Larry and Tina met us in Queenstown, and we began a whirlwind two weeks together! We are so happy they were able to join us, and right off the bat they were ready for anything... even after 30+ hours of travel time. We immediately felt taken care of, they went on a hike with us, made us dinner, and even made us breakfast the next day. Parents are just the best, aren't they? After two months since Chris left, it really was an amazing feeling to see family again. Can't wait to see all of you reading this NEXT WEEK... CRAZY!!!!
Queenstown
The adventure capital of the world did not disappoint. We began by showing Larry and Tina the amazing views by riding the gondola up to the skyline viewpoint.
Ben Lomond Hike
From the top of the gondola you can continue hiking up, towards Ben Lomond. You can turn this hike into any distance you want, either walking up to the hill we did, the saddle, or the summit. A good "welcome to New Zealand" for Larry and Tina :) They loved it!
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| Hey the Hilton is this way :-P |
The hike took us through a nice forest, and along a ridgeline where we saw some mountain goats!
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| The perfect beginning to a perfect two weeks together! |
It was a pretty steep climb to the base of the first hill lookout, but then Larry started running up the hill! We jogged about halfway up, but then the rocks became more scraggly. Beautiful views from the top!
Whitewater Rafting!
When I proposed us all whitewater rafting, Larry and Tina immediately said yes, no hesitation here! We got geared up, and hopped into a bus to make our way to the raft starting point. I think that bus ride was scarier than any of the adventure things we ended up doing... LOL. It was a gravel road that wrapped around the ridgeline, and some of the turns were very sharp and the drops were very far down. But, we made it :)
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| Ready to hit the rapids with our guide, Antoine! |
There was actually a lot of calm water in between rapids, so a lot of the trip was checking out the scenery from the Shotover River. It was absolutely gorgeous, and the glacier water was so blue. At a few points Antoine said we could go for a swim, and the water was SO COLD. But, after working up a sweat rafting it felt pretty good!
The guide starts out the journey by going through all the commands, like "Forward", "Back", "Left Forward", "Right Forward", etc. He yells this so you react quickly because sometimes it takes quick movement, and you feel like he's a drill sergeant haha. They also prepare you with safety information in case the raft flips, or in case you fall out of the raft. There was only one point that felt like we might flip... we ended up getting stuck on a rock during a rapid and all had to move to one side of the raft to pry it free. It was a lot of fun though.
At the end, you go through a cool tunnel, then down the final rapid!
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| Smiles all around, except maybe Antoine is not impressed LOL |
Wanaka
About an hour from Queenstown is another lakeside town called Wanaka. It offers a less touristy vibe than Queenstown, with some amazing hikes nearby so I thought it would be worth checking out. It also helped break up the drive a bit when we later travel to Franz Josef on the West Coast.
SKY DIVING
What can I say... I still can't believe we did this. Ever since the beginning of our trip I've been having an internal debate with myself on if I wanted to do this. I think the idea really blossomed when in Townsville I saw several people landing from parachuting on a little beach strip. They just floated down so effortlessly, and all landed in exactly the same spot. I started thinking... wow that would be really cool and seems safe.
It's kind of funny because my friends Alicia and Diana skydived in NC a little over a year ago, and I was way too afraid to go with them then. Even to watch them... thank you guys for inspiring me though :)
Anyway, I knew New Zealand would be the place to do it during our trip. So throughout our journey in NZ I researched locations a bit and kept asking Justin... Should we do it?!? Eventually it got to the point where I was saying we should do it... we might regret not doing it while we're here. Then Justin was unsure! He had been interested before but I was actually going through with it and I think we were both a little nervous (I called his bluff! haha).
We let Larry and Tina be the deciders... Franz Josef or Wanaka looked the best for skydiving and we were only going to those places with them. Justin asked Larry and he said he'd get back to us... later that day we had an email saying "we're in!". So, once we arrived in Wanaka we had lunch, and made our way to the airport...
