Day 5: Drive to Franz Joseph Glacier
We woke up bright and early and began the 7 hour drive along the west coast. We stopped a bunch of times so the whole trek pretty much took the whole day. We first stopped at NZ's longest swing bridge that we paid $5 to cross, pretty neat. Some people decided to zipline back across. Then we went to see the pancake rocks which was along the coast made of rocks that kind of looked like pancakes... they just had a bunch of ridges in them to make it look like a stack of pancakes. We then headed to Greymouth where we did ad tour of Monteith's brewery... our new favorite beer. The tour wasn't too exciting but we got to try all the beer after, we're all obsessed with Radler it's delicious. We got to go behind the bar and pour our own glass too which was cool! After that we got some delicious fish 'n' chips and then continued the journey. Trying to find a campsite was very difficult tonight. We finally found one and met up with everyone. We tried to make a fire but the ground was too wet... so we called it a night and went to bed early for the big hike the next day!
Day 6- Franz Joseph Glacier!
The big day! We woke up around 6AM and met up with the whole Loyola group for the first time since the start of the trip. They gave us waterproof jackets, mittens, socks, boots, a fanny pack with crampons, and a hat... most of us wore shorts since they said it would be nice out. We hopped on a bus that brought us to the glacier, and then had to walk a bit to get to the actual ice. We split up into smaller groups with individual guides, ours was Jason, interesting fella. He led us up a steep hill... one of the toughest parts of the whole thing. Eventually we got to the actual glacier, but before heading to it we had to put our crampons on, which are spikey things that go on under your shoes to have traction on the ice. They worked so well and i didn't feel unstable at all the entire time.
The glacier hike was INCREDIBLE. So hard to describe because it's unlike anything I've ever done before. We started out wearing shorts and long sleeved shirts and were hot and sweaty... about half way up that changed quickly. We went through an ice tunnel which got our bare legs and clothes wet... so after that things started to get a liiiittle chilly. The guides were constantly using ice picks to carve out safe paths for us to walk, so much of the time was waiting until we could move again, and a lot of standing around got us even colder. A lot of the paths they made required holding onto a rope to climb up or down so we wouldn't fall on the ice. We all toughed through the cold and learned some manuevers to stay warm like jumping up and down with your arms straight down and fingers pointing up... pretty interesting but it worked! We stopped for lunch on the glacier and made some pb + j sandwiches (clearly becoming a trend of the trip if you couldn't tell already).
As we started to head back down the glacier we warmed up and everything was fun again. They took us through ice caves which were insane. We had to literally crawl through them, not much head room or space for your body. They warned us not to step in any puddles because they were actually almost 4 feet deep and we'd fall into them and freeeeze. By the time we reached the bottom it started downpouring raining and then hailing so now everyone was completely numb (but we were glad it waited to rain AFTER we were off the glacier). My bag took a few days to completely dry out, and everything in it got drenched. (glad i took my old camera on this trip). The same thing was on everyone's mind after this... HOT SHOWERS!!! We all changed out of our wet clothes and found a campsite nearby to warm up. This campsite was one of my favorites and had a kitchen where we all hung out at night. We made some pasta and played some card games, relaxing after a long and exciting day!!! Definitely something I'll never forget and an experience of a lifetime.
Day 7: Lake Matheson --> Queenstown
Woke up at 6AM to go watch the sunrise on Lake Matheson. However, on the way we ran into a little problem... poor Daniela tried to turn the car around and ended up driving into a ditch! Immediately I was like we got this! Kara and I will push you out! ...epic fail. The car was pretty deep and we were just making it worse. So we texted the wicked vans who instantly came to our rescue. We had 6 guys and 5 girls trying to push out the van but it still wouldn't budge. Somehow the wicked vans got crafty and put wood and rocks under the wheels for traction. Right as Daniela was calling AAA, we GOT IT!!! Best feeling ever. The guys were really excited they got to rescue us it was so funny. So then we sped to Lake Matheson and caught the end of the sunrise, the lake reflected Mt. Cook and was insanely beautiful. Here's a pic: that's Mt. Cook on the top right.
