THURSDAY IN QUEENSTOWN

Milford Sound

      Today was yet again, another early morning. Today we woke up and met the group down at the bottom of the base. Today we were headed down to Milford sound. Now Milford sound is where they shot some of the Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and Jurassic Park. It also is just absolutely incredible. This morning it was kind of rainy. It hadn't started to rain, but you could tell the rains were coming. This made it for an incredible experience. 

       The drive there was about four hours. This was a really long drive. Thank goodness we were all tired and were able to sleep most of the way. Once we woke up though, the drive was beautiful. There were about two huge waterfalls, and they were very pretty, and just tons of trees and plants. It was gorgeous! Once we made it there, we had a little day cruise scheduled! We loaded the boat, and then we started going into the Tasman Sea. This was absolutely incredible. There were beautiful waterfalls, and the thing that was most incredible to me was how the mountains went straight into the sea. There was no little beach area or anything, it was just straight into the water!

                While we were on the boat, it started to get kind of hazy, it was looking more like rain. This made a very mysterious atmosphere. It was almost as if you were transported back into Jurassic Park. It seriously felt like a pterodactyl should just swoop down! I felt like I should see dinosaurs eating the leaves of the tress on the mountains, or like I should see blue avatar people running around. As you look out into the sea, you felt like you should see Legolas, Frodo, and Aragon in their little canone going off to destroy the ring! It was really a beautiful scenery.

 
(It was really windy haha)

         While we were on the boat, we got to see a sea lion. Sitting up on one of the smaller mountains, was a little sea lion. This was really cool. We were with in about 25 feet of it. We got to sit and watch if for a while as well. That was really fun.

          After we had made our loop out in the Tasman Sea, we came back and we got to go the underwater observatory. This is an incredible place. Here they have a separation of salt water and fresh water. You can see the separation of the fresh water sitting on top of the salt water about ten meters in. This was incredible. After that you get to go down, and you get to see marine life that usually cannot be viewed because it is so far under the ocean water. This was really neat!

          We spent a little while there, and then we had to get back on the boat to take us back to the shore. Now by the time we had come out of the under water observatory, it was pouring rain! It was HUGE rain drops! We ran to the boat and went in the covered area. We started talking to the person driving the boat, and said how can you even see where we are going. He respond you can't. Now that was scary! No worries though, we made it back safe!

 

          We got back to our vans, and started our four hour drive back. This was the most amazing ride I have ever had in my life! Where we were, when it rains the mountains turn into having thousands of waterfalls. This is something very few people get to see (It has to be raining.) We started driving back, and we saw HUGE water falls. About every twenty feet for about two hours straight there was HUGE waterfalls. I was in awe! They were waterfalls that were not there when we came through the first time! It was incredible. I'm not even joking when I say every twenty feet there was a waterfall. These aren't just little Utah waterfalls that you hike to, but they are gigantic ones that you only see in the movie! This was truly amazing!

        Anyway, we made it back to base, and tonight we decided to go hang out on the shore of the lake. This was so calming and relaxing. It's really amazing, the lifestyle over here isn't go, go, go, rather it's very relaxing and enjoy every minute of it. This was a really nice little break! After that, we went back to base and head to bed for the next big day!!!

WEDNESDAY IN QUEENSTOWN

Kawarau Bridge Bungy/Luge

    To start off today this post, I would like to give you a little bit of history! Bungy jumping was pioneered by AJ Hackett. He and his friend decided to jump of the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown. This is why all sixteen of us felt like we needed to jump of the bridge as well!

   

    Now we started out, and we woke up once again super early! I'm not really sure why, but for some reason everyone over here is up and going early in the morning. No one really believes in sleeping in! I may just become a morning person yet! Okay well anyway we met down in the bottom of the base, where Jim and James were there to take us up to the bridge. AJ Hackett said they could take us up there, but Jim (Our professor) and James (Our driver that tours with us) wanted to see us all do this. They didn't believe that all of us really would do it. Anyway it was about seven in the morning when we left the base. Now this morning did look like it was going to be that great of a morning. It was raining! This made it a little scary, but we keep going!

