Queenstown--> Hang gliding!

Day two in Queenstown was the day that I did my hang gliding! All activities that we signed up for were booked for us through our tour so we didn’t really have to do anything but pay for them. No research just options, so that was nice.

There were so many options and I knew I had to do something. I knew I would never jump off a really high bridge head first tied together by my feet and I knew I didn’t want to sky dive. I kind of wanted to do the jet boat because jet boats were invented in New Z and these boats can go so fast and do 360’s in the water in 4’’ of water and all kinds of cool stuff but I just decided that I was going to do something that I never even thought of doing before which was hang gliding.

I always saw parachuters and hang gliders jump off Mount Sentinal at the Griz games that land in the middle of the field at the beginning of the game but I never thought about doing it before so I thought I would give jumping off a side of a mountain and flying in the air a shot. It was a lot of fun.

Tuesday morning I woke up and hung around my hotel for a while and waited for somebody to wake up. Nobody was waking up so I headed down to room 10 where Anas, Ben, Alex and David were sleeping and decided that I would wake them up so they could start their day. I knew they were not going to be awake because I assumed they stayed out late the night before but I was wide awake and needed company asap! So Anas was already awake and gone because his rope swing across cliffs was scheduled for 8am. But I thought it was a good idea for his roomies to wake up and hang out with me. They were not that into it so I tried to hang out with them for maybe 15 minutes but they needed more sleep so I went and checked out the town and walked back to my hotel and my other roommate Julie from England was awake so her and I went and got breakfast and hung out for a while. Then I went to do my hang gliding while Alex and David did their sky dive, Ben did the cliff rope swing and Anas went on a hike.

I got picked up from the reception office of our hotel with 3 other people from the Top Deck tour. Francis, Zaid, Mark and I all got picked up and drove to the top of the mountain.

Right when we got there our tandem professionals came up to us and strapped us into gear. I said I had to pee before I got my gear on so I went behind a big dirt hill and popped a squat then walked back to my tandem guy named Alfreado (he was from South America, not Italy) and got all my gear on. We practiced running as fast as we could a couple times connected side by side. As soon as we did that we waited in line for our turn. There were about 3 hang gliders and parachuters in front of us and we were all waiting for the wind to blow up the flag high enough so we would stay in the air for a while. As soon as the flag lifted up high enough the first pair went and then the second and then the third and then us. It all happened so fast there was no time to be scared. It was just all of a sudden because we waited for 10 minutes and then 4 pairs went at once. We glided in the air for about 10 minutes and it was such an awesome feeling! It wasn’t scary at all. I think the thought of it was scary but it was so easy and fun. We glided around for awhile and Alfreado took some pics and then he let me steer the hang glider.

I went left and right and went in a circle and then he steered again so that we could prepare for landing. We landed on the wheels of the hang glider but we were on our stomachs also but we had thick apron looking things on to cover our stomach so we didn’t really come in too much contact with the grass. Taking off and landing was really easy and fun.

The views from up there were beautiful. We were right above the second biggest lake in New Zealand and there were big mountains all around us.

We landed in a field with everybody else who went and there was a café where we could get drinks and food at the bottom but I just had some water and then I watched my video and Alfreado burned my dvd and pictures and then we hopped back on the van to go back to our hotel. It was a great feeling to be up in the air flying like that and I think I made a good choice for my activity.

Once I got back I ran into Ben so I just hung out with him until he had to leave to go to his cliff swing jump thing. Right when he was about to leave Alex and David got back from their sky dive so we all just gossiped for a little bit about our events and how much fun they all were and hung out for a while. Then I went back to my hotel and nobody was there so I walked into town and ate subway and walked around more and then went home and showered and hung out for a while. Then I went to room 10 again and we waited for Ben and Anas to get back from the swing cliff and the hike that Anas went on and then we went to a famous burger place. Its somewhere that if you are in Queenstown then you have to get (at least that’s what everybody says) I would have been happy not going there but since I was in Queenstown it was important that I went there. I got a Cod Sandwich and it was delicious! I would get it again if I went there. We ate it outside in the freezing cold darkness by the water. Then we all walked to this bar and played cards and Jenga for the rest of the night. It ended up being a really relaxing fun night. We played a bunch of card games and then only a few games of Jenga. Then I left the bar around 10:20 and all of the boys stayed and played longer but I was too tired. So then I just went back to my hotel and went to bed.

