... As long as you have a parachute attached to you at least! Today we started the day with a wonderful skydive in Queenstown. This was my third skydive, Kyle's second. I think I enjoy it much more than he does (he really hates the way the harness feels on his "boys"). I absolutely love the feeling- especially the initial 5 seconds coming out of the plane. I am honestly wanting to look into getting certified to jump myself. Anyone who has not done it.... You are really missing out!!! The only thing disappointing about the jump was seeing the pictures we paid for afterwards. Mine especially came out horrible!!!! We specifically asked our photographers to get certain shots of us. We both did what we wanted and neither of our photographers got the picture. Ugh! Oh well, nothing we can do about it. We have not watched the DVDs yet so we will see how those turned out when we return home.
After the jump we did some final souvenir shopping then went back to the hotel to get ready for our pub crawl. We attended the Kiwi Ice bar pub crawl. It was fun, but it was all single young folks. I seriously felt so old (legal drinking age in Australia and New Zealand is 18). Some of the girls were so wasted though and it was awesome watching them and remembering when I was their age, haha.
I'll post pictures when I can get to a real computer to load them from the cd.
New Zealand Day 7: A cold, wet Doubtful Sound
Today was supposed to be the day we had our overnight cruise in Milford Sound that we switched to a day trip to Doubtful Sound after going to Milford Sound yesterday. We knew the weather was not looking good, and for the most part that was correct. Thankfully, at the end of the cruise we did get some blue skies. The entire day was freezing cold, and half of it wet too. Yuck! It was still beautiful, and the one good thing that rain brings is more waterfalls. There were tons of those at Doubtful Sound, most of them long skinny ones. The other cool thing was we got to see several Australian penguins which are the most rare breed of penguin. Regardless of weather, we decided we still liked Milford Sound more and definitely liked getting there by helicopter more than by bus (it was about a 4 hour trip on the ground to get there and another 4 back). Because the transportation lengths this took up the entire day. Here are a couple pictures from the day...
New Zealand Day 6: Extended
Here are the pictures from Kyle's round of golf in Queenstown from Wednesday. He had to take a water taxi to get there, but the views were gorgeous!
New Zealand Day 6: Our best day yet!!!!!!!!
Where to even start with today!?!?!!! Okay, as of last night we were not sure what today would bring us or what we would end up doing. We had skydiving on the itinerary however even though we tried to book it right when we got in, they were completely booked for today (strange- you book everything here the day before with no issues). So weather conditions had kept skydiving on hold for 3 days which is why it was so booked from those people pushing it back. Anyways- so the only other thing that I had REALLY wanted to do in New Zealand that we just had no time for is to hike one of the glaciers on the south island- ice spike shoes and all! Well glaciers are 5+ hour drive from QT so it really wasn't an option, however i found a helicopter tour that will at least take you to the top of one and let you see it. It was too late to call last night so I set the alarm for very early to try this morning. Thank God for Peter who was so gracious to me! They too had 3 backed days of no flights going out and many people waiting for the right day. I received a call back from him that he would fit us into a different tour- one that is twice as expensive and three times as long. He said we would be picked up in a half an hour (I was still in bed) and we would fly to Milford Sound, land then get a 2 hr boat cruise around Milford Sound. We would then load up the helicopter again and set out for a glacier landing. So basically what we wanted and more and he offered it to us at the same price of just the glacier tour as long as I did not discuss our deal with the other passengers aboard. We saved $720- the only thing that we were hesitant about is the fact that tomorrow we had a planned overnight cruise of Milford Sound and we didn't know how we felt about seeing it 2 times. I told Kyle the weather for tomorrow is not supposed to be good, and being such a gorgeous place we should for sure go today to at least get one pretty day cruise out of it.