My stomach was TURNING the whole time before... I hardly slept the night before. But once we got to Skydive Wanaka, I think we all calmed down a little bit. You kind of reach a place of knowing you're going to do it, so you relax a bit and hype yourself up. The staff really knows what they're doing. We were suited up, greeted by our "beautiful stranger" (what they call the person whose life is in your hands), and in the plane before we could think twice.
We all sat in the order we would jump out of the plane. At 15,000 feet, the green light came on and the garage-like door opened up...
Justin was up first! He looked back and waved to me goodbye...
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| Just swing your legs over and lean back... |
He looks like he had fun :)
Then it was Larry and Tina's turn, in that order! Larry had "Living" written on his hands, and Tina had "Sweet Life". Then they came up with "Living the Sweet Life", which I thought was really cool.
Last out of the plane was yours truly... I kind of disconnected from the part of me that fears things and just lived in the moment... and what a moment! Honestly one of the most incredible feelings I've ever experienced!
The views were also amazing... we could see Lake Wanaka, Lake Hawea, the Hawea river, and even the southern alps and Mt Cook in the distance.
The freefall part before the parachute opens lasts about a minute, and it's such a crazy feeling. Air is just rushing past you but you don't really feel like you're falling. It's hard to describe but all I could do was smile!
When the parachute opens, you fly up a little bit and then it's a completely different experience. Everything goes quiet, and you're simply floating around checking out the views. Being last, I could see all three of them landing which was pretty neat. I kept saying to my tandem jumper "I just can't believe I did this!" and then I thought... wait we aren't on the ground yet! Haha. SO SO AWESOME! I will never forget this... and it was so awesome we could all do it together.
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| We just jumped out of a PLANE! |
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| Said plane. |
Afterwards we watched all our videos and looked through pictures, then went and had some nice, tall beers to celebrate :)
Rob Roy Glacier Track
It was hard to stop thinking about sky diving, but the next day we decided to hike the Rob Roy Glacier Track. I had read about the hike, but what I failed to read about was the road out to the carpark! I didn't realize it was mostly gravel, and that there were fords involved. But, it was a genuine New Zealand experience that I wouldn't trade for anything.
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| NZ Rush Hour |
The hike starts with a swing bridge that crosses a river of glacier water. It was a pretty steady climb all the way to the glacier viewing point.
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| Rob Roy Glacier |
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| I just love the flat farmland contrasted with the steep mountains. |
On our last night in Wanaka the clouds were really cool... made me think this must be why they call it the land of the long white cloud.
Franz Josef Glacier
Road to Franz Josef
After two night in Wanaka, it was time to make our way to the West Coast and more glaciers! The drive out to Franz Josef was really beautiful, following Lake Wanaka for a bit and then meeting the western coastline.
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| Someone jumping into ICY water at Blue Pools |
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| Waterfall along the way |
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| Scooby-Doo van! |
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| Hello again, ocean! Beautiful western coastline |
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| Fern spirals on a hike on the way |
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| Franz Josef... beautiful views of the glacier! |
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| Our cute Chalet for the night, or as Justin called it... the tiny house! |
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| Still haven't seen that darn kiwi |
Glacier Heli Hike!
This was the first adventure tour we booked, what they call a glacier heli hike! A helicopter takes you up to the Franz Josef Glacier, where you then hike around with a guide for a few hours and then take the helicopter back. It was a beautiful, clear day, and we were all really excited! It was also Tina's first helicopter ride, and she loved it!
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| Approaching Franz Josef Glacier |
The pictures below show the area we got to hike around, can you see the people? The second picture is easier to see where we were.
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| All geared up and ready to hike! |
They gave us all waterproof jackets, pants, little red bags, walking sticks, boots, and cramp-ons (spikes that strap on to your boots to walk on the ice). It was pretty wild getting off the helicopter and knowing you're walking on a glacier. It's also NZ's fastest moving glacier which is pretty cool. There are over 3,500 glaciers in NZ which surprised us all.
