Day 0: On Friday, April 2 Rachel and I headed for the Brisbane airport with a long day of travel ahead of us. We lugged our suitcases across campus to the bus stop only to realize we had obviously left too late and missed our first bus option. Being me I had left us about 3 other bus options to take that would still get us there with plenty of time though. So after sitting at the train station for 15 minutes we decided we would rather just take a cab to the train station. Smart move because it got us there just in time for the train! Our train ride was far from boring...In the middle of our ride a lady begins yelling about the Christian church, her families troubles, and her history with the psych ward. She is upset that noone on the train is responding to her. Rachel and I try to maintain casual conversation but I was definitely nervous and spent the ride eyeing the emergency button. We were able to calm down when she got off the train and the rest of the ride went smooth. We got to the airport with plenty of time and airport security continues to be super fast in this country- even international. Although, apparently on international flights you cannot take water with you as you can domestically. I learned this by "pulling a Glenn" and attempting to bring my Brita water bottle fully filled through security. The lady told me I would have to throw it out. I clearly could not part with my bottle and so asked her if I could chug it. She had no problem with this and I stepped out of line to drink down my entire water bottle before passing through security. A good way to hydrate before a flight! The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful minus my excitement when they actually checked i.d's [they don't seem to do that for domestic flights], the plethora of movie/tv show selections, and my delicious vegetarian meal. We landed at around 1130 Christchurch, NZ time and went straight to our hostel, unable to see too much due to the thick fog. We later learned we were the last flight allowed to land in the city for the night due to the fog and all other flights were redirected to Auckland- this affected over 12 kids on our trip that had to miss the first two days of the trip because of the fog!! We got to the hostel and were stuck in a 12 person dorm room where I was the lucky one with the top bunk in the middle of the room with no railings or walls on either end- it wasn't the most comfortable night to say the least, and left us a little worried at what our accomodations would be like for the rest of the trip.
Day 1: .
I woke up early and exhausted but excited that a. I did not fall off my top bunk b. that we got to check out of that hostel and c. the trip was finally starting!! It hadnt hit me for the longest time that we were actually even going to New Zealand and walking on to the coach bus I was finally able to process that we were there. I immediately knew I would like our trip when our leader went through our itinerary and continuously walked through the aisles asking if we had questions and used all bus time to help us book activities and give us information about New Zealand. Within the first 30 mins of the ride I already got so much more out of it and felt so much more prepared for my week in New Zealand than I had after a week of AustraLearn's orientation. Our bus route leaving Christchurch took us across the Canterbury Plains and into the Southern Alps. Out our windows we saw some of the most beautiful scenery ever, including many views easily recognizeable from movies like the Lord of the Rings and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. We traveled through Arthur's Pass, and on through to Otira Gorge where the bus was surrounded by many waterfalls. Our drive took us all the way across the island, allowing us to drive from the east coast to the west coast as we stopped in Hokitika for lunch. We later stopped for a break at a Jade Factory and to get out and take a walk around the beach for a nice view of the Tasman Sea, not to mention a delicious round of chips [french fries] for the bus! We continued on our long drive of the day finally stopping when we were close to our finally destination for a short walk and picture opportunity of Lake Matheson and the surrounding mountains. Then it was finally time to settle into our accommodations for the evening in Fox Glacier at the Fox Inn, accomodations that our tour guide, Shane, apologized to us for and told us we were upgraded because of at our next stop. Rachel and I saw we were assigned a room just the two of us and skeptically headed up the many stairs nervous at what to expect behind the sliding glass door. In the room was one queen sized bed and one twin sized bed and our own bathroom- farrrr from something shane should be apologizing for. We were thrilled and could only imagine what the upgrade would be. We were falling in love with this trip more by the second. Our delicious buffet dinner and that evening's karaoke with Karaoke Joe and the town locals only made things get better and better. Our inn was clearly the only place open at night in this small small town and Karaoke seemed to be the town's saturday night thing to do as the place got more and more crowded. Even though our whole trip was exhausted from our early start and travels it was a fun way to get to know each other through singing and the many card games we played.