Okay, so it turned out to be our best day yet!!!! Helicopter ride was indescribably, unforgettably amazing. I have never seen such beauty before in my life- the angles you get, and the things you get to see which you could not possibly see on foot or in a plane are breathtaking. Kyle said he didn't think he stopped smiling the entire time. If I wasn't on the outside, I sure was on the inside!!! The Milford Sound cruise was lovely too. We learned it was the exact route that the cruise would take the next day, and also confirmed the weather is not looking great for the following day so we decided to switch from an overnight Milford sound cruise to a Doubtful Sound day cruise. Anyways- it rains A LOT in Milford Sound..... At least 300 days a year, and they said they can get more rain in a week than London in a year (shocking because it rains a lot there too!). That being said, we were very fortunate to have our cruise with blue skies and white clouds today! Again, Milford Sound's beauty is so hard to describe in words or even show in pictures. There are large mountains forming the land around the twisting and turning water- snow caps, waterfalls, penguins, seals, you get it all! After our cruise we loaded back into the helicopter and set off for a glacier however because of the wind (it was darn windy out- it was surprising we were allowed in a helicopter at all) as well as cloud cover over the glacier tops we went to the peak of a tall, very powder snowy mountain. I was a little sad, but once we got to the top of the mountain I was not disappointed. It was gorgeous!!! We kept imagining ourselves as the crazy good snowboarders at go to mountain tops via helicopter and do super wild things. You would sink a foot into the snow (down to the glacier part) with every other step...... Not a good day for me to have worn cute little flats, but the cold feet didn't bother me too much with that view. After taking pictures up there and playing around a little we boarded back up and set off for Queenstown. We finished this part of our day with a late lunch at Fergburger. And the winner is............ Devil's Burger!!!!! We thought it was better, AND it was cheaper! Kyle is currently playing a round of golf as I write this so his golf pics wont make it into this post- plus, it's a loaded one already!
Now..... Speaking of that..... Pictures. I have gone through them 3 times and cannot seem to get the number of photos I keep on the iPad lower than 250 for the day (I only keep the really good ones on here but keep all of them on the card). I have no idea how to chose which for you to see but here goes nothing........
Okay, so it turned out to be our best day yet!!!! Helicopter ride was indescribably, unforgettably amazing. I have never seen such beauty before in my life- the angles you get, and the things you get to see which you could not possibly see on foot or in a plane are breathtaking. Kyle said he didn't think he stopped smiling the entire time. If I wasn't on the outside, I sure was on the inside!!! The Milford Sound cruise was lovely too. We learned it was the exact route that the cruise would take the next day, and also confirmed the weather is not looking great for the following day so we decided to switch from an overnight Milford sound cruise to a Doubtful Sound day cruise. Anyways- it rains A LOT in Milford Sound..... At least 300 days a year, and they said they can get more rain in a week than London in a year (shocking because it rains a lot there too!). That being said, we were very fortunate to have our cruise with blue skies and white clouds today! Again, Milford Sound's beauty is so hard to describe in words or even show in pictures. There are large mountains forming the land around the twisting and turning water- snow caps, waterfalls, penguins, seals, you get it all! After our cruise we loaded back into the helicopter and set off for a glacier however because of the wind (it was darn windy out- it was surprising we were allowed in a helicopter at all) as well as cloud cover over the glacier tops we went to the peak of a tall, very powder snowy mountain. I was a little sad, but once we got to the top of the mountain I was not disappointed. It was gorgeous!!! We kept imagining ourselves as the crazy good snowboarders at go to mountain tops via helicopter and do super wild things. You would sink a foot into the snow (down to the glacier part) with every other step...... Not a good day for me to have worn cute little flats, but the cold feet didn't bother me too much with that view. After taking pictures up there and playing around a little we boarded back up and set off for Queenstown. We finished this part of our day with a late lunch at Fergburger. And the winner is............ Devil's Burger!!!!! We thought it was better, AND it was cheaper! Kyle is currently playing a round of golf as I write this so his golf pics wont make it into this post- plus, it's a loaded one already!
Now..... Speaking of that..... Pictures. I have gone through them 3 times and cannot seem to get the number of photos I keep on the iPad lower than 250 for the day (I only keep the really good ones on here but keep all of them on the card). I have no idea how to chose which for you to see but here goes nothing........
