So we had the entire day to do whatever we pleased in Dunedin. So we checked into our hostel where we had our own room. We think the hostel used to be an old hospital, which is funny since every time I tell my family I'm in a hostel, they hear hospital and freak out. Hahaha. Anyways, we drove down the Otago Peninsula first to Larnach Castle. It isn't much of a castle, but it is the only one in NZ, and it was cool to see. There were some really great views down to Dunedin and the surrounding area. We then drove up to the point and back down to see some penguins. We had to hike down quite a large hill, which had a good portion of it being sand. It was super fun to slide down, not so much fun to climb back up. Anyways, we walked along the beach and got to see quite a few seals. We were making our way to the hideaway, which is just a small wooden building with windows so that you can see the penguins, but they can't see you. As we made our way to the path up to the hideaway, some stupid boys came down to yell at us about being too late and scaring the penguins. Considering how the penguins were later, I'm pretty sure we didn't scare them. During this little argument, we were right by a seal, a big seal, and I'm pretty sure he could sense the hostility. So what did he do? He roared and charged at us. Kinda funny to see a seal charge, but still really scary, although I'm pretty sure the boys were more scared than we were. We hung out in the hideaway for a bit, and we got to see five penguins come in from the ocean. Too bad it was kind of far away, but still really cool. On our way back across the beach we saw three more chillin on the other end of the beach. We then spent the night at the hostel making ridiculously delicious chicken tacos and watching Miranda.
Saturday we got up and headed into town, since we hadn't seen much of it the day before. We just bummed around and walked through the university. We then headed to Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world, and let me tell you, it is ridiculous. I wasn't about to walk it, and I don't think the rental car would have made it even halfway up. Of course from the pictures it doesn't even look that steep. I guess you all will have to go check it out for yourself.
We headed out of town to Invercargill, but not without a scenic route. We made our way through the Catlins along the southern coast. We made quite a few picture stops. One stop was down at Nugget Point. It is a really cool area up on a cliff with a lighthouse and all these big rocks jutting out of the ocean. We were going to stop at some waterfalls, but none of the signs tell you exactly how far off the road these places are. They usually tell you how many kilometers, but they forget to mention how far of a walk it is after that. So we skipped the waterfalls, which we all regretted a bit after we got to see some pictures of what they looked like. Oh well. Guess I'll hit them up next time. We did skip them though so we could make it down to Slope Point, the most southern point of the south island, by sunset. We did make it there, and boy did we get to see an amazing sunset. I haven't seen the sky glow in hot pink and orange like that in a long time. Plus, it seemed never ending. We left before it was over, and as we were driving it just kept getting better.
So we get to InvercargillSparky's. It was definitely a house turned into a hostel, and the guys who run it don't leave you alone. Most employees are gone by early evening and let you be. These guys didn't leave. They hung out with us, and well, it was a bit strange. Sparky advertises that everyone gets chocolate cake. So he came in our room to let us know cake would be in fifteen minutes. So we all figured it would be ready to eat by then. Not a chance. We walk into the kitchen where he has chairs lined up facing the counter. What the hell is going on? Sparky puts on a little show when he makes his cake. I got to be the lucky one to play the drums during the show, Mary played the tambourine, Jess played a sifter, the guy behind us played salad tongs, and Sparky played a harmonica and this banjo guitar thing. The guy kept getting sidetracked on what he was doing. This cake should have only taken maybe twenty minutes. I'm pretty sure it took around forty-five. And this was no normal cake. He made it in an ice cream container with chocolate chip cookies, Toffee Pop cookies, and milk. Then he just threw it in the microwave, and low and behold, we've got cake. It was surprisingly good and was more like cake than I would have thought. Lets just say it was quite the experience.
There's not much to see in Invercargill so we didn't spend too much time there Sunday morning. So we left town and made our way up to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. Of course we made quite a few picture stops again, one which specifically comes to mind. We were getting out of the car and I farted. Mary and I instantly started into a laughing fit, which brought on a story from the night before. When we had gotten to Sparky's, we were all just laying in our beds for a few minutes when I sneezed. Except not only did I sneeze, but a fart managed to slip out as a surprise at the same time. Mary said bless you, Jess said excuse you. Nobody else acknowledge what had just happened probably because there was a guy in the room that we didn't know. I was having a heart attack from silently laughing in my own bed. Unbeknownst to me, Mary was also having her own heart attack up on the top bunk. Then later when we were in the kitchen for cake, we were all talking and another fart slipped out of nowhere. Nobody said anything, and we all continued on like nothing had happened. Apparently Mary had also heard that one. I'm pretty sure Mary almost peed her pants from laughing so hard while we were talking about it and trying to take pictures. Somehow I managed to fart and sneeze at the same time again in Queenstown. When it happened Mary jokingly said excuse you. Jess wanted to know she had missed. I went on to explain. This time Mary hadn't heard the extra noise, but we laughed anyways. I believe they are now out of my system as it has not happened again.