Day 2: We got another early start and again loaded up this bus. This time we were all headed to hike Fox Glacier. We geared up in many layers and were given boots and cramp-ons and bused over to the forest where we would begin our hike. The hike started at a rainforest, far from any enviornment you would expect to see a glacier in. Our guide was moving at a rapid pace, taking us across streams where you had to jump on stepping stones to get across [the part of the hike that made me the most nervous]. We then started the uphill climb into the forest. If you remember me thinking my hike in the blue mountains was difficult this was worse....and even more uphill! The amount of steps just did not end! It was crazy as the climate kept changing from cold to hot to cold again as we approached the ice. When we got to the ice we were instructed to put our cramp-ons on and grab a pick. The guide had to help me with my shoes, wrapping my cramp-ons on twice for my narrow ankles :) Then we were off to explore the ice. It was very cool to be walking on a full surface of ice...although I found it challenging to remember to walk with my flat foot and was very thankfull for my walking stick! They gave us time at the top for pictures and then it was backdown we went. Our guide told us that the glacier below had just collapsed into the river which would cause the river to run very high and we would need to hurry in order to get back and he took off. Whether this was for effect or actually serious we are still not actually sure although the fast pace going downhill on ice was not exactly my favorite and I was proud to take up the back of the line! When we were off the ice we still had to make it back over the river and through the woods [unfortunately not to grandmothers house we go] which he still had us doing in rapid time.
By the time we made it back we were all exhausted and very ready for our long bus ride into Queenstown. On our way we stopped at Thunder Creek Falls and the small town of Makatora for a snack. We got coffee at this cute little cafe and rest top which had all the flags from every country not to mention all the license plates of American states, including multiple versions of many states and even plates from other countries as well. There was plenty Chicago memrobila surrounding the shop and the people, as proven throughout our trip so far, could not have been nicer. After our short break we continued on, passing Lake Wanaka and getting out for a kodak moment at Lake Hawea. Finally, after passing through many more towns that seemed to get smaller and smaller, we arrived in what seemed to be a bustling metropolis in comparison, Queenstown! Shane had our driver, Ron, take us through a night tour of the main streets of this cute ski town to and then it was off to see where we would be staying for the next three nights...the Aspen on Queenstown!
Let me just get out of my system that I LOVE THE ASPEN! Three of us were in a room with our own beds, own bathroom, nice facilities and a front desk that could not have been nicer. Anyways...After settling in we got back on the bus where we were being driven into town for a group dinner at Winnies, a cute pizza place in town where the roof opens up to cool down the place as it heats from the pizza's being cooked. Upon boarding the bus I saw that Amy Levin, a friend from school, and Samantha Barron, a friend I have been going to school with since Kindergarten, were two of the girls on my trip who had been rerouted due to fog and were now joining us late. I was so shocked to see them when I got on the bus and it was a great surprise! Dinner that night was delicious and everyone called it an early night as most of the group had a very adventurous day planned for the next day.
