Day 5 in New Zealand: Our last day!

This is the fifth and last installment of Steven and my adventures in New Zealand in April 2013. You can find the first, second, third and fourth posts at the links provided! Cheers!

Our last day in New Zealand started with lots of phone calls to the NZone Skydive company, trying to work out whether or not Steven could skydive that day.

It was rainy and wet in the beginning of the day, so we didn't hold out much hope for the early morning jump.

There were clear skies in the distance, so we agreed to push back the skydive from 7 AM to 10, then to 12, and finally at 1 PM they decided they were not jumping for the day because of wind.

Steven threw the biggest man-tantrum in the world (not true, he just sort of went, "Ah well."), so I took him for the next best thing in the world, a hike!

The hike up to the top of the Queenstown Gondola is actually quite difficult. It's an hour-long hike that is slippery when the ground is wet, and ALL UPHILL.

I know, I know, complaining about a hike going UPHILL is like complaining the sky is blue. But some hikes will flatten out in some areas, maybe even dip in some others, and generally go uphill, giving you the impression that you are far stronger than you actually are.

Not this one. It hits you over the head with uphill-ness and then knocks you down flat cuz you suck at climbing uphill for an hour.

Luckily, the views at the top were as amazing as ever, so Steven and I had something to gaze at as we sucked wind and congratulated each other on beating the two old people up the mountain (they came trotting up minutes later, in considerably less visible pain, BUT WE STILL WON).

Going down was easier and quicker (I heart Gravity). By the time we were at the bottom, both of us needed a bite to eat.

I had THE BEST boston cream donut ever from the Freg Bakery which is next door to the very popular Ferg Burger (Our opinion? Good, but nothing very original or mind-blowingly delicious for vegetarians.)

The pies and savoury items looked great, but I went with the honkin' huge Boston Cream donut, which was filled with the best vanilla cream I've ever tasted. Towards the end, though, I was starting to feel a little sick from the sugar overload. This is definitely a donut to split between two people!

The rest of the night was lovely. Steven and I had a beautiful dinner and turned in early.

The next morning, we said our goodbyes to the wildlife here on this New Zealand adventure:

Random emu-like dinosaur statue in the park....

And kiwi bird park that we never went into....

Goodbye New Zealand, and we hope dearly to see you again in the future!

Day 3 in New Zealand: Gorgeous Queenstown

This is the third installment of Steven and my adventures in New Zealand! If you missed it, check out our first day in Christchurch, and our second day at Fox Glacier. Enjoy!

After our glacier hike, the second leg of our road trip was a drive from Fox Glacier to Queenstown.

This was a beautiful 4 hour drive that was surprisingly, 4 hours! After our Christchurch-to-Fox debacle, we had thought Google was inaccurate and untrustworthy. Sorry, Google. We will not doubt you again.

It was about 6 PM when we got into Queenstown. We were tired and hungry from the early day.

But Queenstown slapped us in the face with some pretty awesome natural beauty.

Are your eyeballs ready? Cuz I'm about to pass that gorgeous-scenery-slap-in-the-face onto you.

Ready?

BOOM!

Hands down my favourite sunset. I <3 you, Lake Wakatipu!

Proof I was there. And hungry. See that face? That's a "sure-I'll-smile-for-your-camera-but-I'm-friggin-hungry-and-at-the-end-of-my-patience-can-we-leave-yet" face.

So Steven shoved that face in some Thai deliciousness.

The next day, we explored some more of Queenstown's sights.

We hit up Vudu Cafe for one of the best breakfasts I've ever had: Moroccan Beans with Poached Eggs and Toast.

They messed up Steven's eggs (overcooked... *face palm*. Seriously, what restaurant can't cook eggs?!), but I really enjoyed my food.

Queenstown had rained that morning, but thankfully it stopped by mid-morning. The clouds slowly began to lift, and we could see the gondola station at the top of the mountains. So guess what we did?

Yup. I hate heights. Especially when suspended on shaky-looking wires in tiny little metal boxes.

 The view from the top was stunning.

We even got to see this brave soul dive fearlessly off a feeble platform while harnessed only by a thin tether.

Crazy. But I guess this is the town of crazy.

To top off our day, we pretended to be 12 year-olds and took a couple rides each on the Luge.

We even bought the commemorative photos, but I won't post them here because they are far too dorky.