Walking, Trekking, Jumping, Lashing, Canyoning and Freeeeeeeezing!

NOTE: 200+ picture uploaded, see links in pictures section! Health warning: These pictures are merely the tip of an iceberg; we have now taken some 3,200!!

Armed with enough Ginger Nuts to feed the NZ army, we headed out early for our epic 8 hour Glacier walking trip and were welcomed by perfect weather with the clouds and rain of the previous day thankfully not present. Laden with all our required kit, we headed to the glacier and put ourselves in the ‘fit and keen’ fast group with guide ‘very fit and very keen’ Asa. After a quick assent up a rock mountain we got on the glacier proper where for the next 6 hours we hiked, traversed, rappelled, climbed and absolutely loved the Glacier. With Asa cutting us steps when required and getting us lost when not, we saw and went through various caves and crevasses of the Franz Josef Glacier which even the photos don’t do justice (even with my uber cool new lime green camera). With the group working well we managed to get as high as the guide had taken any group before, going through stunningly blue crevasses on route. All in all (even with getting very wet in the last 5 minutes), a great day.

Night 8 of sleeping in the car took place beside the beautiful Lake Wanaka, where we decided to kill a few hours on route to Queenstown with a stroll along the lake with striking views to boot. Arriving in Queenstown signalled the start of a crazy 48 hour period. Queenstown is known as the ‘Adrenaline Capital of the World’ and doesn’t disappoint with the activities offered and by far the best nightlife in NZ so far. After grabbing some free soup in a hostel that wasn’t ours (bit cheeky but all good) we headed to World Bar for their notorious cocktail teapots and a few free drinks for being an organ donor. Also met up with a girl that we met at the free soup that is to join us later in the week for some road tripping.

Day 2 in Q-town was probably one of the busiest an best days of the trip so far....
Steve spent the morning horse trekking. Steve... ‘Really great fun and a great way to soak up some scenery. Even managed a few trots without falling off Mojo, the largest horse in the paddock, who was gifted to me for the mornings jaunt. Felt like Aragon after half an hour or so, we are certainly in the right place for it, though after a couple of hours my groin was quite glad other modes of transport have become more popular.’

Then it was Bungy Time! See dedicated bungy blog post to come......


To celebrate surviving our bungy ordeals and use up the adrenaline fuelled energy gained, we undertook the ‘One Big Night Bar Crawl’. This meant crazy Barry leading around 81 excitable backpackers (including Ron Weasley and Nessa from ‘Gavin and Stacy’), the small but lively Queenstown streets. We bezzed up with a couple of crazy Scots and three Aussie sisters and a great night was had by all, with the unexpected and sweet-as ending of me winning a $165 Canyoning voucher trip for being a super-lad/jammy git* (delete as applicable).




With only one day to use the voucher and only 3 hours sleep, I headed and booked myself onto the 9 am Canyoning trip without really knowing what Canyoning was! It turned out to be an incredible 2 hour activity around one of Queenstown’s Canyons undertaking adrenaline-fuelled activities like abseiling, rock climbing, zip lining, rapids sliding and rock jumping, with the highlight being an 8m jump into a barely deep enough pool below. And with the water temperature at around 4 degree, it proved itself to live up to its billed status as the ‘perfect hangover cure’

The last few hours were spent at a much slower pace, thank god, in which we undertook some Frisbee golf, with the world’s worst Frisbees, and watch some Lawn Bowls whilst soaking up the
sun before deciding to head toward Lake Te Anau, suitably shattered, for the best fish and chips this side of the Rose Green Fryery and night 9 in the car! This night proved to be horrific with sub zero temperature felt in the car that even our stolen duvet couldn’t resist, cue engine revving at 4oc in the morning for some heat! Next up Milford Sound.......