Some of the areas were really tight! We climbed ice stairs, and our guide would sometimes have to use his ice pick to cut away fresh steps. He said the path changes all the time because the glacier is moving so fast. Sometimes the stairs or pathways would have rope railings, and our guide would adjust those along the way to make sure they were set in the ice. A few of the points were pretty steep, and obviously the ice was very slippery but the cramp-ons really worked well.
The views around the glacier were spectacular.
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| Gathering some glacier water, tasted so good! |
Our guide then had us pose for some pics... hahaha
After three hours on the ice, it was time to head back down from the mountain. What an awesome experience!
Hokitika
After a crazy first six days or so, I was thankful I booked two nights in Hokitika. Hokitika is a relaxed, quiet beachside town about two hours north of Franz Josef. We headed there right after our glacier hike, so were ready to pass out by the time we got there. It was really nice to relax a bit, and have a day where we just took it easy.
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| The famous Hokitika sign |
We enjoyed walking on the beach, cooking together, and shopping a little bit. Hokitika is known for Jade (or what they call greenstone), so it was fun to look through some of the jewelry stores.
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| Yummy chef salad that was Justin's idea, but Tina & I made it :) |
Christchurch
On the road again... man NZ involved lots of driving! But it is all beautiful, and really the best way to see this gorgeous country.
Just beautiful no matter where you look... making our way to Christchurch took us through Arthur's pass. We drove through snow capped mountains, and passed some nice rivers and overlooks.
Our flight was leaving very early the next day, so we only had the afternoon and evening in Christchurch. Main thing on the agenda... see that kiwi!! We headed to a nearby wildlife sanctuary.
The sanctuary had all kinds of animals, farm animals, animals that were introduced to NZ, and a lot of native birds.
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| This swan loved the taste of Justin's shoe haha |
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| Our greeting party... never seen ducks like this! |
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| You're a long way from home little duckie |
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| We've missed these guys! Wallabies are so cute :) |
After winding our way through the sanctuary, the kiwi was saved for the very end. We entered a building that was dark with some red lights since the kiwis are nocturnal. We saw a few moving around, they are pretty active! We learned there's a bit of a controversy with the kiwi as it's a flightless bird that doesn't really do too much, and yet it's the symbol of NZ and more importantly the NZ aviation department. Well, they do love their kiwi! It is pretty cute :)
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| The elusive Kiwi! |
After seeing the kiwi, we checked out some of downtown Christchurch and tried a nearby winery run by a really sweet couple.
And just like that... our time in NZ was over. We really loved New Zealand, and yet found it so different from Australia. We'd heard it was very similar, and I could see that maybe with the people. The land itself is much more rural (well obviously more so than the cities we went to in Australia), and it's an even more relaxed pace of life. Love all the outdoor, relaxed clothing and the desire to be in nature as often as possible. Goodbye for now, New Zealand!
Back to Cairns!!
It was a bit of a long journey back to Cairns, but we made it! One of my bags didn't though... and Justin's passport got flagged so he had to report to the border officers. Apparently they thought he was doing something called "visa hopping" where you have a short term visa like us and are trying to work too so you leave and come back in a relatively short amount of time. Being in NZ only six weeks, they saw that as a quick return to Australia. Weird they didn't flag both of us though. After looking at Justin's phone for about 30 minutes he was cleared, only for me to find out my bag didn't make it. Qantas gave me an emergency gift card of $60, and said they'd send it to Cairns for me. On top of all of this, I also had a cold... and wasn't feeling too great after two flights. But, we were in Australia! We were so excited to be back in Cairns!
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| Did Cairns have this many fruit bats last time? Crazy! They are so loud! |
Reef Encounter Liveaboard
After purchasing a few clothes and some sudafed, the next day we were on the transfer boat bright and early... ready to go DIVING!!
