Queenstown, Christchurch and Akaroa

Haha we enjoyed the cruise from Wellington to cross over to the south island. It was really goggy that morning. Queenstown is a place for adventure! First of all, we took a taxi to Nelson where we visited the beach and some museum.

After that we went to the pancake foundation at Punakaik. Look at the photos to look at the layers of rocks! Then we proceed to the Fox Glacier. We need to climb through the rainforest before we hit the glacier. Before that we need to wear those jackets and boots. Plus those metal soles so that we can stand and walk on the ice! It was such a labourous climb! The hills was steep and some parts were connected with wooden planks only...we held on dearly to those man made support and railings along the way. It was more than any workout I had done before. It was amazing I could finished the trail!

It was definitely worth the effort! The glacier was impressive and the walk so exciting! The leaders would have to keep breaking the ice and made a path for us to walk. Along the way you get to see the ice with holes and running water within. The guides explained the formation and history of the glacier. Surprisingly the way back was so much easier and shorter! Haha for those who visit NZ, this is a must go! You can choose any of the many glacier here, you will be spoilt for choices.

The glacier was just the first highlight! Next we went to the west coast scenic helicopter flight. We took a short flight which took us on top of the snowy mountain. The scenery was splendid and we had a snow fight there! WONDERFUL!

The next day we travelled to Queenstown where many other adventure awaited us. As time was tight, we took a small pilot jet to fly us to Milford Sound and back within one day. The scenic flight was fabulous except that I was very afraid of height and the turbulance was very bad due to the strong winds and small size of the plane. Snowy tops and nice lake view presented in front of us.

The Milford Sound was really scenic, filled with numerous waterfalls and wild animals waiting to be spotted along the way. I was never tired of cruise! The weather was cold and we enjoyed staying outside. We spotted a rare Penguin! So lucky! Ending the cruise, we waited for the wind to be smaller in order to fly back to Queenstown. Meanwhile we went to the enormous waterfall nearby and went phototaking! Remember to bring more films or memory card and extra battery to NZ!

The next highlight was the shotover jet. Haha this was my favourite as it was relatively exciting and had nothing to do with heights! So we went on board and the captain of the jet went 360 degreees turn, making the water splash onto us and you can hear us screaming! So lots of fun!

Next we went to Mount Cook. The drive to ChristChurch was of course scenic! You just could not stop snapping out of the window! Haha sometimes you had toilet break or special stops for you to take photos along the way. Dont be lazy and come on down!

Christchurch had another round of surprise for us! We went to grade 4 water rafting! It was so exciting and the water ripples were so strong that we didn't even peddle at all, we just held tightly to the center of the raft. My friend Lily use hit me on the lips with her paddle and I went numbed... After we finished the rafting we reached the downstream of the river where the captain of the raft asked all of us to jumped into the river one by one. The way and where you land in the water would bring you to different destinations. You could end up in another lagoon, the river downstream or come back to the boat. I guessed I didnt jumped far enough and I kept going  back to square one. So I went back onto the raft and made my way downstream. There we gathered and saw people jumping from a very high cliff and dived into the deep river. So fun! It was freezing cold!

We next proceeded to Akaroa where we swim with the dolphins. We could not really see the dolphins within short distance as they were swimming a few meters from us. Hence we got the refund and proceed back. Still it was a new and interesting experience!

My friend Lily was the adventurous one. Besides those mentioned above, she was braved enough to attempt sky diving, tandem paragliding and zorb (a large ball rolling down the slope). Really impressive. Tell you a secret, my legs went jelly when I was filming her jumping off the cliff for paragliding!