That was so totally WICKED! (NZ Part 5)

Stay with me on this blog. It's going to be full of pictures of random sights I've seen on my South Island trip. But the best is saved for last - so just hang in there. :) And trust me, it's definitely wicked - this is turning out to be a pretty freakin' sweet trip!

The Magic Bus is pretty cool. We make lots of sightseeing stops on the long drive from town to town. On Monday I went from Picton to Nelson, of course. That was already covered. In each town we go to, travelers have the option of staying as many nights as they want, and then catching the next Magic Bus that comes. Since my time is limited, I've been staying only one night in each town, which is fine - I don't spend as much money, but I still get to do most things that I want to do. Anyway, I digress. From Nelson we went on to Greymouth. The only thing to do there was the brewery tour and BBQ combo, which was pretty cheap, considering what you get. I went ahead and spend the evening with other travelers, which was great fun.




Look closely, and you can see some seals laying in the sun. This is an official seal colony in New Zealand.


This is a Weka bird, one of the many breeds of flightless birds in NZ. Unlike the Kiwi bird, which is a rare sight, the Weka is quite bold. I saw a lot of them, and they seemed unafraid of humans, walking right near me. Pretty cool.


View from the top of a hill at one of our stops on the road.



From Greymouth we moved onto Franz Josef, which was beautiful. It is home to the Franz Josef Glacier. Pretty cool. I had originally planned on doing the glacier kayaking trip, which I was pretty stoked for, and quite keen on doing. Unfortunately, I was the only person interested, and I'm just not enough people. So that fell through. Instead I went for indoor ice climbing. I've done some rock climbing, and I love it. This is a bit different, of course. It was pretty sweet. I went up the first three walls pretty quickly. By the third wall my arms were getting a little weak at using muscles I don't normally use. I fell a little, but recovered quickly and easily. I rested for a bit after that. It was time for something a little more challenging. Unfortunately, my unused muscles were too tired for the overhang, and I just couldn't go on. Well, I didn't want to hurt myself, either. I lost one of the picks in the ice above me when I fell (don't worry, I was on a rope) - haha - so, with the help of the guy at the other end of the rope (boulay? boulet? belay? I don't know how to spell it) I climbed back up to grab it before heading back down the wall. Shockingly, I wasn't terribly sore the following days.


South Island west coast




These are called the Pancake Rocks because, although you can't see it very well because of the picture's size, the rocks look as though they are stacked like pancakes. There is a cafe across the street from this park that serves pancakes. Shocker.


This is the Franz Josef Glacier. There was an option to go hiking through the glacier, but I didn't budget for that. Maybe I'll do this sometime when I'm back home in Alaska.


I should also go ice climbing again - on real ice next time, though. It was pretty cool to learn how to do it. This is the "classic" pose, according to the instructor. I just went with it. :)

From Franz Josef we drove down to Queenstown. This was a very long drive, but we stopped quite a few places for some beautiful scenery. I think you will agree.


They call these the Mirror Lakes because they reflect so clearly. I was supposed to kayak on a similar lake, but I'm not bitter about that... Anyway, another stop along the way.


At the cafe we stopped at, where we were, it was quite crisp outside. It made for nice walking weather. Anyway, another woman and I walked the path first, then headed back to the cafe. She was looking forward to warmth. But when I walked in I found it uncomfortably hot. I chose to stand outside instead, and this is the view. Isn't it lovely? Unbelievable.


We stopped at a beautiful waterfall. I posed Carrie's question to a couple of people: "Why does everyone like waterfalls?" I got some interesting answers. They agreed, of course, that everyone loves waterfalls. One guy said it had to do with the fact that moving water is sterile, totally clean, untouched. He also talked about its power, how it can shape rocks, etc. Both people basically decided that it's unexplainable, so magnificent it cannot be described in words, and maybe that's what draws us. I don't know if there will ever be a final answer. But at least we know there is no wrong answer.


This is Charlene, a girl from Molta - her and I have been traveling on Magic together for the last few days. She will be staying in Queenstown without me, however. But it has been fun to get to know her!