Day SKYDIVE: [known to those other than Glenn as Day 3]
Today was the day Queenstown, NZ would prove itself to be the adventure mecca of the southern hemisphere that it is known to be. This day, Moday April 5, was the highlight of my trip...and perhaps my life thus far. Not that I knew that upon waking up 630 am...eating very very minimally and boarding the bus to be dropped off at NZONE. I honestly can't even say I was that nervous through the whole signing the form process or transportation. Everyday it had gotten closer Rachel had kept waiting for me to finally get nervous. I am not sure if it hadn't hit me yet or if maybe I just knew it was something I wanted to do abroad, but even that morning I was still seemingly unphased...something that probably let Rachel and some of our more nervous friends down a little. After the forms were filled out [figuring out my weight in kg was somewhat of a challenge] we were bused to the drop zone for more waiting. We tried to take in some of the beautiful views around the waiting area but standing outside was just not an option due to the cold. Finnaallly, it was our groups turn to go. Me rachel and lisa were to go together each with our tandem masters and camera crew making it a very full plane. We were each given jumpsuits, hats, gloves and goggles, none of which was too easy to put on over my clothes and big jacket. I was then introduced to my tandem master, Greg, the man who would be taking care of my life, and I made sure he knew of this, although I am sure he gets lectured by people daily and it is his job afterall. He gave us a brief lesson on the proper form on skydiving...aka look like a bannana and then...we were off. I thought a little more instruction was going to be given, maybe time for some questions...but right as he told us to look like a bannana he told me to get on the plane. We crammed in the plane, packed to capacity and we were off. It was as the plane took off that it all suddenly hit me. I remembered very suddenly...that I dont like planes...especially small ones. And this plane was very very small. You could feel every little movement of the plane rising through the air and it still was not the jumping out part that had me nervous so much as sitting in the plane. I think it may have actually gotten me excited to jump just to get out of that plane! As we got high I got more and more delirious about what we were actually doing and decided to be the plane entertainment, singing to calm both my nerves and everyone elses. Unfortunately my song did not make the DVD of the morning but great lyrics were invented such as "I am jumping out of a plane today". Inventive I know. Before I knew it we had reached 12,000- our jump destination. I felt Greg begin to strap me in and again I made him double check everything in excess. Suddenly the door to the plane was open and Lisa was gone. Greg began to remind me of the instruction by advising me to watch Rachel but as he was pointing to her form suddenly she was gone to. "Oops...nevermind," he said. And I WAS FALLING! It still didn't hit me that I was out of the plane until I realized I had done a slight flip to get out and had rerightsided myself and found sky to be all around me and I was just dropping. I located my camera man who was just going crazy at me. Apparently overcome by adrenaline I went crazy back, making every face possible at him, waving my hands, etc. etc. You can very clearly see some signs of my psycho cheerleading past at 12,000 ft. with all these faces. All too soon, Greg gave me a double tap on the shoulders meaning it was time for the parachute to come out and out it came without fail. He told me I could relax now and he pointed out all the views to me which were just amazing. Queenstown is absoultely beautiful and there is no better way to see it than at 12,000 feet. It was very silly making casual conversation with a man strapped to your back as you fall through the air and we just glided through the sky talking about his job, my trip, you know, the usual skydive talk. All to soon it was time to land and he had me put my feet up and glided in landed smoothly on our butts. The second I hit the ground my camera man was there again to capture my safe landing and my reunion with Rachel as skydive lovers. There is no way to describe how much we were smiling. And this smiling did not stop all day. 
Nothing that day could go wrong for us as we walked around town. In fact, as we were walking around...who did we bump into? Of course, Danny Forhman and Mark Wolfson, the same friends from high school that I had ran into on top of the Blue Mountains were now in Queenstown at the same time as us! They could clearly tell we were way too giddy about something and it was nice to see someone to brag about skydiving to and encourage to do it. After catching up with them we were off to lunch at a cute cafe to fulfill my soup craving. We wandered into a cafe called Vudu and got very excited about French Onion soup and diet coke...in a glass bottle! As the cafe was very small we had to wait for a table. When we finally got one we were asked by an older couple if they could join us as our table was meant for four. We were more than happy to have the company with our happy moods and especially excited that this couple was from the North Island of New Zealand traveling on holiday. They were so nice and exposed us to some cute new sayings such as "chalk and cheese" meaning opposites and helped us plan other activites for our time in Queenstown. They felt so bad for imposing on our lunch but it has come to be one of the highlights of our trip! After saying our goodbyes Rachel and I hit the town on a mission for warmer clothes. She needed a jacket, having left her North Face in Australia and I was going to be in need of some warmer sweat pants to sleep in for the rest of the trip...especially on our overnight boat ride. Rachel found a jacket on our first stop but the sweatpants proved to be a much harder task than you would expect in a freezing town. While the task was challenging it was a good mission to encourage us to walk around the full town and it got us into almost every store. It also proved our theory of how nice and helpful people are in New Zealand...possibly even more so than Australians...if that is possible?! When sweatpants were finally found it was time to pick up our skydiving pictures from NZone. We head back to the store very excited to see the many faces made mid-fall and relive our amazing experience. We ran in to many friends from our trip here all excitedly sharing pictures and stories. Bumping into Shane we got his advice on what to do with our time tomorrow as we opted out of spending money on more adventurous activities and instead had him help us book a wine tour for the wineries around the Queenstown area.
