Proper post

Ok so it has been a whole week without a proper post...you'll have to bare with me here. It is Sunday night and we have checked into the Alpine Lodge in Queenstown, which will be our home base until we leave on Wednesday. He was giving us the tour and I was in pretty much a daze which you will realize why later, but I heard things like here loung, movies, here bathroom, FREE INTERNET JUMP ON WHENEVER YOU WANT, you upstairs, bathroom, laundry...I was still fixating on the computer message. We were pretty amped on that on! The Alpine is sweet as! We really lucked out here. So now for the update, since I have the time...all the other lodgers are out at the pub getting their free beer...I am typing my life story:

Friday Feb 2:
I managed to get out of work with out crying and took my last train ride out of Takanini...probably ever. I stopped at the front desk to take care of my rent and while he was sorting that out he asked if I knew about the other charges to our room. Obviously I didnt...I mean we never ordered room service? Hahaha...so yeah he goes your phone bill is outstanding...phone bill I say incredulously...we never used it. He said yeah we were quite shocked by this too...and starts printing out these pages with lists of numbers called...he goes they are all from your mates room pretty much...so I look it over yeah yeah thinking no big deal...then my eyes scan the total amount due...$1500!! I dont know how to describe the noise that came out...a guffaw maybe? I pretty much just told him she wasnt going to pay it...end of story. So we worked it out that she wouldnt have to...BUT...he gave me the bill so I could "go up and scare her." I liked his style so I took it and sat in the room anticipating a great joke. Jo walks in the door already with a weird look...darn I was thinking...she already stopped at the desk...What? I said to her...she just grimaces and looks at me then steps to the side...and in walks Eddie. And that's when everything changed. SO I still got to pull my joke but she had a diamond ring on her finger so she didnt get as phased about the bill as I was hoping haaha! We then all went to the rugby game and OF COURSE, just as the guy at the rugby shop told us...it always rains at rugby...it rained. But we just moved up into the pricey seats and continued on! The blues won. If you cared. They rucked and mauled and scored tries and stuff...yup.

Saturday Feb 3:
We packed up all our remaining luggage into our hiking packs and set off to change all our south island bookings to include Eddie...part way down the street I was already compiling a list of items to remove from my bag. While those two sorted things out in the tourist builidng I continued on to Becky's and left a pile of stuff I didnt need to bring to the SI to lighten up my bag. She has been very helpful with our plans...I'll miss that kid! Then we took the shuttle to the airport and flew to Queenstown. I dont know what I had pictured in my mind...but it never compares. We landed in a little airport outside of the township, and I got of the plane and walked across the strip just in awe...we landed in a valley surrounded by mountains...very cool. We drove into the town and I simply love it. Queenstown is cute cute cute...surrounded by mountains and built around a lake...cobble stone streets little shops and cafes...its great! We dropped off our stuff at the Discovery Lodge and praise the heavens mine and Jo's packs fit into the same under bed locker! We had an 8 bed share so I grabbed the top bunk above an english bloke who was still sleeping at 1pm. We then went out to explore the town and take 2000 pictures. Having Eddie around has been handy in the photograph dept! We had supper at a place that gave us a coupon for a free drink and our waitress was from Hamilton Ont. Back in our very messy hostel room...I told Jo to take a pic but I dont know if she did....I mean it was pretty funny...all the stuff you hear about staying in hostels about protecting your belongings and being safe did not apply...these 2 girls had their packs strewn out over the whole room...we couldve gone shopping in their stuff if we hadthe notion. Both girls were quite inebriated when we returned and were ina nd out of the room as they got ready to go out...then the 3 UK guys came in and I talked to one about bungy jumping because he had the tshirt on and had done the jump that day that we were going to do. His advice was to just shut off your brain, stand on the edge and pick a point in fron of you and just stare at it...only listen for the guy behind you count down then just do it...he said the feeling was spectacular! I slept through the girls return, but awoke to the UK guys' friend come in quite loudly cursing and stumbling around. The guy under me tried to get him to settle down saying he wasnt making a very good impression on the new people...and he said something loosely along the lines of I dont give a... He then set his alarm for a few hrs later which went off repeatedly to no avail until the guy under me went over and punched him. I dont think they much enjoyed travelling with him either.

