Queenstown - Adventure Girls

Queenstown was awesome! It is the adventure capital of the country. Anything you can think of they have it here to try. We chickened out on the Bungy jumping… but we did do some fun Jet Boating, Helicopter riding, Rafting, and Horseback Riding. The Jet boat was really crazy. Pretty much just a huge Jet Ski that could hold about 20 people. Just kinda skidded on top of the water, only needing like 2 inches to ride on. We drove up and down the river coming inches from the canyon walls and busting out 360s all over the place. Really fun!

We apparently got really lucky with our Helicopter ride. We had crazy Pete for our pilot and he was honestly crazy. They say he is the best helicopter pilot in the country and they used to have him for the tours all the time until he opened his own company. They haven’t had him in years, but for some reason he was our pilot that day because the other companies were not running or something. Not really sure, but he was awesome! We took off just barely missing the first mountain top and then he practically flew us sideways. I didn’t even know a helicopter could do that. Then he shut the engine and we just free fell for a good 3 seconds. It was so much fun.

The helicopter landed us right where we were meeting up with everyone to go rafting. Suzy and I got stuck with a raft full of girls who had never rafted before. At first we were a little bummed, but it turned out to be great. We went through some class 4-5 rapids and got to jump off some cliffs on the way. And of course since we were the “girl raft” everyone picked on us. Both Suzy and I got pulled off the raft into the ice cold water at different times. Lots of fun!

Horseback riding was our second day in town. Dougal was my horse and Suzy rode Bert. Bert was awesome, just kinda stayed right up front with the guide. Our guide said he was like the nerd of the bunch, kinda like a goody two shoes. Haha. Dougal, however, decided it was a good idea to eat every 5 seconds. I am not even exaggerating. He stopped to eat every 5 seconds. But he didn’t want to lose his place in line so he would trot back up to his 3rd position before the next horse could overtake him. Oh and he kept tripping. Just walking along and all of a sudden would trip and fling me forward. Definitely kept me alert or I would have easily been thrown off. So funny. Our guide told us that there are some thistles out in the field that some of the horses get into that actually gives them a pretty good high. She said Dougal eats them quite often. Awesome, so my horse was high. Guess that’s the reason for the constant eating and tripping. We had a great time though. They let us trot and canter a few times and like always the scenery was beautiful.

We are staying in Lake Tekapo tonight hopefully climbing Mt. Cook tomorrow but the weather isn’t looking too good for us. Good thing we have our little Sunny to take us where ever the sun is shining.

Happy March 1st! Only 5 more days left here in this perfect country. So sad!!

But check out the coke bottle...

Wanaka... sweet as!

We love Wanaka!


We also love blue sky's!! We have had them for two full days now. Woooohooo! It is supposed to get rainy again tomorrow afternoon, but hopefully it will pass quickly. The blue sky here is so beautiful. Not sure if it is just because we haven’t seen one in so long, but the blue is so vivid and tealish. Unlike any blue sky we can recollect seeing at home. Plus the scenery is quite complimentary as well. Huge mountains and blue lakes and tropical forest and cute towns… yes we are obsessed with New Zealand!

We went on a hike to Rob Roy Glacier in Mt. Aspiring National Park. It was about a four hour hike and ended with a spectacular view of the glacier and the mountain range and waterfalls and fields of dandelions. It’s hard to believe that all these geographical features exists so close to one another.

Had a beautiful drive down to Milford Sound past the Remarkables Mountains, more pretty lakes and into the Fiordland National Park area through a wormhole of a tunnel that appeared to have been blasted hundreds years ago. Taking a cruise through the sound tomorrow.

..."sweet as" is a saying that New Zealanders use all the time. Just at the end of any sentence or by itself. For example... So long for now, sweet as!

