Return to Christchurch

Wednesday 22nd February - Saturday 25th February 2017

The journey to Christchurch had to be the worst journey of my life - even more so than the flight here! I was super hungover and felt sooooo ill (self-inflicted I know). So we're just gonna skip over Wednesday!! 

I will say that today was my Great Uncle Jim's funeral and I was sad to not be there to pay my respects, but have been thinking about my family in this hard time and praying hard for them. 

It was super sad saying goodbye to everyone after dinner tonight (I only managed two slices of pizza). I will miss everyone so much... Contiki was the best decision I have ever made and these past three weeks have been the best of my life! 

The hostel we are staying at in Christchurch is called Tranquil Lodge and it is basic but really homey. The lady who runs it, Shiona, is so friendly and happy to help with anything! I'm definitely glad this is the case as I wasn't too sure at how I would feel about going from staying in hotels back to hostels but it's been good so far!

The next day I had a super lie in, I definitely needed it! Emma's snoring didn't even wake me up in the night! (Although at one point the other guy in our room was sleep talking about Mo Farah weirdly). 

We wandered in to town and bumped into Shenae and Liz so decided to grab dinner with them, and Ashna and Kathleen met us too. I had dumplings, but I am yet to find dumplings as good as at the place I found in Auckland. We spent a few hours chilling and not really doing a whole lot, but finally it was time to say goodbye to Shenae and Kathleen as their flights were tomorrow morning. 

The following day was our last full day before Fiji! I made sure I got some photos of the trams for my Popa, and I also finished my au Pair application today, bar a few documents I need so it was a pretty productive day! We met Ashna and Liz for brunch at Black Betty Cafe. Most of the menu had eggs or cheese in it and I didn't fancy spending the day feeling sick again so I thought I'd go for the vegan burrito. It was super yummy... that was until I got about half way! The bean - mushroom ration wasn't great, and here was no rice so it was basically all black beans! It was fine just got a bit boring! 

We said goodbye to Ashna after shopping round for a bit (well window shopping) and went to countdown to grab bits for dinner. Eventually it was time to say goodbye to Liz and then we were the only people form Contiki left! We headed back to the hostel, sorted out my bag for Fiji and then made the blandest tomato spaghetti I have ever seen... it was like being back in my first year of uni! 

We got speaking to Shiona about our travel plans and she managed to get us talking to another pair of German girls, Simone and Simone (makes it easier to remember!) who were on the same flight as us and had a hire car they needed to take back to the airport in the morning. They said they would give us a lift which was super kind! 

So now I'm sitting in the airport waiting for check in as I'm super early! I'm so excited to go to Fiji, it has been the top of my bucket list for as long as I can remember, due to Nana and Grandad living there in the late 1980s. I really hope I can meet up with some of the people they knew, but I'm not entirely sure what our timeline will be as we've booked through a few different companies, but we'll see! 

Lake Ohau - The Big Tiki

Tuesday 21st February - Wednesday 22nd February 2017

Our trip to Dunedin was short and sweet but now it was time for our last full day headed to Lake Ohau!

Our lunch stop today was at the Moeraki Boulders. Unfortunately it was quite a misty morning, but I can't really complain as we have had awesome weather so far! We grabbed a bite to eat before heading down to the boulders and taking the standard posey tourist pictures.

When we got to Ohau, we headed straight down to the lake to check it out. As it was a glacial lake the water was freezing so we decided against going for a swim.

It was then time for dinner where we had lasagne and salad and then sticky date pudding for dessert. The lasagne was ok but the pudding was delish!

We then got our togas on ready for the toga party! I drank way more than I should. We finished the night in the hot tubs which was awesome!

Dunedin - The Big Tiki

Monday 20th February - Tuesday 21st February 2017

I was sad to leave Queenstown this morning, it is truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. Hopefully I'll be able to get a job here, but if not I'll be back to do a swing (and maybe a bungy if someone bullies me into it!). We also said goodbye to a few more of our Contiki fam sadly.

When we arrived at Dunedin, we had a few hours to use up before going out for he evening. So we had a wander and, much to my excitement, there was a Cadbury factory! I immediately booked on to the factory tour for the following morning... it only worked it to be around £13 so I couldn't resist!! Kirsten and I shared a galaxy cake and I got a hot chocolate - honestly the nicest hot chocolate I have ever had in my life!

We then went to find Kathleen and Emma, who we expected to find with a pint of beer at a bar somewhere. Instead we found them with a tasting rack of 6 half pints! They had also been talking to two American couples who had come here on a cruise. It was so hot and I ended up burning a bit typically!

After gathering at the hotel, we all got the coach up to Speights brewery for the brewery tour. The tour guide cut it short so we could have more time at the bar... not that I'm complaining at all! I tasted all the beers and poured my first (half) pint successfully!

Following this we had a group meal at the alehouse. I had tomato soup then a chicken salad and it was one of the most delicious meals I had had in a while.

