Road trip----Christmas continues!

Road Trip---Christmas trip continues.....

The following days(which turned into weeks) after our Christmas kayaking were awesome as well! We basically toured the whole South island. We now were just plain Canada (for we lost the Irish….no not at sea….he headed to the North Island to hang out with a different group)

Dec. 29th
We headed to a place called Harwood’s hole, which is basically a really deep hole (400 m deep and 70 m wide) it was a long way down……and at the time there were some climbers who absailed (repelled down into the hole) and were exploring the cave system that was far below. It is also known as…are you ready for this fact….the longest Shaft in NZ. I was there! I was there! That night we stayed at a really cool free campsite near Takaka. ( I love saying that name….Takaka)

Dec. 30th
Today we drove towards Collingwood and went to the Farewell Spit which is of international importance because it is the longest and biggest sand bar in the Southern hemisphere (26km long). There are occasions (annually) when a pod of pilot whales will become beached on this sand bar. Some of the photos are quite disturbing and it is very sad when this happens. We also went to Wharariki Beach which is a spectacular sand dune type beach….there was sand everywhere…..we spent hours jumping off sand drifts and exploring caves…although I did not partake in this activity…for my Seal days are over! We also hiked in and explored Waikoropupu springs (called Pupu springs….pronounced yes…..POO POO) ironic cuz they are the furthest thing from that. Pupu springs is the largest freshwater spring in NZ and the clearest in the world. 14 000 L of water a second is thrown up from a number of underground vents that feed the spring. It is obviously very cold and the springs are a sacred healing pool of the Moari people (Native NZ). They are all barricaded off because of the Didymo scare that is happening in NZ. Didymo or ‘rock snot’ as they call it is basically this non-native fresh water algae that totally over takes river systems by clinging to the rocks and then basically killing out all other forms of life. It is very easily transferred from river to river through bathing suits, wet shoes and boats…so as you can see it is a very scary thing if it keeps spreading as they are unsure how to get rid of it as of right now. One of the big worries at the moment is the possibility of it getting into Pupu springs and ruining the sacred pools. We stayed a second night at the same little camp site, but decided to go into town later in the evening to check out a Reggae bar…it was quite a cool little place…lots of hippies, we looked a bit out of place, but all is well. I could have spent hours watching the people dance and move to the music…it is almost like they are possessed with it, or you could just call it being high! (them not me!)

Dec. 31st
Today we hiked into the Rawhiti caves which has the largest entrance to a cave and it had really cool stalagmites (ground up) and stalactites(ceiling down). Stalagmites which are types of the deposition of calcium carbonate. If these formations grow together, meeting in the middle, the result is known as a column. (How is that for a science lesson…sorry I thought it was interesting!) It wasn’t much of a cave, it was more of a big entrance and then it ended. For New years we drove up to Nelson, which is a cute little touristy town and we set up camp at a local campground. We cooked a great meal and brought the New years in with plenty of good drinks and laughs! It was a little slow going the following day maybe to many laughs and not enough drinks..or maybe it was the other way around J….but once we finally got moving we headed towards the Westside of the island and stayed at Westport.

Jan. 2nd
Today was an interesting day because we started the day out by doing an off-road 4 wheeling experience (on quads). It turned into the tour from hell!!! It is quite funny now, but at the time I was pretty fired up. Basically the tour guide that was taking us around was a complete jerk! He was traveling so slow that we barely could make it through the mud, never mind getting muddy and to make a long story short we basically got turned around during our trip because we weren’t listening to directions (which we were given none) and we were taking too long (perhaps due to the 5 km/hr speed we were traveling) We were all very annoyed and quite pissed off with the whole experience, we talked to the owner of the company and explained to him our disappointment and he decided to take us out again….so we did and it was a whole different experience!! MUCH better….we were getting stuck and flinging mud everywhere, it was great!
After this, Paul and Sylvie put there life in my hands as I drove for the first time in NZ…quite different driving on the other side of the road….you tend to drift left….not sure why…..and it is really weird backing up…anyways, we went to check out pancake rocks. They are these really cool flat rocks and if we would have been out there during high tide, there are supposedly very impressive ‘blow holes’, where the ocean gets forced through these huge holes (the name says the rest) but we caught it at low tide, so we just saw the big holes! I would love to see it when the tide is up. On our way back to see the others we also stopped in at the Punakaike caves, which are a little cave system just off the highways. Pretty neat, obviously very dark! (head lights and flashlights do come in handy).

