So, I am badly behind with my blogging! This is due to being in tiny hostels with no internet access with more sheep than people...
I think the best thing I can do is give a quick insight into the main parts of the tour!
My favourite part of the north island was definately the Mount Tongariro hike. Although there were only 6 of us and a lot of us were reluctant, I'm proud that I managed it! It was a pretty hardcore 9 hour trek but the views were breathtaking. I've already mentioned this below though, in a previous post. I need to add the photos yet, these computers are painfully slow to use and freeze as soon as you try to do more than one thing at once.
The South Island was spectacular. We were spoilt with the views from every angle. Definate highlights were the Franz Josef glacier hike. It was another 8 hours across hard icey terrain with yet more crampons stuck to my hiking boots. It was pretty exciting though. Yet another fullfilling day although this trek ended in sitting in beautiful hot spa pools in a rainforest. B-E-A-UTIFUL. On a very sad, and scary note, somebody who took the same tour as us died the day after we had been on the glacier... doing exactly what we were doing. It turns out it was a heart attack and a fall (but not sure which order this happened in)...
On a happier note, Queenstown was amazing too. Such a happening place with lots to do, although I am definately not brave enough to do bungy jumps! We did have fun on the luge track. Luges, in case you were wondering are little carts with handle bars that you race around. Cheap and fabulous times! Plus, I ate the biggest burger EVER in Queenstown. The good ol' Ferfburger!
The best part of the tour for me was the sky dive. Never in my life did I see myself falling (whilst back somersaulting) out of a plane, screaming for my life (ok, I definately imagined and did the screaming part) at 200km per hour for 12,000 feet over stunning Lake Wanaka. Amazing experience and I am so glad I surprised myself.
There is a VERY brief overview of my New Zealand tour. The photos are gradually getting loaded. I will try and pick a quick computer tomorrow... I am getting desperate to put these photos up!