New Zealand Day 5: A town fit for a Queen!
Well, for a morning of travel our day started interesting enough. First I will start by saying how upset Kyle was when finding out that the premier of The Hobbit was in Wellington on Wednesday (it was Tuesday and we were leaving Wellington). All of the cast would be around and New Zealand is VERY proud of the series since they were filmed here. There is lord of the rings stuff everywhere here. Anyways, when we arrive at the airport I was noticing random media cameras and stuff around not quite sure what was going on. Then, a new Zealand airways flight with full out The Hobbit paintings on the outside arrives and everyone is flocking to windows. So the cast and whoever else involved had arrived in town and had a whole possy of media and fans waiting to get photographs. We were able to stick around for just a few minutes before our flight took off to catch some of the people exiting the plane- honestly don't know anyone involved in the series minus Elijah Wood so who knows if they are anyone good.
So on to Queenstown..... What a fabulous city!!!!!!!!!! It is beautiful, hip and soooo many things to do here!!! We got checked in around 2:30 and booked a ziptrek tour for shortly later. Many of you know how excited I was about the photograph they get of you zipping above the trees with beautiful Queenstown lakes and mountains as the backdrop. I even bought red skinny jeans just for that picture, haha! Well, when we arrive we learn that they no longer use the camera on that run. You have got to be kidding me!!!! Apparently the sun always caused the pictures to turn out funny- lame! We did the ziptrek anyways though and it was still fun- especially zip lining upside down! Afterwards we ate at burger joint called Devils Burger. There is a famous place for burgers here called Fergburger, but one person here said they liked devils burger more and after seeing the line at Fergburger we went with the easier to get in. It definitely did not disappoint!!!! Has to be a top 2 burger I have had in my life (competing only with Port of Call in New Orleans). Mmmm!!!! By this time it was 9:30 so we strolled back to the hotel. It doesn't get dark until around 10 o'clock here which is freaking awesome!!!!!!!
So on to Queenstown..... What a fabulous city!!!!!!!!!! It is beautiful, hip and soooo many things to do here!!! We got checked in around 2:30 and booked a ziptrek tour for shortly later. Many of you know how excited I was about the photograph they get of you zipping above the trees with beautiful Queenstown lakes and mountains as the backdrop. I even bought red skinny jeans just for that picture, haha! Well, when we arrive we learn that they no longer use the camera on that run. You have got to be kidding me!!!! Apparently the sun always caused the pictures to turn out funny- lame! We did the ziptrek anyways though and it was still fun- especially zip lining upside down! Afterwards we ate at burger joint called Devils Burger. There is a famous place for burgers here called Fergburger, but one person here said they liked devils burger more and after seeing the line at Fergburger we went with the easier to get in. It definitely did not disappoint!!!! Has to be a top 2 burger I have had in my life (competing only with Port of Call in New Orleans). Mmmm!!!! By this time it was 9:30 so we strolled back to the hotel. It doesn't get dark until around 10 o'clock here which is freaking awesome!!!!!!!
