New Zealand

Ok, so a rather late continuation of my last news post. I'm currently in Brisbane, Australia, but I shall continue with the magic bus ride :-)

Franz Josef Glacier was amaaaaaaazing, though it felt so dangerous coming down. We gt back, absolutely knackered and made food for dinner and then went glowworming! Teresa, the two Taiwanese girls on the bus, Daisy and Vicky, and their friend Candi, Yoshi from Japan and I all walked up the path in the dark but with torches and looked out for little points of light. On the way there, we saw almost nothing (light from the torches was too strong), but on the way back we walked in the dark and saw loads of them! Cute!

Next day early leaving in the bus to Queenstown. We stopped off at Lake Matheson which was gorgeous in the early morning mist and later on at Wanaka, which was also gorgeous with crystal clear waters! However, time was pressing so we didn't get out there, though we had the option. We had another exciting stop at the Kawarau River, the birthplace of bungy jumping! We got to watch unfortunate souls take a leap off the platform n the bridge and dive towards the turquoise waters. Two people even got dunked! The first guy had his head under the water at the lowest point and the guy after him was dunked into the river up to his waist! Crazyness. I would not do it.

Finally got into Queenstown and it was freezing! Bought dinner and ate and talked to people in the hostel until quite late. Had to get up ridiculously early yet again the next day to go to Milford Sounds. We went through Te Anau to get there which is a beautiful wildlife reserve. Through a tunnel carved through the centre of a mountain and then we were at Milford! A Sound is a river valley of half submerged mountains that connects to the sea, and a fjord is the same, except that it was carved by glaciers. Milford Sound is technically a fjord. They're special because there is a layer of freshwater over the seawater, so different types of life can live there. We were supposed to see loads of wildlife on the boat ride, but apart from seagulls and one seal, we saw nothing. A bit disappointing really, considering we had driven 6 hours to get there, and it was another 6 hours back. When we got back we went for a meal at Fergburger with our Magic Bus driver, Mark, and some people we had met on the bus to Milford Sounds. And then we went out for drinks to a place called Buffalo Bar which had a roaring log fire. And then after that we managed to crash a couchsurfers meeting. All in all, it was a long night.

Next day was ANZAC day, Teresa went to the dawn service while I wrote some more postcards and did various other things. Then we did some window shopping and had some lunch, waiting for the time to go jetboating in the Shotover River. It is the most gorgeous blue colour and the rocks in the canyon are pure white, so pretty! The jetboat goes perilously close to the rocks and does 360 degree turns and it's all terrifyingly exciting! And strangely enough I stopped being scared after the first 360 turn. It was great fun!

More later, need to book flights and accommodation for the next part of the trip and my credit has run out...