We then began the drive to Queenstown! This was a hilarious ride, everyone was super hyper and just having a great time. We stopped at Puzzle World in Wanaka which I was not a fan of... but that side excursion didn't take too long. Once we finally made it to Queenstown the guys really wanted McDonalds... so we all stopped to eat, and then left to go find the free campsite called twelve mile delta. Here we weren't supposed to make a fire but we did anyway... and I spent some time laying on a blanket star gazing (I don't think I will ever see better stars than that night in the South Island, incredible). We hung out a bit in the wicked vans and then got some sleep for NEVIS the next day!!!! I also started freaking out this day since I thought I had a few more days until the nevis bungy than I actually did....
Day 8: QUEENSTOWN: THE Nevis Bungy, Gondola, Luge, Paraglide!
Pretty much best day of the trip so far. I woke up at 6:30AM and crawled out of James May trying not to wake Kara and Daniela, hopped into Tongaroa and drove to the Bungy place!!! We were split into 2 groups and mine ended up being the 9:20 group... so we had some time to kill, and got to use computers and communicate with people from home which was nice! Finally it was our turn to head out to the canyon and we all hopped onto a bus... I sat next to Anthony freaking out the entire time. My parents called me on the bus which was funny because I hadn't told them I was doing it yet.... no big deaaal. Once we started driving the the canyon area it really started to hit me what we were about to do. We had to transfer to a smaller bus to get to the actual site, and drove on windy roads all the way up the canyon. Once we arrived, they put our harnesses on right away, and did a final weigh in. There was no wasting time everything was super quick! Shauna was the first to go on the cable car that brought us out to the center of the canyon.... we all watched her anxiously knowing we were next. Riding on the cable car to the canyon was crazy. We could see everything underneath us and really started to realize just how high we were (134 meters!!!). Then we were all finally together in the center of a canyon on a cable about to jump off, WILD. I was the 3rd to go in our group, so got to watch some friends go first. THey attached ankle things on us and then we got to sit in the preparation chair where they told us how to jump and when to release our legs once we were done jumping. Everything was a blur and I really didn't even have time to process it all or get scared. I honestly feel like I was more scared for the bridge bungy because I had no idea what to expect. But this time, I was prepared. When they told me to walk all the way to the edge with my toes dangling over I knew what to expect and knew how terrifying it would be! But I was pretty calm the whole time, and then finally the woman counted "5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1" annnnd off I went! The feeling was incredible... so difficult to describe... but I felt like I was in a wind tunnel or something going so fast down the canyon. It was an 8 second freefall and I didn't have time to get scared during it because before I knew it I felt the bungy pulling me up, and survived!!! The whole way up I was just laughing, and so happy I decided to do it. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I loved challenging myself to do something I would have never thought I could do before coming to New Zealand.
Everyone was feeling so high on life and super pumped we did it so we went to a little pub on the water to celebrate our survival haha. After that everyone ended up getting split up and I was walking around with Daniela, Shauna, Kelly, DK, and Anthony. We decided to go up the gondola to get a nice view of the lake, which was very beautiful! Dk, Anthony, Shauna and I rode a chairlift up higher and then luged down, and got separated from the rest. We were all feeling very adventurous and ready to do something else so we spontaneously decided to go paragliding after getting a sweet discount. So the 4 of us hopped back on the chairlift and hiked up all the way to the top of the mountain (not a short climb!!). At the top we caught our breath, and then one by one jumped off the mountain with our individual paraglide guys flying with us. It was so much fun and the view of Queenstown was amazing, I felt like I was flying. It was a perfect way to end an already incredible day. We also each got a free beer which we got right after to celebrate the best day ever. Definitely a day I'll never forget!
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