The Land Of Kiwi's

A stereotypical Spring break trip normally consists of some Mexican country and drunken mistakes on a beach. When you're studying abroad in Australia, Spring break has a completely different meaning and a much different agenda. A group of my friends and I decided to head to New Zealand for 9 days of action packed fun and little did we know that this would be the best 9 days of our lives. We left Sydney around 7:00pm on New Zealand Airlines which was actually an awesome airline. They had meals and really comfy seats. One of the great features about this plane and also the one I took to Sydney in the first place was the in-seat entertainment system. The have touch screen TV's in the headrest and you can pick from a variety of great movies, TV shows, Music, Games, and News. Plus, you can also click "Trip Map" and follow the plane along its journey to your destination. Pretty cool stuff. Anyways, we landed in Christchurch around 11:00pm and we already knew that New Zealand would be like nowhere we had ever been before. On our decent, I noticed that there were no lights. I thought we were either landing in the ocean or some mountain range. Finally we could see little patches of lights spread far apart from each other. First time we realized that New Zealand was a very small and quiet country. We boarded our coach bus which took us to our first hostel at the YMCA in Christchurch. We were all starving so the first thing we did was ask for food. Christchurch was devastated by an earthquake in 2010 that literally crippled the city. The aftermath of the earthquake is still VERY prevalent. Nothing was open this late so we had to walk about 20 minutes to the closest food establishment...Denny's. It was a pretty long walk and it was also pretty cold out so we decided to cut some corners and walk through "The Red Zone". TRZ is the area still quarantined and on complete lock down since the earthquake. I have never felt so alone in my entire life. TRZ is about 20 square miles and there is not a single living creature to be found. There was still broken glass, crumbling buildings, flashing street lights, and abandoned cars everywhere. It felt like we were in a zombie movie and were going to get attacked at any minute. Eventually, we made it to Denny's and totally stuffed our faces. Life was good. The next day we made our way to Franz Joseph which is a little mountain town down the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. Driving through the mountains on the way was beautiful and we got some amazing pictures. When we finally arrived in Franz Joseph and got checked into our hostel we were all excited and ready to rock. We decided to hit double happy hour at the local pub and we had an amazing time. They had a great beer there called Raddler. It was a New Zealand brewed beer that had a Lemon & Lime taste to it. Needless to say, with $5 pints as their special, I took FULL advantage of that deal. The next day, my roommate Andrew and I woke up around 6:00am and took a walk to the base of the Glacier that we would be hiking that day and grabbed some coffee, breakfast, and pictures. We then got suited up and began our hike around 8:00am. This 9 mile hike up the glacier was GRUELING and extremely tiring but absolutely worth it. The glacier was beautiful and the ice was so nice with its different shades of blue and green. When we finally made it to the top, we felt like we were on top of the world...Which was not far from the truth. After the hike, we were all exhausted and our bodies were aching so we all went over to the hot glacier pools and relaxed in the water for a while. The water was about 103 degrees and was really fresh since it was actual glacier water. That was one of the coolest parts about the hike. Whenever you would get thirsty, you can just drink the running water coming down the glacier and it was actually some of the best water I have ever had in my life. Of course, later that night we hit happy hour again and then we got some sleep because we had another long day of traveling ahead of us. The next day we got back on the bus and took another 4 hour trip down the west coast. Along the way, we stopped at some great scenic areas and took some pictures but eventually we made it to our destination for the night; a little town called Macarorra. The town had 18 people living in it and we had a group of 36 so it is safe to say, it was an American town for the night. We took a jetboat ride through the mountains and then hit the bar for some Karaoke and Pool. Karaoke was a blast and we all had an awesome time. The next day, we made our final push to our final destination, Queenstown. Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world for many different reasons but mostly because anything you could ever want to do as far as adrenaline goes, you can do there. Right outside the town, we stopped at a bridge that was the site of the first ever Bungee Jump. My friend Ben and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to have some fun and do something crazy so of course, we decided to jump off of the bridge. Once we got all suited up, not going to lie, I was a little nervous. Luckily, I had all of my friends to cheer me on so I got strapped in and was ready to rock. Walking up to the edge is a completely unnatural feeling. Your heart is racing, your feet are shaking, your mind is going in 20000 different directions but the only thing you know is "DONT LOOK DOWN!" So naturally, that is exactly what I did. I looked down and saw the beautiful blue water and the little raft waiting to scoop me up if I survived. The guy let go of me and said 5-4-3-2-1...BUNGEE! I did not think, I did not wait, I just threw my arms out and jumped. As you are rushing down all you can think of is the water getting closer and closer but then you feel the Bungee cord catch and you slow down just enough so when my head went into the water, it felt like a nice refreshing splash and back up into the air I went. I had NEVER felt more alive in my life. I was so happy and so excited that I couldn't wait to do it again. Well, that is exactly what I did. The bridge jump I did was only about 43 meters which is a little over 120 feet. I needed something bigger. I needed something that would push the envelope even further. I signed myself up to jump the Nevis. While driving out to the Nevis, you realize you're in the middle of no where with nothing but mountains and cliffs all around you. Finally, we made it up to the sign in area and I realized that this was MUCH more than I thought it was going to be. The Nevis is a cable car suspended 132 meters in the air over a canyon. That is over 440 feet! I knew that I accomplished my goal and really stepped it up this time. I got suited up and took the little cable car out to the suspended box in the air. I waited my turn then got hooked up. Yes, I was nervous, but I could not wait to jump. I made my way out to the ledge, said a small prayer, then 5-4-3-2-1 BUNGEE! I threw out my arms and jumped straight out. 8.5 seconds of free fall is a very long time and I loved every single second of it. I had never had so much fun in my life. The entire way back up I could not believe what I had just done and I officially became a Bungee addict. I could NOT wait to do it again. This led me to my next great adventure at the Nevis which was the worlds largest swing. Basically, they strap you in and then they drop you. You swing about 300 meters and it is the ride of your life. I did this jump tandem with my friend Kaelyn and we had a blast. Later that night, we celebrated at the local bars and met some really cool people. I ran into my high school crush in the stairs of the hostel which was one of the weirdest experiences ever but it was great to catch up and talk about stuff. Weird how you think you may never see some of these people again and then you run into them at a hostel in Queenstown, New Zealand, halfway across the world. Insane. The following day we went way out into the valley and went canyoning. Canyoning is more or less getting dressed in safety gear and throwing yourself down a waterfall 50 - 100 times. We hiked up the canyon then we repelled, zip-lined, slid, climbed, and cliff dove our way down the canyon. Absolutely awesome experience and the wet suits kept us all from dying. We then spent out last night having some drinks and hanging out with our instructors from that day and we packed our bags to head home. I really cant put the experience into words so I am going to upload a bunch of pictures so maybe you can get a good feel of how amazing it was. If you ever get a chance to get to New Zealand, GO TO QUEENSTOWN!!! You will not regret it. Next up is the Gold Coast this weekend with some of my friends for my birthday and to just relax and have a good time. Stay tuned for another post when I get back. Cheers!