To finish exploring Queenstown for the day we took our friends advice and headed up toward the gondola, making a tradition of getting chips for the ride up. We got off at the top and took our pictures, quickly realizing that no view really compared after seeing Queenstown from the sky.
It was therefore time to head back to the Aspen on Queenstown for naptime. We took the city's public bus and made the quick trip up the hill to our hotel. Even the bus driver could not have been friendlier and allowed Rachel to keep her tea because "you look trust worthy!" It was then off to sleep for us until our group dinner in the hotel restaraunt that Shane arranged for us as an extra bonus so we would not have to worry about extra surcharges when eating out due to the holiday. What a great man! And what a great dinner- chicken schnitzel and chips...one of my favs! Once again Shane pulled through and arranged for the bus to take us all into town for a group trip to the Queenstown IceBar. Every city we have traveled to has an IceBar included one in Surfers Paradise so it has been something we have been wanting to get to and it was nice to be able to do this with the trip, especially where Shane helped us get additional discounts. Everything in the ice bar is...you guessed it...made of us. And they give you a warm jacket, gloves and boots to go in with. I definitely was thinking of walking away with the boots to keep my feet warm for the rest of the night! After the icebar the group stayed together for a night out exploring the night life Queenstown had to offer. We went to Fraser's Bar- where it was apparently customary to dance on the table tops and bar tops...something we all joined in on. And then it was off to world bar, a bar that uniquely serves its drinks in teapots. Apparently this is another place that is a chain throughout the world but it was my first time getting served in a teapot. Throughout the night I ran into even more people I knew from Wisconsin. Being abroad and traveling is proving to me even more just how small the world is...whereas Rachel just seems to think I know everyone! When we got back we wandered into the front desk for some quality internet time. As we were joined by more people we made friends with the man at the concierge, Raul. It is Raul, who looking back on my trip I miss very much. Cold in the lobby I really wanted some soup from room service. Raul could not be more sorry that the kitchen did not make soup that day and instead proceeded to bring the group toast free of charge. What a guy!
Day 4The next morning was the day of our wine tour. As it did not start until 12 we got to "sleep in" and make our way into town, picking up lunch for the road. It was a small tour with only 5 people in our group. Our first stop on the tour was Gibbston Valley. This winery was very pretty and we were guided through the vineyards with the guide explaining to us which type of grape makes each sort of wine and the process of making wine. We were then taking into the underground wine cave for a tasting. We got to taste 4 different types of wine here where I was finally able to confirm that I like white wine better than red. After our tasting was done we were seated for lunch. Rachel and I split a platter of local cheese which as they would say in NZ was "quite yum". We were given another tasting of wine and a glass to go with our meal. Then we were given time to explore the cheese shop at Gibbston Valley before it was time to move on to the next vineyard. Chard Farm. Here our tour guide led our tasting allowing us to try whatever we wanted which was nice as he got a better feel for our likes and dislikes. Only one lady in the group was a red wine drinker so after the first vineyard she was only with the Pinot Noirs. It was nice to compare with the group how we felt about the wines from vineyard to vineyard, and interesting to note that the year and vineyard can make a huge difference on the taste. We moved on to our next vineyard, Brennans. Fun fact about this vineyard: A bottle of Brennan's is actually featured twice on The Big Bangy Theory. This was not the group's favorite as they feature mostly red wines but we learned alot here about frost and how they send helicopters out to fan off the frost. With a quick stop for a picture of the original bungy bridge and to watch a few people jump we were off to the final vienyard, Peregrine. Yet another pretty view and impressive architecture of the storage facilities. Here the lady who assisted us was again very very friendly and accomodating to our tastes and it is with her that Rachel and I found the bottle we had been searching for, late harvest Reisling, clearly a desert wine. It was delicious, and of course unavailable to be purchased at the vineyard at that time :( But I can get a case shipped home for $600?! With our tasting now complete our guide dropped us back off at our favorite Aspen on Queenstown for our nap time.