     We got up to the bridge, and we had to wait a little bit for them to open the doors. We were the first group jumping of the morning, and they weren't quite open when we got up there! Anyways, once they opened up we once again had to go sign our life away. You would think your mind when you are signing a paper saying if you get hurt it's not the companies fault, you would think twice about what you are doing, but no, we all just signed our life away. After we signed our life away we again had to weigh ourselves. This is the second time, that we all wanted to make sure we got our EXACT weight. It could be very traumatic if we didn't. Anyway, after we get up all signed up, it's time to go up to the bridge. Now we went up to two different groups. I was in the first group. In our group was me, Emily, Christine, Janet, Whitney, and Hannah. We get to the point of the bridge where you jump, and the guy goes who is going first? All of us are dead silent. I think we sat there in silence for about 5 minutes. During that silence we were all making eye contact pointing to other people of who should go first. Then I decide someone has to go first, it might as well be me, so I said I'm first, and I was!

      So the guy helping us says step on in, he puts a harness around my waist and he doesn't do it up very tight. I was like shouldn't that be tighter? He told me that was just in case the real cord broke. That makes me feel good! He then starts putting the cords and things around my ankles. While he was doing this we were having a little chat. I asked if there was a certain way that I should jump, his response was "Like the Pocahontas jump!" Now this made me SOOOO excited! Whenever I watched that movie, I see her jump off the cliff into the water, and dive in. I have ALWAYS wanted to dive just like her! This made me so excited!

     I got all strapped in, and he said are you ready? I said I think so. He said scoot on out to the end of the ledge remember Jump like Pocahontas. Then he said, "Where you are the first jump of the day, we never really know what the cords are going to do, so just in case make sure your chin is to your chest and you arms are above your head in case you hit the water." I responded, "Seriously?" He said, "Yup for real, Now jump on one. Three. Two. One." And guess what! I jumped right there! I was the very first jump of the day, and the very first jump out of the group! Oh my gosh! It was so much fun! AND everyone in my group was like Nancy, you had the perfect jump! You looked just like Pocahontas! I really did it! I jumped off a bridge! Not only did I jump off the bridge, but I was voted the best jump of the day, because I did it so gracefully! This was SOO much fun! At this point, I realized I am turning into an adrenaline junkie! (not really just for a few days). To see all of my photos from ths go to www.bungy.co.nz Choose Daily Photos Select the Kawarau Bridge then type in this code AJHK102020029516. There should be seven photos that come up! You will love them, and you can judge my jump for yourself!

 

Yup that's really me!

     Now that was such an adrenaline rush! Everyone in the group was cheering and screaming for me! No one could believe that I just jumped! I'm pretty sure if the guy wouldn't have said jump like Pocahontas, I wouldn't have been able to, but it was definitely very fun!

      After all sixteen of us had bungy jumped, and we all really did, we headed back down to base! We had a little bit of time that we got to explore! Christine and I decided that we would go walk around the lake. It was absolutley stunning and gorgeous! While we were walking around the lake, we watched some older ladies play a game at the bowling club! It was really fun! It was out on turf. They call it lawn bowling. It's very similar to bocce ball. This was very fun to watch. I decide when I retire, I think I want to come be a member of this bowling club and take up lawn bowling. Anyway the point of the game was to get the most balls closest to the white ball. The balls they roll are weighted on one side, so it takes a lot of skill and strategy. Don't worry  tried, and I wasn't very good!

      After this we walked back to base to meet up with the group. It was the luge day too! We walked up this mountain a little way, then we got to take  a gondola ride up to the top. It was absolutely gorgeous! It's the same mountain I went exploring on the first day only this time I was above it! Then the view when we got to the top was breaktaking!

    Anyway after we had admired the view it was time to go luging. We walked down a little ways, then rode a ski lift up to the top of the course. These are very similar to the alpine slides, only way better! They have two different courses. The scenic, and the adventure. Your first time, you have to go up on the scenic course. This is to make sure you can drive the cart, and you aren't going to kill yourself. After that you could pick.

      Well all did our first run down the mountain, and good news, none of us died! We all made it and could go on the adverture course! This is where it got fun! Our driver, James, this is his favorite thing in the world! He lives to do it! So he is amazing! This is why we all decided to try and beat him! He would go so fast! He would give us a huge head start and guess what! No one ever beat him! It was a lot of fun! 

       After we rode the gondola back down the mountain, we went down to Altitude to eat that night. This was a little bar next to the base. I had chicken strips and chips (and by chips I mean fries). They were so good! Not quite a Ferg burger, but they were still good. Then after we just walked around the bay a little more. While we were walking, we saw a little chinesse man doing a magic show, this is where we finshed our night was watching the magic show! Remember how magic fascinates me, well I found out it still does! Even the simplest things just fascinate me! Anyway, it was another great day in Queenstown, and I had enjoyed it very much!

