New Zealand Trip July 07

Sorry it's been so long since I've given an update, but my life was kinda boring for a while, well not really, but I was studying a lot and focussing more on Uni and work. I am now done my semester at Deakin University and moved out of residence into Nick's (boyfriend :)house. I just got back last night from an amazing trip to New Zealand although the weather was cold the snow made the country that much more beautiful. I travelled with my friend James from work. He is from Ontario and wanted to do some travel before he went back home. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to go to NZ. We had 8 days, so we decided to rent a car and do as much as the south island as we could! We flew into Christchurch July 3, stayed one night until we were able to pick up our 2007 Kia rental car that only had 34 km on it...we treated ourselves. From Christchurch we drove 3.5 hrs to Lake Tekapo where we stopped and absorbed the beautiful scenery and then headed onto Queenstown. We ended up staying 10mins outside of Queenstown in Arrowtown which was nice and close to Coronet Peak where we snowboarded the next day! Conditions were aparently the best they had all season the day we went, but the visibility was poor.
The next day in Queentown I went bungy jumping from the ledge that is 400m above the town and has a perfect panoramic view from up there. This extra day gave us a chance to explore the tourist part of town, get some souvenirs and have a day off of driving.
July 7 we set off to Milford Sound which is a fiordland 4hrs from Queentown. We took a cruise in the afternoon through the fiord out to the Tasman sea and back. That particular fiord took 5 glaciers to create and over 2 million years. The history behind it was fasanating as well as the different vegetation and wildlife. That night we drove two hours back to a small town called Te Anau and spent the night.
The next day we set off early for the 9 hr drive north to Franz Joseph. This is where most of the glaciers on the island are. The largest is Tasman glacier but we went to visit Franz Joseph glacier. We met some people from California that night in our hostel and went to the glacier the next morning with them. The walk in up to the base of the glacier was about 45mins. We walked through the valley which the glacier formed by hundreds of years of receiding and carving away the mtn.
That afternoon we exchanged emails with our new friends and headed even further north to a little place called Punakaiki. Our hostel was right on the beach and that night I saw the most beautiful, colourful sunset I have ever seen. We sat watching the sun go down, making dinner and just enjoying the view. This was the last night we had until we started our trip back to Christchurch.
The next morning we woke and drove 10mins north to the truman track hiking area, and walked down to a beach which was made of all pebbles, no sand. I took some home with me! Just 5 mins away from that beach we visited the Pancake rocks which are layered rocks formed under the sea thousands of years ago and no one has discovered how they got that way. The pancake rocks are the tourist attraction for Punakaiki.
That afternoon we started our drive back through Aurthur's pass to Christchurch. We explored Christchurch that evening, found a starbucks with a fireplace and read for a few hours until we headed to the aiport around 11:30pm. We didn't think it was worth checking into a hostel so we slept at the aiport...haha there was about 20 other travellers with the same idea. We flew out the next morning at 7am. Nick suprised us at the airport and picked us up....sick day for him:) I guess he missed me that much...cutie!
Now I'm back in Melbourne and mom and dad arrive tomorrow morning and I can't wait :) Nick and I have a whole weekend planned for them in Melb before we fly to Cairns on Monday! I'm sure they will be in touch with everyone! Hope everyone is well
Tons of love from Australia:)