This morning I got up and showered and got ready and packed my suitcase and my overnight bag for the boat and then went and had brekky and loaded up the bus. We all had to pack an overnight bag because tonight we will all be staying on a boat and there is not enough room for our big suitcases. Right now I am on the bus catching up on my blogs in word and I will post pictures and post them onto my blog when I get home. I am just writing them now so I don’t forget anything : ). We stopped for a lunch break for about 45 minutes and now we are headed to Milford Sounds where we will get on our boat for the night. It should be really fun. We will get free kayaks that we can take on the ocean and there is a bunch of other free activities that we can do tonight and tomorrow. We will get on our boat around 4:15 and be back on the bus tomorrow morning around 10am. We will be doing an evening cruise and enjoying our time together on the boat in a World Heritage place. I will give ya more details later but for now, I am all caught up : )!

Queenstown-> Adrenlin capital of the world!

So once we woke up and ate brekky (Aussie/ New Zealand word for breakfast) we loaded the bus and drove to Queenstown. On our way there we had a few pit stops to take some pictures, eat lunch etc.

Once we got to Queenstown our tour guide Luke drove through the town twice so we can know where everything was and so we could easily get back to our hotel and get around easily since we were going to be spending the next two days here.

Once we got here a lot of people had to leave to go do their activities for the day. I didn’t sign up for any activities the first day so I just went to eat lunch with some friends at a Mexican restaurant and checked out the town for a while. Once I was board of the town I went home and changed and went for a run. I ran for a while and then spread some of my dad’s ashes by this cool tree in a pretty park. Then I got back to my room and showered, got ready and met up with Anas and co- (Co= Ben, David, Alex).

Since Queenstown is the adrenalin capital of the world you can pretty much do anything. Sky dive, world’s highest bungee jump, jet boat, hang gliding, parachuting, and anything you can possibly think of. I did the hang gliding but didn’t’ do it until Tuesday (the second day in Queenstown).

That's Anas--> He did the canyon swing, hahahha! I had to post this picture because it is the best!

At 6:45pm the whole Top Deck tour met at the receptions office to start our night. They had a whole night out planned to visit each of the cool bars but I only stayed out until after dinner and that was really fun. Our first stop was the Ice Bar. This bar was made out of all ice!

It was really awesome. Our cups were made out of ice, the bar, tables, benches, flour pots, and everything was made out of ice. There were also a lot of ice sculptures there. The name of the bar is ‘Minus 5’ because it was negative 5 in there. You couldn’t order carbonated drinks because they explode but they still had a wide variety.

When we first got there they provided us with socks, ugg boots, gloves, and a huge warm jacket. The maximum time we were allowed to stay in there was 45 minutes and that was more than enough time. I was ready to go by then because I was cold.
Our next stop was where we ate dinner at a cool restaurant named Winnies. The dinner was included with our tour and they gave us salad and fries for an appetizer and then we got gourmet pizza for our dinner. This bar was awesome because it was a ski bar! All of Queenstown is pretty much just a small ski town. Fifteen thousand people live there but that number triples during the peak of winter and peak of summer because there is so much to do and it is such a touristy destination. The skiing I am assuming is pretty awesome but… I am getting mixed signals from some locals. A lot of people in New Zealand say that they would way rather come to the states and ski in Colorado or Montana and that would be their ideal place to ski so I guess I don’t really know how good the skiing is here. I guess it would just depend on the conditions the most. Anyway this bar was a total ski bar and it had delicious pizza. Almost as good at pizza at Snowbowl but not quite. They had a big screen TV playing ski and snowboard videos the whole night because New Zealand is just about getting ready to start their ski season so it always gets you pumped when you just had a long summer and ski season is almost here. I am sure at the end of ski season they play water sport videos. We stayed at this bar for a few hours and hung out and then I decided to go back home because I was tired and didn’t feel like doing a pub crawl and I wanted to get lots of sleep since I was doing Hang gliding the next day at noon.

I got home and skyped with Ian for a little bit with my limited internet access and then I went to bed and slept like a rock.