 Tuesday In Queenstown

Sky Diving/Puzzle World/Ferg

    Okay! So this was one of the most fun days I have ever had! I might just be turning in to a thrill seeker adrenaline junky, but this really was such a great day! I had to wake up at the crack of dawn! Okay, so not really, but I woke up about six thirty! Nicole, Emily, Diana, Rebecca, Katie, Janet, and I all had to be at Nzone at 7:20 in the morning! Nzone was just down the street from the base, so we walked down there. We walked in and this is where we had to sign our lives away. Okay, so not really, but we did have to sign saying if we were injured they weren't responsible. This is also where we said our weight. We all started laughing and got on the scale. We decide this was probably one of the times we had to be exact with our weight, and not just guess.

    After we had signed our lives away, they drove us up to the Nzone base. This is where we would be jumping out of the plane! We got there and the plane we were going to be jumping out of was right in front of us! We were all so excited, but we were a little bit scared too! The plane was tiny! It also had teeth and a mouth painted on it!

    We were taking pictures, getting excited, talking about what we thougtht it would be like, all of us very nervous still, and then they called our names and said follow us! We all followed, and they started to give us the suits we had to jump in, and the harnesses and everything. As we were getting our stuff, the person we were going to be jumping with came up and met us. The person I jumped with was Bill! He was so good! He made it seem like it was no big deal! ha ha! He walked up and helped me get into my harness, then said just relax and chill I'll come get you in a little bit.

      A little bit later they came to give us our instructions. Okay, so you think that since I am jumping out of a plane, that there would be a good amount of instructions right? Well you thought so, you would be wrong. The whole briefing took about ten minutes at the most. The quote of the day was "The bigger the banana, the better the skydive." This was because we were suppose to have our heads back, our knees bent up to our head, and arch our backs. In the sky we wanted our bodies to look like a banana.

       After we had been instructed, Bill came back and said are you ready for this? I said yes, but in my head, I was thinking, crap what did I get myself into! He said follow me and we took off to the plane! We crawled in the little plane, and I was the first to get in. Then after all of the girls were set, and their professionals, and the camera men, we took off. As we were going up I was thinking. I get stressed out to fly! I am scared of the take off, and yet, I just volunteered to get in a plane AND jump out of it! I thought I was crazy!

       Once we were up in the air, Bill gave me a few more instructions, reminded me to keep my head back and told me to make sure I have a big banana! I was the last to jump. This did not help my nerves by any means. I saw all of the girls jump, and better yet I heard all of their screams! Although they were screams of joy, I didn't know that, and at this point I was like crap, there is only one way out of this plane, and I have to jump! What was I thinking!

        Okay, so it was now my turn to jump. Bill and I scooted up to the door (or whatever it's called) where you jump from. My camera man got on to the side of the plane and has hanging on to the outside of the plane. This was so weird. I was scared for him. Then I said, "Bill is the chute for sure going to work?" He answered, "We sure hope it does." That was a little scary, then Bill said, "Here we go!" And we jumped! Oh my gosh! this was one of the funniest things I have ever done! I absolutely loved it! The camera guy jumped with us and recorded it all. No worries, you all can see me sky dive! After we had opened our chute, Bill started pointing out what everything was! The view was absolutley incredible! I got to see Mt. Cook, which is the highest mountain in New Zealand, the lake, and tons of other things! It was incredible! Then my guy said want to play, and we got to spin and do circles and things in the air! This was so much fun! Definitely one of my favorite things I have ever done! 

     After I had the ulitmate adrenaline rush, we went back to the base, and got ready for the day. We were suppose to meet the group at one to go to Puzzle World. This was crazy! I'm going to be honest with you and tell you that my brain hurt after going here. It was this whole place with rooms that played with your mind. They had a room that the floors were slanted, but the walls were all straight! It was so hard to keep your balance in this room. They also had a room of face! It was huge with several faces! You know in Disneyland at The Haunted Mansion, how they have the faces that follow you, well imagine an entire room of this. It kind of tripped me out. 

 

    Then they had the worst thing ever!!! It was a maze! Now I usually really like mazes and I love trying to find my way out, but guess what this was the hardest thing I have ever done. You had to find the the four corners, and then find your way out. I was walking through the maze with Whitney and Anna, and we rocked finding the four corners. Then came trying to find our way out. Saddest thing ever, we never found our way out! We gave up after about an hour and took an emergency exit! Our brains hurt so bad! I couldn't believe how hard it was! Before we started it I thought oh this will just be easy...oh no, I spoke way too soon!