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| Meeting our dive guide, Troy... he was awesome! |
The onboard photographer took our pictures while we made our way out to the main boat, Reef Encounter. The photographer was cracking us up!
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| Our home for the next three nights! |
Around the Boat
We loved this liveaboard... much bigger than our Prodive liveaboard we took back in November, and it had less people on board too! We loved our room, having a private bathroom, and the dining room was nice and big to hang out in.
Each night we were able to have dinner outside on the deck. The food was delicious, and we loved watching the sunset all three nights.
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| Nothing quite beats a sunset on the ocean |
I could wake up every day to views like this... time to get in the WATER!! I just love being near the ocean, and under the sea.
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| Gear is ready! |
Dinner night two...
Each day there were six water sessions and we could choose to dive four of the six. You could snorkel the other two, so I took them up on that offer one of the times. I went solo and Justin took pics of me from the boat LOL.
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| hey guysssss O.O |
Dinner night 3... we couldn't get enough of being here. Everything was just perfect... the Great Barrier Reef is beautiful.
Under the Water
The photographer took some really cool underwater shots! Much better than our underwater camera... kicking myself for not upgrading that before this trip.
Scuba buddies... so awesome to all dive together!
Under the sea... under the sea...
We saw tons of anemone fish (Nemos), rainbow fish, other tropical fish, some reef sharks, stingrays, and even a few of my favorite... the trumpet fish! On one dive, we even saw a hammerhead shark!! Pretty crazy to see... none of us had ever seen one and he was huge... like 7-8 feet long. We all looked at each other a little unsure, but he wasn't interested in us at all. We also saw lots of sea turtles, and on some dives were able to pause and just watch them. One time a sea turtle was hanging out near the sand and scratching it's neck on some coral. Another time, one was munching on some coral. I didn't realize they did that.
The diving was amazing, there's so much activity on the Great Barrier Reef. We completed 14 dives and loved each one. We'll definitely be back on Reef Encounter! Met some really nice divers and our dive master Troy made our trip extra special. He was awesome to hangout with and dive with. Now we can't wait for Brandon & Brittany to get certified so we can all go diving somewhere together!
Sydney
We said goodbye to the beautiful Great Barrier Reef, and made our way back to Sydney, a city that will always be a part of us :) We arrived late at night, and Justin & I were staying in an airbnb in a different neighborhood than Larry & Tina's hotel.
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| View from our airbnb! LOL ok maybe Larry & Tina's hotel room :) |
We all met up the next day, had breakfast... and sadly had to part ways :( They were off to do the bridge climb, and we off to do laundry and get organized. I can't tell you what a wonderful time we had with them... tons of moments and memories I will never, ever forget. Thank you both for joining us, for being so easy going and up for anything, and most importantly... thank you for your company! See you in Raleigh very soon!
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| Sad to say goodbye... amazing two weeks together! |
We've spent the last few days just hanging out in Sydney, we love being able to walk to the beach area and also take a bus downtown. Justin and I have just two more nights in this amazing country... I really can't believe it's almost over. I'm not even sure how I can summarize it all except to say it's been incredible, and I've tried to soak in every minute. We both love Australia so much, and will definitely be coming back. No question. Tomorrow I plan to eat a bunch of tim tams and cry while sitting by the opera house... ok not really :) But seriously, Australia you've been so wonderful... so beautiful, and exciting, and relaxing, all at the same time. I've learned so much about things that don't even relate to traveling, but just life... I think traveling just highlights the important things. Some things you worry about back home just seem so small and trivial, when there's this beautiful planet out there for us all to explore. I'm so thankful for the last 5 months. So thankful for this amazing introduction to the Aussie lifestyle, and to international travel itself.
Thank you for reading! I miss you all so much, and can't wait to see you starting NEXT WEEK!!! Craziness!!
Sarah
"I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me."
~ Cheryl Strayed, Wild
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