Queenstown baby!

sorry about the lack of bloggage guys. we've been in places where internet has been really expensive and the photos take ages to upload.
we are now in queenstown in the south island and have been up to some amazing things on route. one of the best was a day hike on the franz josef glacier which was absolutely fantastic, unlike anything i'd ever seen before. we were walking with huge walls of blue ice on either side, and we went down into this cave which was great although it was really small and we all had to be hauled out by the guide because no-one could make the climb on their own. our guide was lovely (joe from darlington) and we all wanted to marry him! we were all exhausted but it was definitely worth the aches and pains.
we really enjoyed wellington, the capital. the museum was really good and could take all day. what we liked was all the little films about new zealand so we could sit down and have a little rest. another reason we liked wellington was the abundance of cafes that agreed with us very well!
places we have not enjoyed quite as much are river valley (literally a lodge by a river and nothing else) where the showers and toilets were in separate blocks miles away, it was generally freezing and the receptionist refused to put a film on because the bar was open (even though no one was even drinking). we would have considered doing white water rafting but the river was too full or maybe horse trekking but a girl had fallen off the previous day and had to be airlifted to hospital which put us off somewhat! there were no other activities on offer, it was a bit rubbish! we find that moaning is a very effective coping strategy. other uninspiring stops include westport, the pancake rocks (not very different to normal rocks), the seal colony and the abel tasman national park (rained all day)!!!
if anyone's wondering we are actually having an amazing time, but it amusing for us to have a good moan now and again!! i mean you wouldn't really want to go on a day trip to slough (ie westport) would you?!

falling out a plane!!!

did a skydive today!!! was amazing! a bit last minute because there had been some issues with the weather, but we heard an announcement in out hostel saying that skydiving was on so we all rushed to reception and were all kitted up and crammed on the plane before we knew it! it was very scary watching the people ahead suddenly dissapear out the plane and hear them screaming! it all happened soooo fast there was hardly time to breathe and then i was literally falling through the sky - extremely surreal! people had told me that you're not even aware that you're falling, i was very aware and they lied!! the 'freefall' bit was over very fast and then the parachute came out, big relief! managed to land like a pro, but then had to do the really scary bit - paying!!

the original plan for today was to do a day hike called the 'tongariro crosing', basically up and across the three mountains on the piccy. so we were up at 5.30 ready the pick up at 6, but when we got to reception we were told that it was cancelled due to heavy snow and strong winds! we couldn't really go back to bed after that coz we were already up and didn't want to disturb the guys in our room again. so we went off on another walk, but didn't last very long due to the near baltic temperatures! so then spent most of the morning wandering around the shops and buying a new bag for our souvenirs!

then in the afternoon went mini golfing! which was fun! lucy was spectacular! both hitting the ball way over the fence onto the road (luckily no passing cars) and into a bush! a small boy also decided to steal her ball at one point! although we both appeared to equally amazing
(or pathetic) as we scored the exact same (61 - move over tiger)!

goodtimes!

caves

went down some glowworm caves today. we were originally going to do this activity called black water rafting which is basically drifting through a river on a rubber ring whilst wearing a wet suit. but due to the torrential rain the water levels were too high and we had to do a guided walk instead, which was quite dissapointing because we really wanted to do the rafting but at least saved some money which we later spent in the pub!

we were less than impressed when the cleaner threw away our left over chick pea curry from last night that we were saving for tonight! so obviously had to have food in the pub to compensate - couldn't face cooking.

lucy has been in a bit of a bad mood because her coat has appeared to have been stolen by a group of Japanese tourists, her shoes are leaking and now her camera is dead. badtimes.

piccy 1 is the ramp down to the caves

piccy 2 are some stalagtights

piccy 3 is some glowworms - did actually see quite a lot but were hard to photograph

:)

so we are in a town called Rotorua at the mo which is famous for geo-thermal activity (thats hot springs and geysers to you and me) and Maori culture. we arrived off the bus yesterday and were dropped straight at the geo-thermal place. it was pretty cool, felt a bit like i was in a sci fi film - lots of bubbling mud and steam floating up from everywhere. very weird. unfortunately we're not allowed to go in the pools as they are about 97degrees and we'd probably die! we waited around a bit for the geysers to go off and weren't dissapointed, at first they were just spitting a little bit and we were like 'is that it' but then it errupted massively!!
in the evening we (including all the people off our bus who are now our friends!) went to a recreated maori village and were given a bit of a show. they did this special intimidation dance and then lots of other songs and dances. we were shown some of the games they used to develop their fighting skills and i volunteered and was 3rd in the special stick catching game - disqualified actually for not going the right way round the circle! our dinner was all provided as well and it was basically a buffet/calvery which was very exciting to us who have just been living of pasta.
sorry about the lack of piccys but the computers here won't let me upload any.!!!

Barry!!!

We went on a trip today to the most northern point in new zealand, Cape Reinga. its supposedly a very spiritual place where peoples spirits go to depart into the spiritual world. not sure about that but very beautiful anyway. our coach driver was soooo funny. we was called Barry and he talked a lot, basically for about 4 hours non-stop and he was very easily distracted by things like joggers or his aunts shop! he talked about death a lot and all the people he knew who had died, like Wally (lol) his uncle, his best friend who was a maori master carver, his son ( :( ), Len a fellow coach driver, his mother and his aunt who was a beautiful person and was the first maori woman to graduate university! it was quite sad but we couldn't help but be greatly amused! he also showed us the church yard where he was going to be burried!

After Cape Reinga we went to some huge sand dunes that we could sort of surf down which was so much fun, although exhausting to climb to the top! the most fun though was when lucy tried to 'surf' down a little tiny sand dune and fell over spectaculary (no bones broken)!!

on the way back we drove down '90 mile beach' (actually more like 60 miles) which was pretty cool and we got some good piccys of us titting about!

The only slight drama was when lucy left her purse on the bus, we realised when we were back at the hostel. this caused about 20 minutes of panic but all is well now as Barry managed to track it down for her (good old Bazza) ! :)

bay of islands

so we have travelled up north to the 'bay of islands' and we are predicting that we will be here for 3 nights. theres really not much here! especially the town where the hostel is. its very scenic and i'm sure it would be lovely in the glorious weather but unfortunately the glorious weather has gone on holiday! it has rained basically all day, but its meant to be nicer tomorrow. we got the bus from auckland no probs, but it was quite a long journey (about 4hrs) and i was beginning to feel slightly travel sick by the end - but it was all good!
we have made some friends! which is unusual for us as we are usually very anti-social!!
sorry about the lack of piccys, but we haven't taken any!