As I didn't want to spend more money on going out, me and some of the others went back to the hotel. Some of us went back to a room to play heads up and drinking games, but after a while Asha, Ashna, Tayla and I decided to go back to the room to watch Insidious. I've seen it before so spent most of the time scaring Tayla haha.

The following morning it was time for my Cadbury factory tour! Tash and I were the only ones who wanted to do it so we had quite a small group which meant more chocolate! In the chocolate tasting room I waaayyy over did it with white chocolate so spent most of the tour feeling super sick... it was so worth it though! We saw how most of the chocolate they made at that factory was made, and more importantly got free samples along the way!

After getting on the coach, Hayley and Ricky spent a few minutes trying to locate the student house that six sixty started out in. 'White lines, blue skies' by six sixty is our day song, so we listen to it every time we get in the coach in the morning, so it was a special stop for our group!

Our final stop in Dunedin was to the world's steepest residential street: Baldwin street. It was a right trek getting to the top and the views weren't even that good but I guess we can say we've done it now!

Queenstown: Part Two - The Big Tiki

Saturday 18th February - Monday 20th February 2017

After we got back from Milford Sound, we didn't have long before we had to go down to the Ice Bar to meet the rest of our Contiki group. I've never been in an ice bar before but it was pretty cool... well absolutely freezing actually! 😂We took quite a few photos in there...

... as well as making full use of their photo booth!

After a while, a few of us decided to leave as it was flipping freezing! So we made our way to Cowboys next door. I went on my first bucking bronco which was hilarious, even though I hit my head on the bulls head after my involuntary dismount! Lasted more than 20 seconds though but I have no idea how good or bad that is!

Cowboys was super crowded, apparently there was the 'cowboys' football team there.   So we decided to go to Winnie's and they were playing 90s cheesy music which was awesome! I wasn't drinking to save a bit of money, but somewhere along the line Kirsten got pretty merry and started dancing on the tables, kicking the glasses off! It was hilarious, even though she nearly got kicked out... we were leaving anyway!

We then managed to find a few others singing along with a busker, before meeting Kathleen at another bar. However, we weren't there for too long as everyone started to get hungry so we went to Fergburger! Both emma and Kirsten ordered a burger but didn't eat most of it so I ended up making a whole burger out of their burgers! Interestingly, I didn't eat all of Kirsten's burger so left it on the side, but in the morning it had moved and the meat had gone! We have no idea what happened but we think Kirsten must've eaten it!

The next day we had horse riding at Walter Peak farm scheduled. We got into town at 9:40am to catch the 10am steam boat across the lake.

The boat ride itself wasn't the most thrilling, especially in comparison to Milford Sound yesterday, but as soon as we got close to Walter Peak Farm I knew it was going to be somewhere special. It looked idyllic.

We met our guide after we got off the boat and made our way up to the stables. My horse was called Cooper and bless his heart he was rather fat and was intolerant to hay so he would not stop farting. (Much to Asha's dismay as she was riding behind us!)

The ride was beautiful. The views were insanely stunning. We only had a small group and most of the others hadn't ridden much before if at all so it was more of a beginners ride. I didn't mind though as it was so nice to be back in the saddle!

After our hack we played with the dogs for a bit (obviously we couldn't resist!) before going down to the house for afternoon (well morning) tea. The scones and cakes were super delicious.. I ended up eating all of mine as well as some of the cakes the others didn't like!

We caught the same steamboat back to Queenstown and met up with Emma who had just done her Nevis bungy and swing! I'm so proud of her.. you'll never catch me doing the Nevis bungy it looks horrible!!

We had an included dinner at Winnie's this evening, and it was so delicious! I stupidly filled up on garlic bread and fries so I only had enough room for two slices of pizza! This was terrible as they kept being out pizza after pizza and it all looked amazing but I just felt sick!

After we had finished, a few of us decided to go to the Fear Factory. It. Was. Terrifying. But also really really funny. It's basically a haunted house type attraction, where the whole thing is pitch black and you have to follow the red lights around, everyone in your group holding on to each other whilst live actors talk to you, touch you and breathe on you. All we did was scream all the way round, I was grabbing hold of Asha's hands on my shoulder, Asha was shouting all sorts of rubbish at the actors, Tayla was quieter but not quiet and Kathleen kept having people touch her back so she was pushing us to go forward! I really didn't want to use my hands to find my way so when the lights went out I felt my way around with my foot. It was such a weird mix of scared and hilarious! The video of us coming out is brilliant as I ninja kick the door and we all run out sweating like crazy! Andre was at the front of the other group and they looked like they were barely scared at all, just kinda walked out normally!

After this traumatic ordeal, we decided to get ice cream at Patagonia's. This place is awesome. You pick the type of ice cream you want, what type of melted chocolate you want on top and then what sprinkles you want. Katie and I shared as I was still so full from dins!

We spent a few hours in the parlour before reluctantly heading home. It was so sad saying goodbye to Katie and Alex as they have become such close friends! But I know I'll be seeing them soon in England or Australia!