Jan. 3
We drove to Franz-Josef glacier today, the others all checked it out before so they just chilled at a bar while Paul and I hiked out to it. It was very big and really cool (like the pun..) to see. Paul and Sylvie had to head back to Christchurch to start work, so I jumped in with the others: Forbes, Jen and Dave, to continue on with the road trip! We stayed at a cute little campsite on Punga lake. It was a cute little set up because, everyone arranged their tents into an arc, so that everyone had a view of the lake. Well this arc created a little playing field, and there just happened to be an Irish man and a boy playing with a soccer ball. So I asked if they wanted to play and they said sure….so we made teams and had ourselves a little soccer game! It was quite funny though because as the game continued more and more people camping near by joined in and we had a little audience of people watching so it became quite competitive (imagine that, me being competitive!). It sure was a lot of fun, and we played till we couldn’t see the ball anymore….at least a good 2 hours I’d say.

Jan. 4
We drove through Haast pass, which is one of the many mountain passes that you drive as you cut through the southern alps. We stopped in a cute little town called Hawea and had a good little meal. It was quite hot so we decided to go for a swim in Hawea lake. The water was absolutely freezing, so it made it very refreshing! We met with some folk who were near by with a boat. I ended up going for a knee board around in the lake! It was very beautiful…I had to see if I could still do the 360 spin’arama…..all was good only a few wipe outs! We continued to drive to Wanaka, which is another little touristy town. We hiked up Iron Mt. which gave us a great view of Wanaka and was a good leg stretch! We stayed in a little campground by Albert town and hung out at the local pub….for some cold ones!

Jan. 5
PUZZLE WORLD……..is where we went next, can you tell I liked it (sorry it’s the science geek in me!) It was really cool, they had a whole room of amazing hologram pictures as well as a room full of optical illusions. In fact the whole room was an illusion cuz you felt like you were on a tilt and everything was spinning, things that were suppose to be one way worked totally different (hence the illusion part). It was quite funny watching little kids run into the room, not knowing what to expect and they would run into walls or just fall over cuz their balance was all off! (mean, I know..but still funny) There was also a huge maze outside, so we experienced what mice feel like in an experiment. There were Four corners to the maze labeled different colors and the object of the game is to get too all four corners, so we split into two and made it a race….I think we spent close to an hour or two finding the corners!! It was hilarious how easy it was to get lost! We then drove to Cromwell, where Jen and I went cherry picking! It was funny because I think we ate more then we picked and when we were about to leave to go pay for our bucket of cherries we had the evidence all over our lips, tongue and teeth….opps! We continued onto Dunedin which is back on the southeast side of the island, this is the place that I intended to coach hockey at, however, plans may change for I am taking a liking to Christchurch, where I am presently living. I will know more after I meet with them in Feb. to see what kind of deal they are willing to offer me and if I do indeed want to make the move.

Jan. 6
On the look out for the yellow-eyed penguin in the Catlins. It was kind of a miserable day, with some rain and wind but we were all determined to find these little penguins. Jen informed us that the little penguins were very fragile and that if a penguin sees you, you are to leave the area….So Dave, being the card he is, played this one up real good! We first stopped at Roaring bay where there was a little look out platform, Dave was hiding behind every bush and rock, saying, “Jen do they see me, Do they see me?” It was hilarious…one of those I think you had to be there type things…but just work with me here! No penguins, we then went out to Nugget point, we saw tons of seal colonies but again no Penguins…we checked out Parakaunui waterfalls and had lunch in Kaukau and drove to Curio bay to see a petrified forest of 180 billion years. And guess what ……….YELLOW EYED PENGUINS……….up real close….they were so funny to watch. Very awkward creatures, I was amazed with how high they can jump, I think there was 5 of them in total that waddled in from the ocean and made their way to the bushes, where they made quite the racket with their little calls (ear piercing really). This was defiantly the best part of the Catlins! The trees here were very odd looking, there was definitely a prevailing wind because there were all wind blown the same way!! Quite funny really!

Jan. 7
We drove to Bluff, which is the tip of the South island. We were on the look out for crayfish, but everything was closed down for Christmas(in NZ, things pretty much shut down for close to a month over Christmas and New Years). We started making our way back towards Queenstown, which is the adventure capital of NZ (aka tourist tramp….loose a lot of $$$). We stopped in at Gore which is a small little town and checked out there hockey rink. I might have an opportunity to coach here…but it really is in the middle of no where and it is the pit of all NZ jokes! We spent the night at a campground close to Queenstown, it had spectacular views, but the sand flies were awful!!

