Glacier Hiking
New Zealand
Hey y’all. Sorry it has taken me so long to write in this blog. I think each day how much has happened within these past 3 weeks and how much stuff I have to write about it. This is gonna be a very long post, I apologize in advance for the length. So let’s just bang this out and get it over with.
The last time I wrote was 3 weeks ago when I was in the New Zealand airport. The first blog I ever wrote in Australia was titled 21 days for the first 3 weeks I was there and what better way to end than with the last 21 days. I’m such a mush. Here we go.
So my friends Dylan, Libby, and I were waiting in the New Zealand airport for this train. We didn’t wanna spend the money on a hotel room so we thought the airport would be a nice option. Expecting to fall asleep on the floor, it turned out we had a different plan. We all pitched in and bought a bottle of Jim Bean in the duty free store and all got drunk off of it. We ended up going to sleep an hour before we were supposed to wake up. It was painful at the time but funny now looking back at how drunk we were in an airport trying to waste time. So we get on the train, meet up with the rest of our group, and all pass out. Four hours later, we got to our tour group and met the whole bus. The driver/tour guide Kane informed the group that at the hostel we were staying in that night, they would be hosting an ABC party. So we all scrambled to the store and mostly everyone bought trash bags or tarps- it didn’t have much to offer. Kane warned us that the hostel was in the middle of nowhere and boy was he spot on. Picture the middle of nowhere and you got it- you can see the road stretch for miles- nothing but farms and then there’s this one random hostel in the middle of it all. We eat dinner, get ready, and head to the bar at the hostel. I don’t know why or how this happened, it must have been because it was the first night we were there but we all spent way too much money and got way too drunk. There was some shot game that made everyone considerably drunker. That’s all I can really say about this night, it’s about all I remember. The next morning, we packed up and drove to Franz Joseph. We chilled for the rest of the day, did nothing eventful. The next day we went glacier climbing which was ahhmazing. Not only did we get to climb on a glacier, we arrived on the glacier via helicopter. It was so amazing, definitely once in a lifetime opportunity. We were on the glacier for about 4 hours walking around, climbing through holes, taking pictures. That took up most of the day and then we went back to the hostel, went in the hottub and then to the bar after that. The next day was another struggle waking up early and driving to Lake Wanaka. That took most of the day. When we woke up the next day, half of the group went skydiving, and the ones who weren’t went to this puzzle museum. Since I already went skydiving in Byron, I was thinking.. great a puzzle museum this is going to be boring. Boy was I wrong. There were so many illusion pictures, riddles, gravity things, it’s hard to explain but it was freakin awesome. After the people got done with jumping out of planes, we drove to our last stop of Queenstown. On the way, we stopped at a bungy jumping place where a few took the plunge. We then got to Queenstown, which was said to be the best city in New Zealand. Picture a lake, with a mountain in the background, the greenest of grass, and an awesome town and you get Queenstown. Reminded me a little bit of Colorado. So the girls and I took a gandala up a mountain where we were able to see the most breathtaking view of the city. One of our friends went bungy jumping there with the beautiful scenery in the background. We headed back to the hostel and bought a bottle of vodka to pregame. We all got ready and started pregaming. That is until we realized that we finished the bottle of vodka between 12 of us in a matter of less than 2 minutes. We then went to the pizza place where they were having some kind of all you can eat. So we ate all that we could and went to this other bar where we were hooked up because we were with Kane and he had connections. Once again, don’t remember much of the night other than there was a pizza eating competition where of the contestants booted midway through. What a great memory. The night ended, we got Subway as drunk food… wtf who gets Subway when they’re drunk?! No one. Anywhoo so we woke up the next morning and everyone went to the Nevis bungy jump which is the 3rd highest in the world, but I had to cut my trip early since I planned a trip to Melbourne before New Zealand. I left Queenstown, had a 7 hour layover in Auckland by myself, that was rough, and then finally landed back in Australia at about 11 pm. Overall, my trip to New Zealand was once in a lifetime. It is the most beautiful country nature wise. No matter which way you turn, you will always see a mountain in the background, the grass is so green, everything just feels so pure. New Zealand is picture perfect.