Sunday Feb 4:
We got up early and caught the bus to Dunedin. It was an awesome drive, we followed the Kurakawai (or something) river most of the way, and it was like whoever coloured it in grabbed the wrong shade of blue...it was so brilliantly bright! I also saw the red deer that Dad wanted me to get a picture of...I sat in my seat poised in fron of the window camera in hand awaiting the perfect shot and all I managed was a blur of spots which I can claim to be a herd of deer. The majority of the trip was me fighting sleep, and fighting it hard as I tried to take in all the scenery and my head bobbed along with the winding roads! Dunedin was much bigger than I imagined, I pictured a cute little town. After taking the long hilly sweaty detour to our hostel we set off to find the steepest street in the world. Turns out this street is an hours walk from our hostel...Eddie was none too impressed...Jo and I are of course seasoned veterans so it was nothing. We played around on the street taking pics, walked through some parks and went back to the hostel with plans of watching a movie. But Eddie fell asleep so we put it on the back burner and caught up on our journals.

Monday Feb 5:
Our plans for today were to catch the morning bus out to the peninsula so Jo could tour the castle and Eddie and I could search for penguins. We missed the bus by seconds and were forced to wait about 2hrs for the next so we went to the Cadbury Chocolate factory which successfully stopped Jo from crying. I think she floated around the place sucking in as many chocolate fumes as she could. We then grabbed some lunch food at the grocery and took the bus out to the Otago peninsula. The bus dropped off us at the bottom of a mountain and we began our very long very steep ascent. Hours later...haha...over an hour anyway we were finally at the top. At the gates to the castle we discovered that you actually had to pay just to wait out fron of the castle...Eddie and I exchanged looks...he paid the money and I stood there...not ready to pay just for sitting by flowers. So I bowed out and said I'll just wait out here...you guys go in; eventhough we had some plans to make a CSI story for Kelly and LoriBeth. They went in and I stood at the end of the driveway for awhile because the grass was too wet to sit on. Then I started walking down the road past the castle to see the view from the other side of the hill. As I walked the fence around the garden just ended...oh I thought to myself...I'll go in and take some pictures for the CSI story...so I did. Then I found Jo and Eddie and we took some more and were about to leave when they made me go into the castle and ask if a bus would pick us up on the other side of the hill (so Eddie and I could finally search for penguins) and thats when they recognized I hadnt paid to come through the front gate. I told them we were leaving anyway and so we did...I left by the road I had come in but when they went out the front they made them pay for one more ticket anyway. Thats all...no jail? I dont kmow what Jo wrote because I didnt have time to check but I got emails from home that were pretty crazy! There is no fighting over here. So anyway we didnt even get to do the hikes I had wanted to do and spent the whole day just climbing the mountian to the castle and then back down.

Tuesday Feb 6:
Finally, my kind of day! We rented a car and did the Otago peninsula proper! Our itinerary included: Sandfly beach, sandmount hike, gannet colony, tunnel beach, glow worm caves. Jo was the frist driver so we started out our journey in terror...haha...let's just say she hugged the left shoulder pretty tight and made me gasp several times! There were quite a few yells from Eddie in the back. When we got into the highlands of the peninsula visibility decreased substantially from the fog and the fear factor rose as we drove through nothing but white and grey and all you could see was the plummeting cliff to the left. (yeah the side she was hugging...hence the gasping). We managed to make it there with only attacking one curb. Due to the conditions we missed sandfly so we back tracked and found sandmount. We parked in the car park and sat there for awhile...all hesitant to leave the car and enter the white mist. We finally got out, hoods dran up tight and headed towards the forest the was the beginning of the hike...it wasnt so much raining, but it had been so the trees were wet, and in the rain were dropping this water down into the forest as though the trees were raining. Jo pulled out her umbrella and trodded in...Eddie and I paused. We all stood there and decided this was not the best time to do this hike since we couldnt see anything. We went up to the tip of the peninsula and decided to work our way down instead of up. It was freeezing up there. I was shaking and chattering as I filmed sea lions or seals (I couldnt tell) spotted shags and gannets. When we got back to the car it wouldnt start...the lights had been left on b/c eddie thought they would shut off automatically. No worries though because a guy working there gave us a boost and we were back on the road. Then I took the wheel to sandymount....whooohooo. Sheep ran out in front of me more than once! But we made it back safe and sound and I stayed on the left side. The hike was definately worth postponing...the views were out of this world unbelieveable! The chasm was amazing, I stood on the edge and felt like I was on the edge of the world. Looking out out into the ocean horizon you saw nothing but clouds and water. You could see the mountain peaks over the clouds! The hike took us in a loop around to lovers leap, a hole in the rock that had wind rushing thorugh it that sounded like screaming, then up to the highest point that gave a great panoramic. A lot of the trail was sand and uphill so quite the workout. We moved on to sandfly beach and had so much fun entering the site as we jumped ran and slid down huge sand dunes to get to the beach that had amazingly huge waves. We hiked down to the hide out and waited for penguins. Eddie and Jo gave up but I was relentless...filming the sea lions dance and play in the bull kelp wasnt enough. SO my wait paid off and I founf 2 yellow eyed penguins higher up the dune and rushed back to find them. It felt like we were on a real expedition as we crawled through the dunes to see them! We didnt have time for tunnel beach and the glow worms but I was on cloud nine nonetheless! Slept with a smile that night for sure...my heaven!