We woke up just in time to catch Shane's lovely free group transport into the town for the evening. Tonight was our last night in Queenstown and therefore our last chance to try a Fergburger, home to one of the world's largest burgers and as we were told a must try in Queenstown. Don't worry they have a huge menu selection other than beef burgers and I opted for the Cock Cajun...a chicken sandwhich that was absolutely delicious!! Mid-shoving my mouth with my Fergburger would of course be the time that I would run in to even more friends from high school on holiday in New Zealand. Small small world. After our huge meal Rachel and I wandered the streets waiting for our other friends who had already tried Fergburger to finish their respective meals. We want into one souvenier shop after another trying on silly hats and slippers, getting very tempted to buy them due to the cold. I especially loved this one hat of a sheep whose hears then hung down to form the gloves so the hat and gloves were all attached. Very cute and would be mine if it was not $30 :( We finally met up with the other girls from our group and also coordinated to meet up with our friends from school, Jodi, Kiki, Elle, and Colleen, whose time in Queenstown overlapped with ours for the night! It was very nice to be able to hang out with even more familiar faces for the night and we all had a good and low key night with Epic Bar Crawl which took us through more bars of Queenstown that we had yet to see. When it was time to call it a night we took a cab back to the Aspen and visited our friend Raul for our nightly toast. We called it an early night so we would be ready to head out of Queenstown early the next morning :(
Day 5 Today we headed out of Queenstown and to the Fiords. We visited Te Anau for a leisurely lunch break where we got delicious pizza. Post lunch we travelled on stopping to look at Mirror Lake. I believe this lake is supposed to reflect the scenery above it but unfortunately it was very windy and the lake had no such affect. Thankfully almost every lake in New Zealand, whether titled Mirror Lake or not seemed to have this effect so the wind did not disappoint to many. Our next picture stop was Hollyford Valley, where you will see several jumping pictures were taken if you take the time to look through all my pictures. Next on the Kodak stop was a short walk through to view a chasm. [Unfortunately I cannot really tell you what this is because I do not remember what the sign said about it but feel free to google at your leisure. I am sure you will come up with more information than I would if I googled for you seeing as American google is much much better than Australian google. Who knew google would be something I would miss?]When the photos were snapped it was back on the bus to oh you know....drive through a mountain. We did this via the Hommer Tunnel. Now to paint an image in your mind I will ask those of you who can to draw back on your memories of the tunnel in connecticut on the way to the hartford airport [i think?]. Now take this tunnel and multiply the length by 20, take out all the lights [because seeing while driving is overrated?], and take out the second lane [because all bridges and tunnels in NZ are one lane to save money, who cares if you have to risk your life- at least you can afford a life?]. Also add in the signs surrounding the bridge warning about avalanches. It did not seem like a very safe tunnel. But we made it through our trechorous drive safely and in time to boad the Milford Explorer. This would be the boat we would be spending the night on in the Milford Sound. Fun fact: The Milford Sound is actually a fiord. The difference between a fiord and sound is that a fiord a geological formation carved out by ice while a sound is carved out by water. When the sound was first named it was thought to be a sound but was later proven to be carved out by ice...but the name was never changed! On the boat we settled in to our tiny rooms [see pics] and ate delicious soup [kumera- a type of sweet potato]! We then were taken out on a motor boat and given a more close up view of the "sound". Through the night we saw fur seals and some amazing scenery. We ate a delicious dinner and after sun set the board games were taken out. Scategories was played for a verryy long time and we got very loud as the game got funnier and funnier. I forgot how much I like that game. It was another early night onboard the Milford Explorer and we crawled into our tiny beds and said goodnight to the water.