Fox Glacier - Ice Climbing

Wow!
I know I said that about SkyDiving but Ice Climbing was just so much fun too. We met up with our guides at 8am and they layered us in warm gear (fleeces, gloves, beenies, pants, snow boots, socks… everything). They gave us ice picks, boot crampons, ropes and a nice big bag to carry all of our equipment in. There were two guides and 7 of us. It was a perfect amount of people. Our guides were lots of fun. One Brit and one Kiwi and they were like crazy monkeys climbing all over the ice.
It has unfortunately been raining here for the past 3 days so the weather was a bit chilly, but the glacier, even in the rain, was beautiful. It was right in the middle of huge lush green mountains. You would never have thought there was a huge glacier sitting right there. And the color of the ice… bright blue all over the place… Amazing!
We hiked up the mountain about an hour before coming to the glacier. There we put on our crampons, which are spikes for our boots, our harnesses and our helmets. Were were ready for adventure and looking good! They taught us a little bit at a time but our group was pretty good it didn’t seem like anyone wasn’t ready for the climbing part. It is really amazing how much you have to trust your gear though. You would think the pick or the cramps would need to be shoved deap into the ice to hold you up, but really only about ½ an inch and you are golden. You can just stand there, 5 feet above the ground with only ½ an inch of spike holding you into the ice. Crazy!
At the first wall there were two ropes . One person climbed while another person relayed them. The relay job was quite stressful since the person’s life pretty much rested in your hands. If you didn’t lock the rope right or let it go to quick the climber could easily fall down the 20 ft wall. Aaaaahhhhh! But, nothing like that happened. We were all very careful with each others lives and actually the repel down was one of the funnest parts.
It didn’t take as much arm strength as you would think. The ice picks were more for balancing and keeping you from falling off the wall backwards. Most of the work was done in the legs. Kicking the toe of your boot, with the crampon, hard into the ice and then standing up trying to keep your heels down and not too tilted. A lot to remember when you are 20-30 feet above ground, but we definitely had a wonderful time on the ice.
We climbed up about 6 times and by that time we were all cold and tired enough to be done. It was a great adventure though. Who gets to visit a glacier and ice climb all over the place?!?!?!?
(Everyone please pray for no more rain in New Zealand!! We need sunny days from here on out. This country is too pretty for constant rain. AND without sunshine how are we going to get our beautiful pictures to post for you?)

Tongariro Crossing & Wine Tasting

Our second day in Taupo we took a day bus down to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This was where a lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed. Maybe the part with the eye?? Neither of us are huge Lord of the Rings fans, so we weren’t sure, but it was a great hike nonetheless. Total of about 6 hours. A good 2 hours straight up the mountains and then a good 2 hours straight down with little bits of flat ground in between. We are still feeling the pain in our legs. That downward hike is not so nice on the knees or the shins.

But the hike was beautiful. Very strange the way it would be completely clear and then within seconds the fog would take over and you couldn’t see more than 2 feet in front of you. Check out this picture… seriously, 2 seconds and the fog took over. AND COLD!! At the top of the mountain ridge we were freezing. But it was all worth it being outside for an entire day getting some long overdue exercise.

The Red Crater and Emerald Lakes were beautiful. The lakes smelled like sulfur but they were a vivid turquoise color and the rocks surrounding them were hot to the touch from the volcano.

We caught a bus that night after the hike, or I guess early morning (1am) from Taupo to Wellington and jumped immediately onto the fairy to the south island. We picked up our car... Sunny. Sunny is actually the model of the Nissan (we have never heard of it before), but we thought it also a good fit for his name as well. He is a great little car and besides having to drive on the opposite side of the road and circle around a ton of round-a-bouts, we love it! Alana is the primary driver since Suzy left her ID at home and she has already hit 2 curbs, but what can you expect from having to drive on the other side of the road?!?! Don’t worry, we have full insurance :)

We are staying in Blenheim at the Grapevines hostel. They are very cute. The owner lives in the house connected to them. It is a great home away from home. AND we went to our first grocery store last night. A month and a half since we have been in one of those. We had a hay day picking out our breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We might stick to eating out as it seems a bit cheaper for us. It is nice to be in true civilization again though. You definitely take it for granted until you are in Southeast Asia for a month eating noodles and rice.