Wednesday, Feb 7:
Stopped at a surf shop to ask why I wouldnt have seen any surfers at sandfly beach since the waves looked so great. His reply: oh yeah well you know there's heaps of wildlife there and the surf can be inconsistent, his buddy looks at him and says wildlife? in a sarcastic voice...i think what you mean mate is sharks! Yeah he meant sharks! the place is swarming with them because of the wicked fishing grounds around the rocks! ahhhhhhhhhhh! I almost swam in that!! Took the bus back to Queenstown and got moved into the aspen lodge because the alpine had overbooked.

Thursday, Feb 8:
Picked up our rental car and started our road trip to Franz Josef. Took many many photo stops along the way, and I even got a proper red deer shot because I wasnt on a bus! You should see the antlers dad! sweet as! We had great stops and you will see the pics of course...and it turned out to be a very hot day...and I dont know why Jo and I love climbing mountains...but we reward ourselves with waterfalls. The roads were nuts nuts...and Eddie and I took to judging the curves by their speed limits....ooh a double 25....ooooooh a 15, a 15! Hairpins all the way! Arrived at Franz Josef somehow still sane after all day in and out of the car with no radio at all! I think they loved my singing though. They checked into their hostel and Jo passed me a sheet and blanket out the window and I turned the car into a sweet fort and hunkered down for the night. Started raining at 2am and I layed there hoping they dont cancel galcier hikes due to rain.

Friday, Feb 9:
They do not cancel glacier hikes due to rain...weeee! Youre also not allowed to wear jeans on the glacier so I went in my skivvies under the trouser pants they provided. I'm cool like that. It was awesome, a great day on the ice...actually felt like winter for once as we shivered in the cold wearing touques and mittens. Our guide loved us canadians but teased us relentlessy about how we loved to take pictures. Eddie spent the day fishing the rivers with his day lisence and then we met up again and went to Lake Matheson which was a let down. And I was attacked by an eel. Then we popped in to see the fox glacier and travelled the long journey back. We got back to Queenstown at around 1:30 and we all slept in the car this time until we could check into the alpine. 2 nights in the car is definately my limit...I could sense grumpy under the surface...Eddies had bubbled out...haha...

Saturday, Feb 10:
Not able to check in until noon but left our bags there at 8 and just walked around town...we were zombies! Back in the hostel we napped for about 2 hours....sweet sweet beds that I love love love! Got up and headed up another mountain...what is wrong with us! Standing at the bottom it didnt look too bad...but the trail however did not go straight up...I started to think we were going to loop the sucker like a candy cane! It was the first time my legs were actually pleading with me to give up. It was the hardest trek yet. But we made it and we did the luge at the top and Jo and Eddie took the gondola to the bottom because Jo was not going to take that walk again in reverse. I decided to use the 10 bucks on supper instead of the ride down and started headign down the mountain not taking the walking trail...I was out and in the parking lot at the bottom in 15 minutes. I couldnt believe it! Some points were a little scary as I slid down but it was way faster (I followed a mountain bike trail and would never ever do that on a bike!) Then we had supper at Hell our favourite place to eat and came back to the hostel with plans of going out for a beer. But we didnt make much of a move once here and just sat around, me drinking my L&P, Jo eating her fudge. So I am out here updating this instead...waiting to turn 26!!... oh look...3 minutes ago technically I did! "Today" we bungy...Tell nanuk I loved him! We watched soem people bungy today and I think Jo nearly threw up...this is going to be interesting!