Jan. 8
JUMP DAY!!!! Today was like any other day, except that I fell 134 meters with a rope attached to my feet!! Only a 8.5 sec. freefall into a gorge full of water… AHHHHHHH….
It wasn’t really planned it just kind of happened, we went to check out the schedule to see if you had too book in advance and the lady said we could jump at 3:15 pm….well it was 1:00pm at the time!! So we said okay we will do it! So we signed up for the Nevis (the highest bungy in NZ and I believe they claim to be the third highest in the world). I think the most nerve racking thing was signing up…cuz you press the button to pay and there is no turning back!!! Dave was hilarious for the next 2 hours…..he was very nervous and scared, it really made the whole adventure that much better when you have someone with you that is that nervous!! You take a bus up to the place that you get ready to jump from, which is about a 30 min. drive…..The bus ride was great…I have never seen so many nervous people in my life….I mean I was a bit nervous, but some of the people on the bus were doing Lamaze breathing, and one poor guy had the largest pit stains I have ever seen they looped right down to the end of the shirt almost! We got up to the top and received all our harnesses, we then had to take a little cage like trolley over to the jump platform, which was suspended with huge cables in the middle of a gorge. The little trolley was quite scary for there was no real bottom to it, and as you were being pulled across you could see people jumping! I think I started to get nervous about here. We made it to the platform, which had a glass bottom and the jumping began….It was honestly the coolest feeling ever, to just dive into the air and fall, and fall and fall and fall….at first it was like WAHOOOOOOO….and then you just keep falling and the Wahoooooo’s turn into HOLY &#*# ‘s and HOLY @&#$#’s. But finally the rope catches you and then you bob up and down before you pull a lever which sits you up right for them to pull you up! The big question….does it hurt your back, the jarring….well for starters it happens so fast you have no time to think of anything, but when the gazillions of elastics do catch you, it is such a gentle spring that there is no jarring what so ever! So Mom and Dad…guess what you get to do when you come out here……come on face your fears!!! We all jumped and obviously survived, so as soon as we got back into town we went to a bar to celebrated of course ‘our lives’! We continued the celebration as we made our way over to an “ice bar” which is defiantly a tourist tramp but might as well do as tourists do….it was a really cool (I used this one already..) bar, everything was totally made out of ice (floor, benches, the bar and even the glasses!) It was only minus 7 in the actual bar part, but you should see the stuff they make you wear…big jackets, mitts and booties…..us Canadians wanted to be tough and just where our sandals and shorts in…kind of glad we didn’t for it got cold after awhile! You are allowed to stay in there for 30 min. drink your drinks and then leave. We continued the life celebration and went to a bar where we drank out of tea pots…but that tea gave me a headache the next day…so not sure what I was drinking! Before we headed back to our campsite, we ate the famous Fergburger, which is a massive burger…hate to say this but quite possibly better then Peters drive in mom!

Jan. 9
Today marked the last day of our trip! To celebrate this, I decided to do another bungy!! HAHHA I think I am addicted. Well the catch is, is if you jump within 24 hours you get the second jump for ½ price….so me being the bargain shopper….STEAL OF A DEAL! I decided to do the Kawarau Bridge jump, which is the site of the original bungy jump (I thought this was necessary, do the highest and the first site…I mean it is all part of the history! So guess what mom and dad…..hahaha get your jumping boots on!) so this jump was a lot more daunting for me. It was only 43 meters, but I decided to spice things up a bit and jump off backwards and then get fully dunked into the river at the bottom…….so ya little bit more nerve wracking!! Plus everyone is watching from a viewing platform. So away I went, all ready to walk the plank and the guy said, make sure you tuck your chin, otherwise you will come up with 2 black eyes and bloody tear ducts…..HAHAH I mean obviously good tips, but increased the nervous level!! So away I went, dove off backwards, but of course your first instinct is to look where you are going (aka not tucking chin at all!) and you are bit disorientated in the air, so I just tucked my chin in time and caught a big gulp of air before I made the plunge into the river!! WAHOOOO!!! So much fun! I loved it!!

We then drove to Mt. Cook to check it out, which is the highest mountain in NZ. But not much good when it is raining and over cast, so we didn’t see much! We stopped in at Lake Tekapo and took some pictures of a cute little quaint church that was built in 1935 we then drove all the way back to Christchurch, which marked the end of our adventure!!!