Queenstown to Lake Tekapo to Christchurch

Sadly Doug and I had to leave the adrenaline capitol of New Zealand. Queenstown was spectacular but it was time to say goodbye. On the 30th we boarded the bus with our friends: Danielle, Khalid, Chloe, and Arian. Unfortunately we had to leave Becky and Emma behind because they were staying extra days. We ventured on to Lake Tekapo (or as I accidentally pronounced it...Lake "Take-ah-poo"). 

 

We weren't sure what to expect there but it actually turned out to be quite beautiful (I shouldn't have been surprised, I'm in New Zealand for Pete's sake!) Doug and I shared a bunk bed room with our four other friends at the hostel. After settling in, the two of us decided to go for a hike.

The first part of the hike was an incline straight to the top of the hill side. From there we had a spectacular view of the mountains and Lake Tekapo itself. Lake Tekapo is nothing like the lakes at home in Indiana. It is a bright turquoise blue and it is massive. 

When Doug and I finished our hike a few hours later, we met up with the others and made dinner. Later we ended up watching the movie, Gone Girl in our bunk room on Danielle's iPad and listened to Khalid's hilarious story about the worst day of his life. We left early in the morning from Lake Tekapo and continued on towards Christchurch. 

To be honest, I thought Christchurch was going to be a bit dull, but I was happily mistaken. I thought this because in 2010 the city suffered a horrible earthquake that destroyed much of its landscapes and architecture. I hadn't heard the best info about the place. However, the city has made great progress in building itself back up again. There is still a large amount of construction, but Christchurch was a stop full of surprises

The first surprise was a positively gorgeous botanical garden. Doug and I walked out of our hostel, turned left and (bam!) walked straight into the Christchurch city garden (which we didn't even know existed). We were amazed at how much land it covered. I loved it because it looked like it was straight out of Alice in Wonderland and was 10x better than the rose garden we visited previously in Rotorua. 

There were hundreds upon hundreds of flowers everywhere we looked. I couldn't get over how beautiful of a place it was.  We spent hours walking around-mainly because Doug stopped every three seconds to take a photograph of the flowers. (I'm not kidding. He took almost 100 photos.)

He's become quite the flower photographer professional. (The guy may have a second career ahead of him.)  

The second surprise was ice cream. I had been craving boysenberry ice cream and Christchurch had it! It was made right in front of my face with fresh berries and it was delicious. Ice cream tastes so much better when you can't go to the freezer and have it any time you want. This trip has made me appreciate things I completely take for granted at home. 

The third surprise was a kiwi family dinner, which wasn't exactly a surprise but anytime Khalid cooks it always turns out to be super tasty. This time it was spaghetti bolagnese-delicious! 

The fourth surprise consisted of a symphony, chocolate, and fireworks. The receptionist at the hostel informed us about music and fireworks in the park, so since we are backpacking (and love anything that's free) we walked over to check it out. Much to our surprise there were loads of people sitting in the park watching a large symphony orchestra play on a stage. 

As we wondered around to find a spot, kids walked the area with large boxes and handed out free chocolate bars! It was a delightful surprise to us all (again, mainly because it was free).  We sat and listened to the symphony play soundtrack songs from the James Bond, Harry Potter, and Superman films. Then came the fireworks. The music coinciding with the timing of the fireworks made for an exciting show and wonderful ending to our day. 

Christchurch turned out to be way better than we had anticipated. It was a great last night with our Irish friends Khalid and Ariane. They caught a flight early the next morning. We truly have met some interesting and super wonderful people on this trip!

We left Christchurch at roughly 7:30am the following day and drove off to Kaikoura. 

Currently we have been in Kaikoura for two days. It's been so much fun and we have had some wild and crazy encounters.....check out the next post to hear more about our time in Kaikoura, a city known in New Zealand for its eccentric marine life :) 

Thank you so much for reading! Hopefully everyone back home is enjoying that lovely snowstorm I keep hearing about :) Be safe and enjoy the time you hopefully get to spend inside with your families! 