Glacier Hiking- Day two Top Deck Tour

Day two on the tour was amazing! We had so much planned and it was mostly all perfect. Our bus was leaving at 7:45am so I woke up at 6:40 and ran to the shower, I had to wait in line but only for 10 minutes or something. Then I finished getting ready and went to eat breakfast, there was cereal, toast, fruit bagels etc. After breakfast we all loaded up the bus and hit the road. Our first stop was a New Zealand jade store. Jade is a stone and it is very famous in New Zealand because it was used for so much many years ago. People used it for almost anything and it was very special and meaningful. For the people who lived in New Zealand it was more precious than gold and if they had to choose between Jade or Gold they would choose jade because of how meaningful and precious it was to them.

We stayed at the jade factory for about 45 minutes and watched them carve it and stuff and walked around for a little bit and then loaded the bus again. Our next stop was Matheson lake, from this lake you can see the two tallest peaks in New Zealand, Mt cook and Mt Tasman. Unfortunately we did not get to see them because it was cloudy so that was a bummer but at least we saw a lot of pictures of what it would have looked like.

It was kind of depressing though because I just saw what I could have saw in the picture and it sucked that it was cloudy. Ya win some ya lose some I guess. At least the walk to the lake was beautiful and through an awesome green rain forest.

Then we loaded the bus again and were off to check into our next accommodation. These hostels were also very nice and clean and I shared with some of the same girls and some new ones. I am getting to know a lot of people that I have met here so that is the best part I think. We checked into our rooms and went to eat lunch. Anas and I split a sandwich and fries, known as ‘chips’ in New Zealand and Australia. After lunch we walked over to the building where we got instructed to gear up for our glacier hike in Fox Glacier.

This was by far the coolest thing. Fox Glacier is the second biggest Glacier in New Zealand, and I hiked it! We stayed pretty close to the bottom of the glacier because it was dangerous and there were so many of us but it was still awesome! The Glacier was so tall and deep in some parts we hiked and it was amazing, I can’t really describe it because nobody will understand but me, but take my word for it!

We had the option to do the helicopter glacier hike but sadly the helicopter was not going up there because it was so cloudy but I think that would have been worth it to go up there for 3 hours. We got some hiking boots with spiked straps on the bottom and a walking stick. It was kind of intense at parts hiking up. We had to stomp our foot in the ice to get up and parts of it were steep and scary but we all made it. We hiked around the glacier for about 2 hours and it was such an amazing experience I can’t really describe it or even try to describe it. The views from the glacier were breathtaking and awesome and that’s all I can say.

After we got to the bottom of the Glacier we drove back to the town (5 minutes away) and gave our gear back and got a certificate saying that we made it through Glacier hiking.

Then we left and went back to our hostel and hung out for a bit before dinner. Our dinner was included with our tour and it was a buffet so we got a lot to choose from. Pasta, fries (chips), Mashed potatoes, veggies, salad etc. After we ate we hung out for a little while until our Glow Worm walk at 9pm. This was so awesome and a good ending to the night. Our whole tour gathered up around 9pm and we walked on this pitch black trail. We held the shoulders of the person in front of us and went in a long train through this dark, dark trail (no full moon). After walking for a while without seeing anything we finally started to see glow worms. These are little tiny worms that glow in the dark and they look like stars. Some places there were so many of them and it was so awesome! It was a lot of fun, I have never even heard of a glow worm until yesterday. After that we played some cards in the downstairs area for a while and then I took a shower and went to bed. We had to go to bed early because we had to be on the bus and ready to go by 7am so we could make it to Queenstown in time, the adrenalin capital of the WORLD : ). So, I will be hang gliding and I will tell you all about it! Good night.

First day with the Top Deck tour group!

I missed some days but I am about to catch up right now! So Saturday was the first day on our tour so Anas and I dropped off our car and walked to the bus station and took the bus as close to our location as we could get where we were meeting the rest of the tour. It was kind of a long walk with all of our luggage but we managed it. We saw a few older buildings that were completely shattered from the earthquakes. It seemed that the newer buildings got out alive though so that’s something good. A lot of the locals that we talked to said they were out of water and electricity for a month or more but they were all in very good spirits because they knew they had it better than a lot of other people who lost their homes or jobs because of the disaster.
Once we reached our destination the bus came and picked us up. There were four of us all together but we went and picked up more people. Our first destination was Greymouth New Zealand. The drive up there was unbelievable and amazing scenery but it was a long ride. Very enjoyable though. We reached Greymouth and checked into our hotels. Our tour picked us up about 10 after noon so we did not have a full day, we pretty much had time to check-in, eat, and explore a little bit. The group had a scheduled tour of a local brewery named Monteith’s and then free beer after to taste all of the different kinds of beer and non-beer. After our tour we had a delicious dinner included in our tour at a nice restaurant that played Rugby. That was a lot of fun. We just met some new people and hung out with them for the whole time. The bus left the restaurant at 9pm to head back to the hostel.