New Zealand Day 4: Driving the northern island
Today was our long drive from Rotorua to Wellington. The drive was beautiful but it still was a long drive that was exhausting. The trip took us through Taupo which is situated on a large lake with a great backdrop. We had lunch here, checked out both the volcanic activity center (a nice little educational treat) and Haka Falls. The volcanic activity center is pretty much a tiny museum for everything involved in volcanoes, earthquakes & tornadoes. My favorite was the earthquake part and reading matrial/watching film on the earthquakes in Christchurch. Christchurch will be our last stop in New Zealand before heading home and it faced so much devastation last year. 3 earthquakes each 4 months apart struck. The second one, which occurred the closest to the city, was the most devastating- many buildings literally crumbled to the ground including the famous church in the cities center. 188 people died and so many hundreds of families are left with homes that have major cracks running through them and they are forced to live there. They even had an earthquake simulator where you got to feel what an earthquake of that magnitude would feel like. They had a ton of educational things on geology aspects of both earthquakes and volcanoes. So anyways- When we finally did arrive in Wellington, it was a bit cloudy and much more of a working city than any other we have been to. There was rush hour traffic and one way streets downtown- the combination of which made finding our way around a bit difficult! We ate dinner at the Lone Star Bar and Grill (had to!), and then when we passed the cinema on the way home it tempted us to check it out. Soooooo..... Guess who got to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 in New Zealand?!?! THIS GIRL!!!! Okay so here is where the story gets fun. We go to buy tickets to a 8:15 show (we got there at 8:20 which seemed perfect) however there is no one at the ticket counter. Literally was like a ghost town. So the theaters are up escalators so we go up there thinking maybe you buy them there. Can not find anyone to help us figure out where to get them, and the guy who would tear off the stubs to go in has disappeared as well so Kyle says "let's just go in- no one is around!" This kind of rebellion is very foreign to me, and the whole idea freaked me out but I also was annoyed that we would be missing the movie so I eventually agreed to do it. The only problem is the theaters didn't have the movie titles outside the doors like home so it took about 5 theaters before finding the right one. Not sure how much of the beginning we missed, but it couldn't have been too too much. About 5 minutes in a guy walks in looking at the people in the theater with flashlight in hand and I definitely panicked a little, but all ended up being okay. I'm sure Kyle was thrilled to not have to pay for that movie, too (although he did say he thought it was the best so far and I heard no sighs from him like usual so I think he actually enjoyed it!). That concluded the night. Here are a few pics from our drive...
New Zealand Day 3: Speed racers Maori style!
Today we woke up and did took the gondola up to the top of a mountain right on the side of lake Rotorua. It was gorgeous up there!!! We did 5 luge rides down and this was the highlight of the day!!! A luge is basically a plastic box with wheels you sit in and use handlebars to turn as you go flying down different paths down the mountain. It was seriously as fun as the day I got a pogo stick!!!! We had so much fun doing it!!! We bought some great pictures of us on the course and on the chair lift back up but I will need to scan those before I can post. Here are some of us that we took on our own though:
We walked around town center of Rotorua then headed back to the hotel to be picked up for the Maori dinner we booked. The Maori people were the original tribes in New Zealand before the Brits came and took over. They have similar dinners to luaus, etc. Is particular one was supposed to be the best in NZ, and I can see why! It was great, and they were hilarious too! So on each bus the driver picked one male to represent that group and be the "chief". He had to learn the traditional greeting to do with the real tribal chief when we arrived and also lead in many other things through the night.... Including a front seat bus ride home talking on the mic about himself. Welllllll- low and be hold they chose Kyle as chief of our bus. He was loving it, and I got some great shots of him doing traditional Maori greetings, dances, etc. I would say he picked up fairly well- just didn't quite fit his look, haha! Enjoy!!!
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We walked around town center of Rotorua then headed back to the hotel to be picked up for the Maori dinner we booked. The Maori people were the original tribes in New Zealand before the Brits came and took over. They have similar dinners to luaus, etc. Is particular one was supposed to be the best in NZ, and I can see why! It was great, and they were hilarious too! So on each bus the driver picked one male to represent that group and be the "chief". He had to learn the traditional greeting to do with the real tribal chief when we arrived and also lead in many other things through the night.... Including a front seat bus ride home talking on the mic about himself. Welllllll- low and be hold they chose Kyle as chief of our bus. He was loving it, and I got some great shots of him doing traditional Maori greetings, dances, etc. I would say he picked up fairly well- just didn't quite fit his look, haha! Enjoy!!!
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New Zealand Day 2: Living on the edge!
Today we started the day with the Auckland skywalk! This is their version of a Vegas stratosphere type building (you can see it in the night shot in previous post). On the top (below the needle) is a suspended metal track you can walk around. Both sides of the track look straight down, and there are no railings or anything to hold onto. They do have you attached to a bungee which is attached to a rail above you and moves with you as you walk. It was very cool!!! We bought the pictures, but they came on a USB that is too large and won't upload on the iPad (there is also the entire video of it on there). I am going to try and use the hotel computer to add them tomorrow though. After we competed our walk we had to get on the road to make it to the glow worm caves and then to Rotorua.