      Anyhow, after that we headed back to base, and it was time for dinner. I have found my new love in hamburgers! It is the best place! We went to Ferg Burgers. Now let me tell you about this place. It's just a little place, only found in Queenstown, and it's smaller than Sammy's in Provo. It is so small, but always packed! Next their burgers are HUGE! You have to share with someone. There is no way I could eat a whole burger without being sick! I can eat a lot, but if I were trying to eat one of these I would have been so sick! Anyway, we ate there, and take my word, if you ever make it to Queenstown, you MUST go to Ferg Burger! I had the tropical swine burger! It had Prime New Zealand Beef, American Streaky Bacon, Cheddar cheese, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, red onion, ailoi & tomatoe. Let me just tell you. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!

      After we ate we were walking around the harbor, and we found the second best place, Patagonia Chocolate. We decided we needed a little dessert after our Ferg. They hae homemade ice cream! It was the best ice cream I have ever tasted! I had the banana split ice cream. Now this doesn't sound very good, but honestly, I was in heaven! The ice cream was banana. You could tasted the ice cream, but it wasn't over powering. Then it had nuts, and chocolate, and strawberries in it. It was so good! We all enjoyed this! After that, we went around to a little art gallery, and explored, then headed back to base, because of course tomorrow was another big day!

Monday In Queenstown

Shot over Jet/Glenorchy
  

Well we woke up super early and took an early flight into Queenstown! When we got off the plane, we got to walk down the stairs of the plane! I was so excited about this! Katie and felt like movie stars walking off like that. Ha ha, 

 

Anyway, We got to Queenstown, and we stayed at the Base. Now the base is a backpackers place. I have never stayed at a place like this. There were six of us to a room. This was way fun! My room had Hannah, Jessica, Christine, Rebecca, Katie, Allison, and Kara. We all got along really well. The rooms were very tiny, and were bunk beds (I had a bottom bunk), and that was it. That is all that was in the room. Then out in the hall we had a little bathroom. It was a little disgusting, and I am not really sure how I lived for a week there. To shower, you pressed a little button, and then it would stay on for a certain amount of time, and then after that it was off and you had to push it again. We found it was easiest just to always keep the button pushed. Despite that though, Queenstown is my favorite place! It was so much fun!

After we had gotten checked into the base, we had a little bit to go explore! Let me explain Queenstown to you first. It’s basically one main street settled around this lake. Behind it is this incredible mountain filled with trees the entire way up. It is absolutely incredible. Christine, Allison, Kara and I went on a hike together. It was absolutely gorgeous! The mountain was about two block (small blocks) up. So we went up for a little hike. The trees were incredible. It smelt so good! It smelt like back home when you go hiking in the mountains! This was a lot of fun

After, we all meet up at the base to leave for the Shot Over Jet. This is probably one of the most fun rides I have ever gone on in my entire life! It basically is like a giant jet ski! So what happens, is they take you through the narrow rock passages and you get about a foot away from the rock edges, then they curve and just go through the water. This boat can go about 60 km in 4 inches of water. You get to go right up by the shore line! It is absolutely incredible! Then you are in the middle of this little narrow passage way, and the drive does a three sixty! It was amazing! It was so much fun! When we talked to our driver, we asked how long it takes to train, and before you can be a driver, you have to train for six years driving at least six hours a day! THAT IS SO LONG! It was a blast though! Anyone who comes to Queenstown HAS to do the Shotover Jet! Here is one of the pictures, but if you want to see a couple more here is how to do it. Go to www.shotoverjet.com click on Daily photos then type in the code SHJT101311303014. That should pull up three pictures of us on the shot over jet!

 Once we had our little ride, we went back to the base and found some dinner. Nicole, Emily, Christine, Heidi, and I went and had a scratchin Badger Pizza!  Ha ha! It was a great pizza! The name was the ultimate though! Anyhow, after the Scratchin Badger we took a ride up to Glenorchy. Glenorchy is where several movies have been filmed. Mainly, all the Lord of the Rings, Wolverine, and Prince Caspian. We got out and we made posed like the Lord of The Rings! All Eleven of us! We couldn’t resist! I also took a Gollum picture with the ring! I look like such a creeper, but it’s the best picture ever! 

It was so much fun! The scenery was absolutely gorgeous! After we did that though, we went back to base, and went to bed, because I had  a BIG day the next day!