We stayed in a very nice hostel and it had a trampoline, game room, tv internet room (no, internet is not included and it’s very expensive which is why my blog posts did not make it on my blog on time), and a bunch of other nice necessities. I shared a room with three other girls. All the boys shared and all of the girls shared. They were all very nice but we all didn’t hang out that much because we were just there to sleep. Once we got back from dinner Anas and I and our new 3 friends (Ben, Alex and David) all wanted to go on a walk on the beach because it was still early. So we walked for a little while, looked for Jade stones (they are very common in that area but we didn’t have luck) and walked a little more till we noticed a fire on a beach and headed that way. Once we reached the fire we stood around and talked to a family that was there and they were so nice. They were from Christchurch and there house is okay but a little damaged and they were glad to be alive and safe. We talked to them for a while and they shared their marshmallows with us and it was Anas’s first time roasting a marshmallow so we taught him how to do it.
We stayed at the fire for a little longer and looked for more rocks and walked back because we needed to get to bed because we had an early morning and a long day planned for Easter Sunday.

Last day on our own schedule, welcomed by Akarora NZ (Far East)

Alright, day three on my South Island tour. This is the last and final day that Anas and I are on our own and get to do our own thing. Tomorrow we will meet up with I think a group of about 30 and hop on a bus with a tour guide and travel with them for 7 days. We spent our last night in Akarora. This town is a small town settled by the French. All of the names on the signs are French and it is very East on the South Island surrounded by mountains and ocean. This was one of my favorite places because we went on the most amazing hike and everything around us was breath taking.
We woke up this morning and showered and packed our stuff and were out of the hostel by 10am and had to drop off our movie and then we hit the road. We had the same breakfast as yesterday. I half of a bun with jelly only this time Anas made it and I think he used a real knife because the hostel had all the cooking utensils. So we had a half of a bun and a banana (woo hoo).
After getting ready and packed to go we drove, yet another beautiful track. I am not going to waste my time to try and explain how beautiful it was but I will just say the scenery is amazing. You can just see the pictures that I have and that is pretty much all you get, but it is nothing compared to what I saw.

Well we drove and now we are about an hour and a half from Christchurch. We will leave here in the morning and go back to Christchurch and drop off our car and take a shuttle to where we will meet our tour group. But we had a great day today as well.

When we got here we went to the information center so they could suggest a hike for us. Then we found this one hike and didn’t like it because it was too short, (but still beautiful) so then we drove and found another one, this one only took us about 30 minutes round trip and we just kind looked around and left.

We asked a local and he suggested some but they were the other way and we didn’t want to turn around so we just drove up this road more until we found a trail. This was the best decision because it was such an amazing hike! We just had the mountains and the ocean all around us and I loved it. The best part is NO SNAKES! I don’t have to stare at the ground and wait to see a snake scare the living $%!# out of me. No snakes, no spiders. So we just hiked and we went to this peak and our echoes were so clear and perfect and loud because the valley was so open and clear.

Then we hiked to the end of this second point and then started hiking back because we didn’t want it to get dark on us. So that is what we did today and it was such a great day.

Then we got back and just walked around the town for a little bit and ate and now I am just ready for bed. I still have not bought duct tape for my suitcase so I think that will have to be tomorrow’s adventure. I also hope I can find some cheap internet somewhere so I can post all of these blogs that I have typed in ‘word’ and check my e-mail and do things on the internet but I am not counting on it. I think I will just have to deal with no internet until I get back and have just a little here and there.
Well I need to go to bed now because we have to wake up at 7am to head back to Christchurch for our tour. I’ll keep you updated on all the awesome stuff we do! Thanks for reading and hope you are enjoying it !

2nd day w/ rental car, off to Hamner Springs

We woke up around 8:30 or 9 from our hotel and didn’t eat breakfast because that is also not included with your stay anywhere (unlike home where you get internet and breakfast). Then showered, packed up our hotel and all that exciting stuff and then we hit the road again and drove to Hamner Springs. We had two buns in the car and a thing of jelly so I just took a piece of paper and wrapped it up and made a homemade knife and spread jelly on a bun and peeled tangerine and we had a half a bun and a tangerine for breakfast.