We made it to Queenstown by early evening where we stayed in a hostel with a room full of other girls. This was also the first really strange shower we encountered. You had to push a button to turn it on, which kept the water on for oh about ten seconds. And there was no temperature control. It went from freezing cold to burning hot with about three or four button pushes. So I basically just tried to keep my elbow holding the button down while washing my hair with one hand before I burned my skin off. We made Kraft Mac n' Cheese that night for dinner, which we all miss, since the mac n' cheese here is nothing to write home about. We then explored town a bit, and went to bed early as Mary and I had an early start the next morning.
For my birthday on Monday, Mary and I took a tour to Milford Sound, which meant a long bus trip down to the town of Te Anau and into the Fiordland National Park. The first part of the trip I slept since I had already been through that area, but once we got into the park, I would have been upset with myself had I fallen asleep. The place is covered with mountains and forest, and it is beautiful. The bus driver made plenty of stops for us to get out and take pictures. It was really cool to have a glass ceiling so you could see the entire mountain from the bus. We even got to stop and fill up our water bottles from a fresh spring with super super cold water. The bus took us all the way to the Milford Sound, where we got on a cruise boat and sailed into the sound. Words cannot explain how amazingly beautiful and unreal this place is. It rains most of the year there, so it wasn't a surprise to have a cloudy day with a bit of rain. However, it made for some really cool pictures. There were tons of waterfalls, and I guess if it rains really hard in the morning, the waterfalls come down the walls of rocks in sheets. The pictures of that looked incredible. Mary and I spent most of the time on the top deck outdoing everyone else who couldn't handle the rain. However, while we were up there some Indian guys came and asked if they could take a picture with us. Just a little strange.
When we got back, we met up with Jess and went out for Mexican, which is super hard to find here. We of course had some margaritas to celebrate, and we continued celebrating at a few more bars. Unfortunately when we got back, all the other girls were asleep, so we felt we should go to bed as well.
The next morning we drove out of town a few minutes to the first commercialized bungy jump so that Jess could jump off of a bridge. Mary and I didn't feel the need to join her so we just watched and took pictures for her. We got to see quite a few people jump, some who had no fear, and other who took a bit longer. I had been trying to persuade her to jump naked since you get to go for free, but it was way too cold to do that. A bit later in the afternoon we made our way up one of the mountains via gondola to go ziplining, or as they like to call it here, the flying fox. We got all strapped into our harnesses and away we went. There were a little over ten of us in the groups, so it took a good three hours to do all six lines. On the second line they taught us how to go upside down. It was SO cool. There's nothing like flying through the forest on a side of a mountain upside down. One of the lines is the scenery line. It is pretty long and suddenly there's an opening in the forest out to the lake and other mountains. There's a video on facebook of that line if you want to watch it. The last line we got to do was the steepest tree to tree zipline in the world. So awesome. They even have to put an extra break line on otherwise you would fly down at 130km/hr. I have always wanted to go ziplining, and I finally got to do it, on my American birthday.
The guide was telling us some stories of stupid people who have gone ziplining. One lady looked out at the lake and thought that all the white caps from the waves her dolphins. Uh hello lady, dolphins don't live in lakes, and that is way too many dolphins to see at one time. Another lady thought the mountains on the other side of the lake were the north island and that she was on the south island. Umm no. The north island is nowhere near here. Some people just amaze me.
We spent the rest of our day doing some shopping and buying most of our souvenirs. They are really hard to find in Wellington, and Queenstown has much cheaper ones. We then grabbed some pizza and went back to our hostel to drink the wine we had bought. We were planning on going out, but we ended up talking to our Dutch roommate for a few hours instead.
We were a teensy bit worried that our flight would be canceled in the morning as one of the airlines had cancelled all of their flights due to the volcanic ash in Chile. Thankfully, we had booked with the better airline who had better equipment installed in their planes. So we made it back to Wellington safe and sound just in time to study for finals. Until next time...
Kia Ora,
Laura
