When we arrived in Wanaka it was snowing. It looked beautiful as this little town sat in front of a huge lake surrounded by mountains covered in snow but when your sleeping in a van with no heating it's freezing. Infact that night we didn't sleep much at all. Fully dressed in our sleeping bags with blanket, duvet and woolly hats we were still cold. The next day we decided on a motel and the motel we got had lovely lake and mountain views so we could enjoy the view in the warm. We wandered around the town in the day and were thinking about going fishing but it was expensive and perhaps a bit too chilly to be sat on a boat so we went and sat in a pub called shooters instead!!
The next day we were off to Queenstown. When we arrived we checked into the Southern Laughter backpackers because the temperature had been touching 0 in the day and it was going to hit -3 at night. No sooner had we checked into our accommodation we were booking up to do a 15,000 ft tandem skydive!! My nerves kicked in instantly and we knew that monday 5th May would be a day to remember.
At 10.30 am we checked in at NZone. There we had a quick induction, signed our life away in case anything happened and we were off. They whisked us to there private airfield and before we knew it we were jump suited and harnessed in!! The plane was tiny and with 8 people in it there was no room to move. The 10 minute flight up to 15,000 feet was amazing. The scenery was fantastic and we knew we were going to get to see all of it on the way back down!! Both of us had thought we were going to be really nervous up there but it was weird it was as if excitement just took over and we couldn't wait. When the door opened on the plane it was me first, sitting on the edge was an incredible feeling and then you were falling. The first thing your brain registers was the fact that the temperature was -20, and when you stop tumbling and got your bearings the views took your breath away. We had a freefall of 65 seconds and in that time we fell 10,000 ft. Once the parachute opened at 5,000 ft you couldn't quite believe what had just happened. It took a further 5 minutes to reach planet earth and the buzz was amazing. It was better than both of us had imagined it would be.
So my adrenalin fix had been satisfied but not Karl's. He booked in to do New Zealand's highest Bungy - The Nevis. I went along to watch and that was scary enough. The Nevis is a pod suspended on wire cables in a canyon. You can only reach the pod by cable car and everything moves, swings about because it is only suspended. To make matters worse the pod has a glass floor. The Bungy is 134 meters high and everything about it intensifies the fear factor. When it was Karl's turn he was Bungied up and he shuffled towards the edge........5,4,3,2,1.........Jump. It was crazy. He had an 8.5 second freefall towards the ground , travelling at 130 kph before bouncing back up again. He said it's totally different kind of adrenalin rush to what you get from a skydive because you are head first and the ground rushes towards you while you pray the Bungy kicks in!! He loved it. I was just glad to get back on solid ground and i didn't even jump!!
Our time in Queenstown had certainly been exciting!! Queenstown itself was a great place. Really good night life with plenty of bars. We won some money at the casino so that paid for a good night out. We took a Gondla ride up to the lookout point and got some wicked views over Queenstown. It was beautiful up there. Karl had a go on the Luge (go-kart type things) that was funny!! We really loved Queenstown and we gutted when it was time to move on.
Our next stop was Dunedin. We visited Cadbury World, which was great because you got loads of free chocolate. Dunedin is also home to the world's steepest road called Baldwin Street. We walked up it and got a certificate for our efforts. It was funny watching car's go up it revving there nuts off. We went to a rugby match on the saturday night we were there. It was The Highlanders Vs The Blues. I got bored and Karl wasn't that impressed it was all stop start, never really got going. When the home team scored they played the YMCA.........what's that all about!! On the sunday we drove around the Otago Peninsula hoping to see some sealions and yellow eyed penguins. The weather was awful though, windy, rain and bitterly cold so we opted to stay in the van and look out the window (even though we didn't see much). It would have been beautiful on a nice day.
So our next destination was Timaru. Karl had family there and they were about to get a surprise visit, luckily they were in. Maurice and Pat were lovely. We were only stopping for a cup of tea and we ended up staying the night. The next day they took us for a look at Caroline Bay and we took there dog Lizzy for a walk on the beach. They had lived in Timaru for 35 years but they hadn't lost there Bradford accents.
So we were now on the way to our last stop in New Zealand........Christchurch. However in true Karl and Carla fashion something had to happen.......a stone flicked up and smashed the windscreen!! Typical on our last drive, but we got it sorted and it was only our pocket that was dented!!
Christchurch is a quiet city. We wandered around the centre for a day taking in the sights. We went up in a Gondla to get some views of the city and we came back down on mountain bikes. The track was 10 miles long. The first half was down hill from the summit and the second half was through a small town called Sumner which was situated on the beach front. Karl loved it and he would of enjoyed it even more if i hadn't moaned all the way down!! At least the exercise did us good. We went to O'Sullivans Irish bar which is home to the world's largest glass of beer. Karl was going to have one but we didn't have time for him to drink 15 litres of Guinness!!
New Zealand has been fantastic. It is a beautiful country with such contrasting scenery from it's golden sandy beaches to it's impressive Glaciers. We have loved every second of our time here from the coldest to the most nerve wracking ones!! But our time has come to an end and Thailand awaits.
New Zealand
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