Then we just drove and drove and took the scenic route again because it is so beautiful. We stopped a few times to snap some photos and take in the beautiful scenery.

I liked the tree in the background :)

Even though it is not as fast as other ways it is way more worth it because this country is breathtaking and it is worth it to take the extra time to do this.

We stopped for lunch in this small town and then drove the rest of the way to Hamner Springs. This town was also so beautiful.

We drove to the information center and got some info on what to do and so we decided that we would go horseback riding.

That was a one hour trip and it was so much fun. It was pretty scary, I don’t remember it being as scary when I rode Shawna’s old horses, but I was a kid and kids are fearless. So we did that for an hour and of course many more breathtaking views. The horse I had was a male and his name was Darcy and Anas’s was a girl horse named Katie. Anas had the boss horse, the mayor if you could :) . The one that was in charge of all of the other horses (there were about 34 altogether). His horse even was grumpy to Darcy. My horse was just a sweet handsome boy and he was so nice. He has one best friend that he always hangs out with but he is friends with all of the other horses also.

Katie (Anas’s horse) tried to tell my horse what to do and since Darcy was in the way Katie got grumpy and got mad at Darcy and snapped at him while we were riding. It was a lot of fun though and we even galloped a little bit and that part was my favorite but it wasn’t my favorite the first time because I was just scared, but then got more comfortable.

After we got done with the horses we went on this little hike up to this view that gave us a 360 degree view of the whole town we were at. It was beautiful but we wanted to keep walking so we didn’t stay there for long. Then we left and went back down and snuck on to a different trail and followed that until it came to an end then turned around and walked back. It didn’t really matter what we did because no matter what, it would not be a letdown. Everything was so perfect and this country is so beautiful. It reminds me so much of Montana only no Bears, no Mountain Lions, NO SNAKES, no wolves. Pretty much the only wildlife is birds and rabbits. Also in New Zealand there are only a few spiders and they are very rare. This is so crazy to me because this country seems like it should be “bear country” but it’s not. So I guess nobody has to worry about me getting eaten by a bear : ). So we just walked for a long time and then we went to the store and got jackets because it was so cold and I didn’t bring warm clothes to Australia because I am living on the SUNSHINE coast. There was snow in Hamner Springs a week ago and this town is a ski bum town! It is just so fun and beautiful here and lots of mountains and it’s like a little mini Missoula. There is a big huge green river running through the town and they do rafting tours but the waves never get really big. I guess I can compare it to the Bitterroot in Missoula.
So after we did all of this we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the springs. It was a really nice little resort swimming area with lots of different hot springs and a waterslides. It was a lot of fun so we just stayed there for about 2 hours and then went to our hostel and went to bed. We rented a movie to watch but we were too tired to watch it so we just went to bed. And that is easy because we don’t have internet to distract us from everything.
Our hostel was really nice and only 28 bucks for each of us. It was so nice and clean and it was just like a hotel only we didn’t have the TV. Oh yeah, and no internet, and no breakfast, haha!
So this was how we spent day two in the South Island of New Zealand. It was such an amazing day and I think the word we said the most was “wow” because that is all we can say this whole trip so far. And it is only day two, the very beginning of our trip!

First day in the South Island of New Zealand

Alright, So I understand that I am a little bit behind but I am going to catch up and I am going to explain, in detail my experience since I have arrived in the South Island of New Zealand. The North Island was great and the experience was amazing and the people I met were so great and I really enjoyed every second of it; now moving on to onto the South Island!

Wednesday morning Larraine and I left the house at 7:30am on the dot so I could catch my airplane. We said our goodbyes and I hope I will get to see them again someday but time will tell. I did the whole airport thing and noticed that my suitcase got ripped when I came from Australia to Auckland because my clothes were coming out of the side. So I used stupid tape that barely worked and had to give my bag to them and now I will just buy duct tape before I go on my tour tomorrow, (duct tape fixes everything). So I read a magazine on the airport and blah blah blah and then I landed in Christchurch where everything was destroyed because of the earthquakes and things got interesting.