Day 6:We woke up the next morning surrounded by water just as we had went to sleep. The crew served us a quick breakfast making sure all the dishes were put away before the drove us out into the Tasman for a better look at the vast waters. Watching the sunrise and the beautiful views and headed back towards the land, eager to take a shower.
Back on the bus we started our drive towards Lake Ohau. We stopped again in the little town of Te Anau. Again, I ran into Forhman and Wolfson. Our itineraries clearly had a lot of overlap. We passed along the Kawarau River and again passed the original AJ Hackett's Bungy Bridge as we made our way around back through Queenstown. It was sad to drive through it and not be able to stop! We continued on through the Cromwell district making a stop a cute little fruit store at the side of the road. Here I purchased some sunflower seeds and dried fruit and sampled many other local fruits. Our journey continued over the Lindis Pass and the scenery never stopped being pretty. Finally we ended our bus ride at Lake Ohau Lodge. When we got there Shane informed Rachel and I that our room was one of the few that was a little further away, and then whispered to us "but has a great view". And he could not be more right! Not only was our room huge and beautiful for just two people but also had a sliding door that walked right out to the lake front. Therefore, with the curtains pulled back, king size bed in the room over looked the beautiful lake and the mountains. Getting there just in time for sunset it could not have been prettier.
Again that night we were treated to another delicious dinner by Topdeck. I must say, telling them I was a vegetarian was one of the best things, with some advisment from Shane, as all the vegetarian options were so so delicious! Later the Topdeck grop was to have a Bin Bag party aka a party where you make an outfit out of a trashbag. Earlier in the day we were given a black bag and a white bag and told to make something out of it and we would have a fashion show for the best outfit. People got really creative and into it making priest outfits and towels, etc. Shane's outfit definitely won as the tuxedo although he had clearly worked on it before that evening...and could have used some pants with his bin bag.
Day 7: This day was a day of driving as we had to make it back up to Christchurch for the end of our trip :( All the activity of the week had finally caught up to me as I sat down on the bus that morning and I was more than fine with the 8 hours of driving ahead of us. I slept literally the whole day. Any time we were not stopping for a picture moment or food break or bathroom break, Marni could be found asleep. In fact by the end of the ride I was the only one who did not put their name on the email list because there was not a minute that Shane could find me awake on the bus. no wonder I slept the whole way to Australia. In between my many naps of the day we made a nice stop for me to stretch my legs as we took a walk in the National Park at Mt. Cook village, taking in the scenery of Mt. Cook. Shane had us all stop taking pictures and sit in silence, and activity we had done the first day as well, to hear the noises of nature. From this spot we could hear the avalanches of snow shifting above us and were even able to locate it a few times. Other stops included Lake Pukaki and a village off of Lake Tekapo where we stopped for lunch. After lunch we stopped at The Church of the Good Sheppard which also features a monument to the Border Collie. We learned a little more about Shepparding at our stop at the Kiwi Farm Experience, a sheep farm run by a cute family who gave us a tour, showed us how they gather the sheep and how they sheer their sheep. This was interesting to see although it looked a little gruesome and I couldnt help myself feeling a litte sorry for the cute sheep. After the demonstration we were served tea in their cottage which was so precious. Yes, precious is just the only word to describe it. And then...back to Marni's nap.
Before I knew it we were back in Christchurch checking back in to the base Hostel for our final night accommodation. We said our goodbyes to Shane and Ron, very sad to see them go!!
For dinner that night a group of us went out for Mexican food, enjoying our margaritas as we waited and the plethora of food that followed. I have been more full on this trip than I had been in a very very long time! As the girls were all leaving the next morning and were not staying at our hostel we said goodbye at the restaurant and headed back for an early night. Yes I was somehow STILL tired.
