So I have been off collecting some blogilicious adventures to share over my 2 week long spring break. I'm still sorting through my nearly 1000 pictures to find the best ones to share, along with another 1500 or so to get from my travel mates. But here is a quick layout of my journey. It all started in by catching a coach from my beloved Palmy to the Wellington Ferry terminal. There were boarded the interislander ferry and cruised through the Marlborough Sounds to the lovely ferry town of Picton. The next day began with a drive through the Marlborough Sounds as we took the scenic route on our way to Christchurch. We arrived in Christchurch with enough daylight hours to play the game "who can spot the most rubble". I apparently have an eye for broken stuff and won the contest. Yes, sadly even since February, Christchurch is still as I like to call "rubbleious". Unfortunately, there was not a lot to do and as hard as we tried, you could not get within 7 blocks of the square of the city, where all the fun stuff used to be. So it was a rather uneventful day. The next day we arose in the early morn so head to the student city of Dunedin. An adventure filled with penguin hunting and chocolate. This surprisingly exciting town for a Monday was a refreshing treat or multiple ways. We would have loved to stay longer but travel plans pushed us on to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. After a late night out, Marian and I rose with the sun to get ready for a day of skiing. Oh the skiing....lets just say it was a good thing I worked at an ice rink for so long. After another pleasant night out, we made our way to Milford Sound to miss our cruise (but make another one) to see the glorious and majestic fjords of New Zealand. The world heritage site was filled with water falls and wildlife. A definite highlight to the trip. That night we spent in Te Anau, the cute little town welcoming the world to the fjords. When I awoke the next day my head popped off the pillow with my first thoughts about my planned adventure for that day...the largest bungy jump in Austalasia, AJ Hackett's Nevis Bungy. It was an anxious morning as we drove the 3 hours back to Queenstown so I could fling myself out of a suspended cable car. It took a lot of work to get myself to stop thinking enough to convince myself to jump off an open ledge with style, you can judge yourself from the video to be posted if I accomplished that feat. After an adrenaline rushed morning, we had a mind blowing time at the puzzle world illusion museum in Wanaka followed by a neon dance party at our hostel's bar. My brain was going crazy! The next day was a bit more relaxing as we headed for the Glaciers. We did some easy hikes around both the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. The scenery was beautiful, even the during the drive there was a lot of oooh and aaaahing happening in my head. It was a later morning for us as we checked out of our hostel, starting to get a bit exhausted from all of our adventures but we carried on. The exhaustion showed while I was driving and all my travel mates fell asleep for some of the most beautiful lakes, mountains, valleys, and beaches I have ever seen. We made a few stops along the way but eventually reached the punakaiki pancake rocks and blowholes right at the high tide. Perfect timing to see some whale-like mists shooting from the holes in the rocks. That evening turned into a frigid dip into the ocean followed by warming up by the fire in our cozy hostel house. The adventure continued on into Motueka, just outside of Abel Tasmen. We spend the afternoon hiking and being overwhelmed with the beauty of this incredible island. The next day was dedicated to Josh and his activity to go sea kayaking! Sea kayaking the Abel Tasmen shores is a must do for south island travelers. We had perfect weather and got to paddle around with the baby seals in the crisp blue water. It was still go go go as we had a late morning and headed out to Alyssa's acitivity: wine tour as we drove from Motueka to Nelson. Which meant some good designated driver time for me, but don't worry I got some grape juice to show for it. We settled in the soon to be booming town of Nelson with time to tour around the city. The next day was a day off we had just in case things went crazy, but it all worked out so we had a free day to relax, which turned into going to the WOW museum and a nice picnic at the beach. That evening it was back to the quaint town of Picton. Previous experience told us there was nothing to do in the evenings here so we just relaxed in the hot tub of our favorite hostel, Tombstone. The following day was our earliest morning yet, as we made to to the ferry terminal by 7 am to drive our car onto the ferry. It was a rough seas but manageable as we arrived in Wellington with some time to kill as we waited for our Lord of the Rings tour, Marian's must do activity. It was a fascinating afternoon of hobbits and horses. It ended with our eventual arrival back to good ole' palmy.....and that is the short version :)
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