Once I landed in Christchurch I was on a mission to get my rental car that Anas and I ordered. Anas stayed the night in Christchurch the night before I got there and I was supposed to pick him up from his hostel at 11:30am. The car company picked me up from the airport, brought me to their office and that is where I filled out paperwork inspected the damages to the car and documented it and that fun stuff. I was very nervous at this time because it was going to be scary to drive all the way across town (30 minutes away) on the other side of the car and the other side of the road. So after all of the paper work and that junk I got the keys (YIKES)! As soon as I walked out of the office I just started laughing at myself because I was so scared and there was nothing I could do about it. I had to get in the car and start driving, haha! So I got in the car and I could not stop laughing, I wished so bad that somebody was there to laugh with me, but instead it was just me, by myself, haha! I sat down, tried to grab my seatbelt and it wasn’t there because it was on the other side, tried to put the keys in the ignition and that was on the other side but then I started the car and drove. I tried to use the blinkers but instead got the windshield wipers and then just a whole bunch of other little things that I am sure happens to everybody if they are driving on the side that they are not used to. Oh yeah, and when I was at the rental car office I upgraded my insurance to the gold insurance for an extra $16 for both Anas and I. We talked about just getting the silver plan but I upgraded without talking to him because it was what I thought was the best idea.

Anas and I did not have any way at all to communicate. Neither of us have phones here or anything and internet does not come with your accommodation and there is no internet anywhere that you can just hook up to so our plans we made for me to pick him up had to stay the same because I could not call him and tell him I was going to be late so he just had to wait and wait and wait for me to drive up in our new ride.

He patiently waited and when I saw him I was the most excited person ever because it was a familiar face and I was in this country by myself and it felt so good because I felt like I accomplished something so big by driving across this broken town from the earthquakes by myself on the other side of the road.

So I just waved and smiled and when he saw it was me he was just as excited as me and we just could not stop laughing. I was hoping he wouldn’t be mad because it took so long but he was not mad at all and was just happy that I made it and I was okay. I think he got nervous because it was taking me so long and he was scared and he prayed and said, “I don’t care if she comes with no car at all, and I don’t care if she gets dropped off by a taxi just please let her make it here alive and okay and safely”. So we were just both happy that I was alive I guess, haha.

So we walked around the town for a little bit but there was not a whole lot to see and we wanted to leave because there are about 100 earthquakes a day and Anas felt one while he was waiting for me. They are just little shakes but since there have recently been two very big ones we didn’t want to be there because nobody knows when there will be a big one. So we split a 6’’ sandwich from subway and drove to a town about 2.5 hours away named Kaikoura. It is famous for whale watching but we didn’t whale watch because it’s like a million dollars. We had our own experience in Kaikoura and that was even better because it is such a beautiful part of the country.

We took this secret special way that Anas’s shuttle driver told him about and nobody ever goes this way but it is the scenic, secret way. We drove the normal way and then we took this route that looked like a horseshoe on the map (that was the secret part). The horse shoe part was so amazing and we went on this walk with the most beautiful view. The pictures give it no justice and I even stopped taking some pictures because the scenery is so much better in real life then a picture. We stopped and walked on this secluded trail. We were up high and the ocean was below us and nothing was around except the ocean way below us and the scenery was breathtaking I can’t even describe it.

After this little side tour we hit the windy rollercoaster road through the beautiful mountains again until we hit the town of Kaikoura. Once we got there we immediately went on this hike with the seals. Anas’s shuttle driver told him about this as well. There were a lot of seals at the bottom but then we just hiked up to the cliffs where the ocean was below us again. When we got to the top, the trail led us through a cow pasture and we walked through that and followed the trail until it almost got dark then we turned around and walked back. This trail was so beautiful also but there were a lot more people on this trail then the one we stopped at on our drive.

It was all the way dark when we got to the bottom and we drove back toward the center of town to find an accommodation for the night. When we were driving there was a seal on the side of the road hanging out. We pulled over and took pictures of this handsome little guy.

Then I think he got stressed out at the flashes and got angry and showed his teeth and moved toward us so that was the end of our meeting with him. He was sure cute though. Then we found a cheap motel and stayed the night there. We unloaded our stuff and then went to the “bottleo” and got a bottle of wine and took it to the Thai restaurant and split a meal there and went back to the hostel and gossiped and went to bed. That was the end of our day one adventure in the South Island.