The glow worm caves are in a town called Waitomo, and they are pretty famous worldwide. You can only find glowworms in 2 places in the world- Australia and New Zealand, and apparently this place is the best of all. It was pretty fascinating to take a boat through black caves that look like tiny stars cover the ceilings of. Unfortunately no pictures are allowed, and not sure with movement and darkness they would have come out. One of those things you just need to see in person to appreciate anyways.
We made it into Rotorua around 6:30 pm. I am not sure how we will make it anywhere driving here on time because the scenery is nothing short of AMAZING! If anyone out there has done the road to Hana in Hawaii, the roads we were on had similar turns but the scenery was 50 times better!!! If the southern island really is even prettier I cannot imagine! Here are some pictures I took hanging out the windows on the drive (imagine me hopping around from passenger seat to back seat 20 times and then settling on the middle backseat because the views just didn't stop coming from every direction)! We also drove right by hobbiton- where they filmed Lord of the Rings. We did not go by to see it- just not enough time.
The glow worm caves are in a town called Waitomo, and they are pretty famous worldwide. You can only find glowworms in 2 places in the world- Australia and New Zealand, and apparently this place is the best of all. It was pretty fascinating to take a boat through black caves that look like tiny stars cover the ceilings of. Unfortunately no pictures are allowed, and not sure with movement and darkness they would have come out. One of those things you just need to see in person to appreciate anyways.
We made it into Rotorua around 6:30 pm. I am not sure how we will make it anywhere driving here on time because the scenery is nothing short of AMAZING! If anyone out there has done the road to Hana in Hawaii, the roads we were on had similar turns but the scenery was 50 times better!!! If the southern island really is even prettier I cannot imagine! Here are some pictures I took hanging out the windows on the drive (imagine me hopping around from passenger seat to back seat 20 times and then settling on the middle backseat because the views just didn't stop coming from every direction)! We also drove right by hobbiton- where they filmed Lord of the Rings. We did not go by to see it- just not enough time.
New Zealand Day 1: Excited for what this country has to offer!
Not much happened today. We had our flight from Cairns to Auckland- a 4 hour flight and we went ahead 4 hours, so although the flight left at 10:45 am, we arrived here around 7 not giving us a whole lot of day left. We did make a walk down to Westhaven Marina for some pictures of the beautiful Auckland skyline. I also took some photos of the great barrier reef as we flew over it (which was really cool)! Tomorrow morning we will be walking around the skywalk (top of needle in the Auckland skyline picture).... Can't wait!!!
Australia Day 8: Yongala Revisited... Happy Thanksgiving!!
We have a lot to be thankful for today. I'll start with great weather and another day diving on the Yongala!!! We finished our advanced open water diver course today (Yay!), and had fun while doing so! Saw an awesome HUGE marble ray sleeping next to a sea snake to start off the dive. To end the dive we saw a pack of 3 spotted eagle rays swimming over us. Lots of groupers and sea snakes again as well. Oscar the octopus was not in his normal spot today, so we missed him. I will post a picture of the toilets you see on the wreck. We also saw some skeletal remains today as well. And for everyone I told how I was concerned about the jellyfish- they are there..... All over the place. Especially super tiny ones that you really have to look for to see. Good news is that the majority of them are not the really dangerous ones so you just feel stings which go away quickly (and only when they get you where your stinger suit doesn't cover). Fortunately we have not had any signs of the bad kinds of stingers! :). We ended the day with a long drive back to Cairns so we can catch our flight to New Zealand in the morning. That was interesting because the drive from Cairns to Ayr was done in the dark. For the period of light we had on this drive I realized I had been driving on mountain edges and some water around. Always good to know! Anyways- Happy Thanksgiving to anyone reading this!!! Eat some turkey for us please, we are not having dinner tonight!
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