We also stopped at a bungy bridge. Not just any bungy bridge - the first commercial bungy bridge in the world, founded by two crazy guys, one of which stayed up all night so that he could bungy off the Eiffel Tower without notice of the police. He did it in the morning, and was arrested not long after. I don't think he cared. Anyway, a few people from our bus did it. I had thought before that I would never bungy jump. But after watching a few people do it, it kind of looks like fun. I might just change my mind. :)

Queenstown is very pretty - it's surrounded by mountains. We didn't get here until the evening time (I'm still here), so I am two nights here. Today was my day for action. I am trying to mix up my adventures with busy and relaxing. But there are a few things that I have budgeted for and definitely wanted to do. The glacier kayaking fell through. And I was afraid this next one might also. It didn't, however, and today I fulfilled one of my longtime goals. Well, almost. It was tandem, and hopefully I'll be able to do it on my own someday. Anyway, I went Hang Gliding!!! That's right, I was hang gliding. Pretty sweet, huh?? Yep, totally wicked. I definitely have to do it again!



Basically, I strapped on a harness, my guy hooked me onto the glider, and then we ran off a bloody mountain. I believe those were his exact words. "You just ran off a bloody mountain." Yes, yes I did. And I definitely want to do it again! We were in the air for about 7-10 minutes, I reckon, though I wasn't keeping time. Literally flying - so cool. It's interesting to see the world from that point of view. It's unreal. The landing was my favorite, I think. Just sort of rolled onto the ground... What's funny, I wasn't even scared when we ran off the mountain. I was so stoked to get out there - I was more scared driving up the mountain than jumping off of it. Anyway, it was fantastic.


This is me at almost 4,000 feet on a mountain in the Remarkables (the mountain range in Queenstown) getting ready to jump off of it. Isn't it lovely?


Yep, I'm flying! Wee!


This is my guide, Dave. Basically, this was the sweetest experience ever. I'm totally getting one of those things... not that there are many mountains to jump off of in Unalakleet... But someday, I have to learn how to do this myself.

These last couple of days have felt very lazy to me. I am on holiday, so I suppose that's alright. Tomorrow I am hoping to kayak - ugh, I hope it goes through. We are driving to Dunedin, and the afternoon I am hoping will be spent taking a tour of the Elm Wildlife and then kayaking through it, as well.

Traveling alone is great - I highly recommend it. It's a good chance to get to know yourself better. I feel like this is selfish, but I reckon that's okay for now, even if it is selfish. I'm learning a lot about myself, and I reckon this whole adventure is making me a better, stronger, more confident person. I have never been more comfortable with being alone than I am now. In fact, at this point, I'd almost rather be alone. I'd rather spend my evening watching a movie on my own than hoofing around town with a group of people that I will probably never see again. I'd rather hike a trail by myself than have to make conversation with someone I've never met. I guess I'm just not here to meet people - I'm here to see New Zealand. And although this whole bus trip is rather touristy, I suppose it's a good way to introduce myself to the island anyway. And the rest of my trip is more Kiwi than this is anyhow - living with a family, learning about actual life in this country, understanding the economy and the people and the lifestyle. There's a lot that the tour guides don't tell us about life in NZ, and all we see are the places that are generally crowded with people from other countries looking for a thrill somewhere other than where they live. I've had the strangest feeling lately. I've actually missed home - home, as in Unalakleet. Generally, I dread the idea of leaving holiday and going back to the normal. But lately I've actually been looking forward to it. I don't want to leave NZ, that's for sure, and I want my holiday to last as long as possible here, as much for the experience as for the time with Bec. But I'm also looking forward to being back in my own space, in my own community, with my own friends, and of course, my own dog(s). Yeah, I have a puppy now, so technically I have 2 dogs. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the little one yet. I may just end up with 2 dogs. Not so bad, I suppose.

Well anyway, lots of droning on and on. Not really holiday sort of blogging, that last part. But then again, this is my blog. And if you haven't noticed my worldview ClusterMap, I've had a lot of hits. :) Make sure you leave me some comments!!