We went wine tasting today in the Marlborough region right in Blenheim. Beautiful vineyards all over the place. We visited three vineyards and one Schnapps tasting: Mount Riley, Wither Hills, Bouldevines, and Prenzel (Schnapps). At the Wither Hills Vineyard they actually had a row of each grape they harvest for people to walk around and try. You can just pick the grapes right off the vines. It was so fun tasting the difference between all the grapes. Their Chardonnay here is outstanding. Nothing like we have in America. And the Pinot Noir is fabulous too. Pinot Noir grows the best here because of the climate so the next time you are looking for a really good red wine, try New Zealand’s Pinot Noir!

Our last stop was at Prenzels. The whole place was full of different Schnapps and you could choose as many as you liked to taste. The butterscotch and peppermint and the melon were all amazing. We also tried some flavored Brandy. It was good, but neither of us are fans of Brandy so we kept mostly to the Schnapps selection. If only we had enough room in our bags to bring home samples for everyone... guess you will just have to come and try it for yourselves.

Taupo Skydiving!!!

SKYDIVING! WOOOOHOOO!
Alana’s perspective:

Um, wow! That was the most amazing rush ever! 15,000 feet up with a free fall for :60 seconds. So much fun! There were four of us on the plane ride up and I was the last to go. The scariest part was watching the other three people fall out of the plane and just disappear from sight. One second they were on the edge of the plane and the next… you couldn't even see them below and the next person was on the edge.

Suzy went second. All of a sudden she was just gone. And then I was at the edge of the plane, legs tucked underneath and head back waiting to fall. You really have no choice at that point. You are just pushed to the edge and then, gone… falling and falling and falling. It goes so fast. The :60 couldn't have been more than :15. It was so amazing. I was spinning all around just watching the entire northern country of New Zealand. You really could see the whole coast to coast north country. Not that I was looking too much… most of my fall was me screaming and giggling and trying to focus on everything that was happening. Sensory overload for sure! But then, Peter (my instructor) pulled the shoot and we stopped. Not really stopped but all of a sudden you are no longer falling, just floating instead. Everything kinda goes into slow motion and you just float your way to the ground. Of course we were still spinning and gliding fast, but nothing compared to the free fall.

I watched Suzy’s blue parachute land a few miles below mine and then I was landing too. It really all happens too fast and then we were back inside watching ourselves on video falling again. Haha. I am not sure which was my favorite part. I loved the fall… so exhilarating, but the floating after was awesome as well. I want to go again!! Here is a bootleg version of my video. I didn’t think of taping the movie until we had already watched suzy’s… but she will have the dvd for anyone that wants to see it. And it is a good one! Her instructor was really funny.

I will let her tell about it… if she ever jumps on to blog about it. hahaha...

Ubud, Bali to New Zealand

Ubud is great. Very artsy and cute. We wondered around until we came upon a monkey sanctuary. Monkeys everywhere. All over the road and the trees. It was really fun.






For all you Eat Pray Love readers, we did stop by Wayan's Cafe. Very cute. We didn't eat there and I am not sure if she was actually there but it looks like it is doing very well. She actually has a cafe in Lombok and Gili as well.

We are in New Zealand now!!!
Tomorrow SKYDIVING! AAAAHHHHH
and check out the beautiful sunset over lake Taupo...

:)





oh and happy valentine's day.

Kuta Lombok & Gili Islands

WOW

Pure paradise.

We rented a scooter today and drove around the whole city of Kuta. It was amazing. Easily the best beach we have been to yet. Hardly any people and perfect clear water and white sand. OH but the sand is actually make of little circle shells. Kinda looks like miniature dip and dots. It feels awesome on your bug-bitten feet.

I would say to any surfer that wants to take a trip anytime soon... this place is your true heaven!! BUT, don't come in rainy season... it rains, a lot. There isn't much to do if you don't have surfing in mind, but we have been enjoying it nonetheless.

We have about every other day without rain. It is a nice escape from the extreme heat, but you always want a lot of sunshine when you are in tropical places.

Check out the dark clouds. Storms are a brewing!

