miles. Shamefully, I have not been on a bike in about 2 years, so that time for me was pretty good. I was exhausted by the time I got back to the hostel and immediately went for a lie down. That night, once Bob returned from his jaunt around the village, we had dinner together in the Chamois Bar & Grill. If I had thought the alcohol was expensive in Geraldine, this was worse. $15 for a bottle of cider this time, ouch. I couldn't afford it, so refused it and went with water instead. The bar itself was alright. You're given a number and have to collect your own food, which I thought a bit strange. Bob and I found ourselves a window seat with a lovely mountain view. I was sad to leave Mt Cook. The views were beautiful and reminded me of a larger Scotland.

Tasman Glacier

Mt Cook – Twizel – Christchurch

Bob left at 5am and by the time I left at around 10am via the tour bus again, it was raining again and views had disappeared. On the way to Mt Cook, the driver had given us a lot of history on where we were and pointed out scenes of Lord of the Rings and stopped for pictures a lot. This time, a different driver picked us up and apart from a small introduction and one stop on the way to Twizel, he said nothing at all and put on some weird drumming music that made me want to fall asleep. We arrived in Twizel at 11am. It's really nothing special. It was built as a temporary town to build the nearby dams, and when the construction was over, the townsfolk fought to keep their little town alive and won. There's a town square with shops on three sides and public bathrooms on the other. I took my time trailing around the one supermarket for something for lunch, but spent the rest of the time talking to a girl from Beijing in the bus stop. The most exciting thing about Twizel, for me, was that, even though I didn't have time to go and see it, they filmed most of the battle for Helm's Deep just outside the town.

The journey from Twizel back to Christchurch took around 4 hours, plus we stopped in Lake Tekapo for about 45 minutes and Ashburton for 15. I finally got a picture of the chapel in Lake Tekapo but didn't have enough time to visit it as it is across the river, and it was also still pouring it down. Christchurch had flooded in the past few days when I got back. The river had overflowed, picnic benches beside the river were half under water and any property close by had waterlogged gardens (at the very least). The hostel where I stay was untouched but apparently a lot of the city residents are in temporary housing until their property is water free. According to the news, Christchurch's roads dropped a few levels in the earthquake, making it easier for flooding in certain parts of the city. It seemed I missed it all as I awoke next day to another sunny day! On Thursday I walked to Northlands mall, which is about an hours walk, to get pieces for my costume. I had briefly been in contact with Danielle, our organiser for the Hokitika weekend, and she said she'd found me a telescope for my outfit. I found a captain's hat for $5 in an Asian shop and found materials for my boat in the Warehouse. I also found Irn-Bru for $2.50 in the mall. I don't really miss it but I still have now finished both cans since the weekend.

I must say, my outfit was pretty amazing. I set up my materials in the garden of the backpackers and got quite a few stares while I made my costume. It got a bit windy so I got one of the long-term-ers, Katie, to help me. I had found pirate braces and with me I had my sailor-y top and my red lipstick to complete the look. I do love dressing up and I love it even more when an idea comes together as well as I'd thought it out in my head.

Me as a Captain on my ship!

I realise that this is a huge chunk of information that I've just written so I will wait until later to post the Hokitika part. Don't forget to keep in touch. Tell me what you think! Give me advice or recommendations if you can!!

Kirsty x

Days in New Zealand: 32