Day 8: As we had not booked accomodation past what the trip had provided for us and the base was full for our next two nights Rachel and I checked out the next morning and checked in to the hotel next door. For very little more a night this accommodation was much much nicer and we could not be happier that we had held off in booking! We settled in to our luxury room, taking a slow morning, enjoying not being on a schedule. Yet being ourselves we were still anxious to make the most of our traveling time and see Christchurch. We headed out to the place we deemed to be our favorite cafe in Cathedral square across from our hostel, had a bowl of soup, a cup of coffee and were ready to face the information desk. Here we question some poor man's head off who was very very friendly and helpful and we booked tickets from unlimited tram rides through the rest of our visit as well as a punting ride through the avon river and the gondola. With those booked we took the tram over to the art center where we wandered the markets that are set up on weekends. Here we saw many cute little vendors but even more importantly was the food carts! After getting overwhelmed we settled on risotto- a great choice. From here we wandered through the botanical gardens, watching the other punting boats go by. It was then our turn and we enjoyed our leisurely tour down the river, although there wasn't too much to see. Our quirky punter made it worth it as he was very happy about booking plane tickets to visit his girlfriend and was very open about sharing details of his life. From our punting boat it was time for our afternoon nap as we realize we usually crash around 4pm. Our hotel made this nap very enjoyable.
When we woke up we wandered off to Poppy Thai to fill our usual thai cravings. Then back for a movie on our glorious hotel tv and an early sleep.
Day 9:
Today we decided to try a new cafe, and regretted this decision as the food at our decided cafe was not nearly as good as our "usual" cafe. Here I got tomato soup, which I had been very excited about...and then it was cold. Overall disappointment :( We then headed to the gondola. Something we had attempted to do the day before but gave up on due to our 4 pm crash. The gondola is a bus ride away so it took time to get there and cost an extra $2. Then although we had already purchased our tickets we had to wait in line as everyone who didnt purchase tickets did- something I found out after trying to cut the line and got yelled at. I was not happy. At the top of the gondola we got another snack to fulfill our hunger after the unsatisfying lunch. Although my chips here still were not very good and the man at the counter forgot to open my glass bottle diet coke which caused only minor dilemas. But all that was solved, my hunger cured and pictures of the views were taken[which you will see did not compare to Queenstown]. We headed back down and were getting back on the bus. Our ticket was supposed to be good for 2 hrs. With out luck we got on the bus 2 hrs and 5 mins later. This is where we met the first rude man in NZ and we had to purchase an additional bus ticket. Overall my gondola experience not very satisfying. Done with public transportation for a little while, we took advantage of the beautiful weather. It was the first day we did not need to be wearing jackets and it was good to defrost again. We sat outside by the cathedral and wandered around cathedral square, drinking ice coffee. When we were done defrosting we got back on the tram, this time riding it through the full square to be sure we saw all the main sights and architecture of the town that Rachel properly labeled as having "character". Then it was off to the souveneir shops before everything closes early on sunday, a fact the tram driver happily mocked.
Finally it was dinner time. Not satisfied with our lunch and not looking forward to our Australian cuisine we put alot of pressure on this meal being great. We searched the menu of every restaurant on the block along the river looking for the perfect meal and we definitely found it. Rachel was able to get her lamb that she wanted to try in NZ and I got a great curry dish. We went all out, spliting an appetizer and a bottle of wine, just in case it is the last time we eat good food again?
It was time to make our way back to the hotel and pack up for the night, getting ourselves together to leave this great great country.
Day 10: It was now officially time to leave and...I would say head back to reality...but Australia is not reality...We were dropped off at the airport with the parting words of "Dont worry security is quick. We don't know what a terrorist looks like here." Take that as you will but he was right, security was super super quick. And I did not make the water mistake this time. The journey home was overall uneventful...just long with a plane....train...and bus. But I watched some great movies and great episodes of Two and a half men and made it make safe and sound!
It is now time to plan my trip to the north island of New Zealand...maybe fill out my change of address cards?!
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