Nevis Bungy Jumping and Luging!!

The 29th of January was one of the greatest days on the backpack journey this far. Doug and I ended our time in Queenstown in the best way possible....with a full on adrenaline rush! We went bungy jumping! We had absolutely no intention to do such a thing, but after hearing about our friends' experiences we had to do it (peer pressure at its finest and we totally caved). 

We scheduled our bungy jump at 10pm the night before. 

We were scheduled to jump at 8:40am the next day. I have to admit, it was the best spur-of-the-moment decision I have ever made. We were both completely terrified. (I even practiced jumping off my bed the night before the jump.) 

The morning of the bungy we woke up after a nervous night of sleep and walked to the bungy pick up, got weighed, and received our bungy hand marks. 

Next we boarded a bus and took a 40minute drive to the Nevis Bungy location. 

The Nevis Bungy Jump is the highest bungy in all of Australasia at 134 meters....1-3-4 meters! Ahh! 

The drive to the bungy wasn't too bad. We met four people from Vermont and Doug spent most of the time chatting with a guy about his job (turns out he was once the leading producer of tear gas in the whole world-crazy). We talked to that man and his family most of the way so that was a nice distraction from thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong at the bungy.  

Once we arrived at the Nevis location things went very quickly. We were fitted into gear and harnesses and then shuttled onto a cart across the valley to the platform we were to jump from (a.k.a willingly throw our own bodies off of). 

Doug had to go second and I had to go fourth. 

Watching someone you love disappear and jump from a platform (by choice) is such a weird feeling (like when you drive over an unexpected hill and it tickles your stomach). 

Doug didn't even look nervous (if he was he hid it very well).  Doug's jump looked great! He went out far enough and was parallel with the ground. He did get a little excited to go towards the ground though! The cameras caught a hilarious photo of him at a perfect 90 degree angle in the air. 

The free fall during the descent is estimated to be ~9 seconds, but it feels so much longer! You are basically torpedo-ing your body straight towards the ground and you can't do anything about it! 

Pretty soon, I was next in line! (Imagine my horror). 

I was smiling on the outside but on the inside my nerves were raising a ruckus! My stomach was in knots and I'll be honest...I really wanted to cry but I was surrounded by men so of course, I didn't. The guys who worked there were super nice and supportive but (my goodness) I was basically trusting complete strangers with my life! Nevertheless, I let them strap up my feet and help me hobble to the end of the platform. Then.... I received the countdown. 

3...2...1...BUNGY!....and I jumped! 

I'm not kidding! It was so scary but so thrilling it was like I was having an out-of-body experience! 

The weirdest part wasn't the jump itself, it was realizing that two seconds after I jumped that oh my gosh- I actually jumped! I screamed my head off and had a blast! The adrenaline rush quickly defeated all of my fears and my nerves completely ceased to exist! 

The videos of our jumps are utterly hilarious. We could not stop smiling and laughing because we were on such adrenaline highs. It was the craziest experience yet. 

After conquering the Nevis Bungy , we went back to our hostel in Queenstown and ate some lunch. With the rest of the afternoon before us, we decided to hitch a ride on a gondalo up to an overview of Queenstown. 

There, we decided to go luging, which neither of us had ever done before. 

We took the go-pro and spent the entire afternoon laughing and crashing our luge carts into one another.

 It wasn't as intense as a bungy jump but it was the perfect way to end the day.

 

That night we went back to the hostel and had a "kiwi family dinner" with the group of friends we have made on the trip-some of the most interesting and hilarious people I have ever encountered. 

Our time on the South Island is slowly coming to an end, but we are still enjoying every bit of our journey. 

Doug and I both realize how lucky we are that we have been able to explore this beautiful country. These are the days we will absolutely never regret. 

Thanks so much for reading!! Have a great day and don't be afraid to take a few risks every now and then :) sometimes the outcome is far better than you could ever expect! 

Geronimo! :)