We spent three nights on the Gili Island Trawangan as well. It was beautiful. We found our favorite restaurant called the Blue Marlin and had delicious Kebabs from the grill every night. One meat and one seafood. We know we should have explored other places, but they were so wonderful we couldn't pull ourselves from their restaurant. ymmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

We stayed at the Lumbang Cottages Bungalow. They were sooo cute. Anyone that travels here (which everyone should) should stay here. They are off the beach a little bit, but cheaper that way. We loved every part of them. Our own outside shower covered by bamboo. Animals all around. Goats, cows, roosters, cats, cats and more cats. It was awesome!

We met some fun people on our snorkeling trip to the other two islands: Gili Meno and Gili Air. The water was pretty turned up from all the storms so we didn't get to see much of the reefs. OH and we found out that the fisherman use dynamite to kill massive amounts of fish at the same time. They actually drop it into the reefs. How awful!! Coral lines the beaches and while it is beautiful, it is sad to know that the reefs are being destroyed to kill the fish.

Indonesia!!

We made it to Bali. Stayed two nights in the crazy Kuta city. It was a lot of fun. One day full of rain and the next full of sunshine. it is pretty dirty there though. sad to see all the trash on the beach. we met a bunch of friends and actually went to dinner with a big crowd. YAY for making friends. the locals here are very very nice and pretty much everyone speaks English. we are having a great time.

yesterday we took the fast boat over to the Gilli Islands. The waves on the trip over were so big we thought our boat might capsize. ok. not really, but they were really huge throwing us around everywhere. it is still a little stormy here. their weather is off this year. usually the storms are done in early January. hopefully they will be done by tomorrow.

we are staying in a really cute bungalow called Lumbang Cottage Bungalow. It is a great place for anyone considering the Gillis Islands :)

We <3 Singapore

We are at the airport on our way to Bali. It was rainy today, so we decided to just head to the airport early. With three hours to play around before we leave we grabbed some food and headed down to the main lobby to watch some tv and waste some time. What are they playing on the big flat screen tv for everyone to see you might wonder!?! Nothing other than the National Championship game!! We saw the orange and blue on the screen and immediately started cheering. We got to watch the entire 4th quarter and low and behold... THEY WON!! Can you believe it! A month later and they still won the game :)

Singapore rules!!
To Bali we go...

Sentosa

Today we were at the "Southernmost Point of Asia"

A little man made beach called Sentosa. And this man definitely made this beach very very nice! Eventually this will be a big amusement park but they are still building a lot of the amusement. We were again the ultimate tourist taking pictures with every sign and of course the cool palm trees that hung out over the water. It was a little freaking climbing out on the palm tree as you could see all the nice jagged rocks right below and balance was easy to lose, but we made it back to shore safe and sound.

One more day in Singapore and then off to our beautiful Bali! Get ready for a ton of beach pictures. Flowers, beaches and sunsets. Photographers in the making!

Singapore Sling

We spent our day walking around the Botanical Gardens here in Singapore. Very nice way to spend the day. The weather was perfect, a little overcast so it wasn't too hot... but no rain. And the best part about it... more flower pictures!!!

We had a great suggestions from a friend who used to live here to check out a restaurant for lunch. It was down in Chinatown so we got to see some of that part of the city as well. We have been all over the place here. The best part about it is, the country is so small we can practically walk anywhere we want to go and get there within 20-30 minutes. If we are too lazy or it's too far away they have an amazing bus system that we have become pretty good at as well.

After our second day here, we still believe this is the cleanest city in the world. They have white buildings that are the purest white we have ever seen. No sign of pollution or litter anywhere. The only downfall about that is, there are fines for everything. Smoking, chewing gum, spitting on the street, eating on buses... and it just goes on and on. I guess that is how they keep it so spic and span!

We actually got ourselves all dressed up last night. Well when I say dressed up, we took showers and applied a bit of mascara. haha. but it felt great to be out of our travel clothes and not looking and smelling like rats for a night. We went to the famous Raffles hotel to have the famous Singapore Slings. They were totally over priced and very very sweet... but "When in Rome" right. We realized how spoiled we were at all the other countries before this. Drinks there start at like 10$. We are so used to getting them for 50cents, it's hard to get back to reality with money.