Well, finally have some time and energy to update you on my whereabouts. Currently in Queenstown, the southwestern corner of the South Island of NZ. Also, the city of adrenaline-rush activities - you name it, they've got it! This is the 7th day of mine and Val's ventures in NZ. Started with a little drama at the airport in Christchurch, trouble with my visa- for some reason they couldn't find it in their computer system. Val and I travelling together appears to be a comedy of errors. We arrived in Christchurch last Monday and boarded our Kiwi Experience bus the following day to head toward Wesport, a small town of 3,000-4,000. Not much to the town, we walked up and down mainstreet in about 15 minutes. The drive was amazing, reminded me a lot of driving up to the Rockies, except we were driving into the Southern Alps via the Lewis Pass, supposedly one of the 10 most scenic drives in the world. This has come to be a bit of a running joke as every road we drive on is either one of the best in the world, or the best in NZ. All very beautiful. From Westport, we've been making our way southerly through numerous other small town in the largely uninhabited west coast, I guess only a million people total in the whole of the South Island. Some of the highlights so far- amazing cliffwalks overlooking the coastline of the Tasman Sea, Punaiki (pancake rocks), so formed because of thousands of years of erosion of limestone rock giving the effect of stacks of pancakes, hiking Franz Joseph Glacier and bungee jumping!

We did an amazing walk along the coastline on our way to Cape Foulwind - 20 minutes south of Westport and so-named because of the stinky seals that populate the area. The views were absolutely incredible. Following Cape Foulwind and Punaiki, we headed straight for Greymouth, the primary commercial centre of the West Coast and boasting the largest population of 12,000. Also not much to see. After picking up our costumes for our theme party, Val and I weren't super impressed with the theme "wear anything you want but your clothes", but not wanting to be poor sports we picked up some orange garbage bags. Our destination that evening was Lake Mahinapua Hotel, aka The Poo Pub. Apparently, Kiwi Experience has been going to this place for the past 14 years. Now let me tell you, it was no hotel. Our sleeping accommodations were portables with bunk beds in them. We had a really tasty meal though, in the garage. It was interesting. A pretty good variety of costumes though. Val went as a convict and I as one of the Flinstones. Needless to say, I was not sad about leaving the next day.

We headed further south to the town of Franz Joseph Glacier, population 200. A lot like Banff, just on a smaller scale. Took lots of pics (no idea how to rotate pics on this website). We signed up for a full-day trek up to and through the glacier. Pretty awe-inspiring views and a great test of endurance. We were fully-loaded with woolies, raincoats, boots, talons and ice axes for our daylong experience. I started doubting my initial enthusiasm when we'd been trekking for a good few hours. Bear in mind that I have not participated in an sort of cardiovascular activity for a good 3 weeks. Being that our guide was literally cutting out steps for us in the ice, my only option was to continue. We were rewarded with spectacular scenery and really cool ice caves. It was a pretty amazing accomplishement when all was said and done. Definitely had a good sleep that night.

In the morning we passed through the town of Fox Glacier as we made our way to Lake Matheson where we had the opportunity to get our postcard-perfect pics of the mirror reflections of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman in Lake Matheson. From here, it was off to Lake Wanaka, followed by Queenstown. I'd been debating for the last couple of days - bungy or no bungy. After putting my name down on the list, I started getting really nervous about it - was I really going to jump off a bridge? So, I took my name off the list. Started feeling like it wasn't worth it if I was just going to get all tight-chested with nervousness and anxiety. However, as we're making our way into the Kawarau Gorge, the first commercially operated bungy site in the world, and after learning about the history and safety of bungy, I thought fuck it, I'm going to do. Wasn't sure if I'd actually be able to jump on my own though so hooked up with another girl from my group and we did a tandem. I bungy-jumped! A completely terrifying but wonderful experience. We were each hooked up to our own bungy cord and they call out 5-4-3-2-1 at which point we held tight and plunged 43m to the Kawarau River below. The rush was truly incredible, like nothing I've ever felt before! They pull you into a boat at the bottom, my body was vibrating so much I could hardly get the harness off. So impressed with myself. Got the DVD, pics and t-shirt to capture the moment. Incredible. Went out for many beers that night with the rest of the Kiwi crew and managed to haul our asses out of bed at 545 to head for Milford Sound. More amazing views as we headed through the Fiordlands on a 2 1/2 hour cruise. The weather was quite overcast but still saw some amazing scenery.