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| Greetings from New Zealand! |
I'll admit it -- New Zealand was pretty hyped up. The beautiful views, the laid back Kiwi attitude, the wine, the crazy bungy jumping/adventure activities you could do. It's not that I wasn't convinced of how awesome New Zealand was -- it's just that I needed to witness it myself.
The good news is that everyone was right -- my expectations were FAR exceeded & I absolutely loved New Zealand, specifically Queenstown, which was where I spent the last 5 days. I'm a little disappointed that my pictures don't adequately capture how absolutely positively gorgeous the scenery is. It's funny, but true, each picture looks like a backdrop of something that isn't real -- I literally couldn't believe that a place so beautiful exists on this planet. If you're ever considering visiting, it's worth the trip all the way around the world, I promise.
The closest neighbor to Oz is New Zealand. It only took me about 2.5 hours to fly from Sydney to the Southern Island of NZ (pronounced "n" "zed" here in the AU) -- compare that with ~8 hours from Bangkok/Singapore via Sydney. Although I had just finished one holiday with the rents, I knew this trip would be far different -- mostly because I was traveling solo for the first time. Although I would've loved to have some pals with me on my travels, I couldn't find anyone who was available to join me and I just couldn't pass up the only few days I had to see NZ.
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| The lovely B&B where I stayed in Queenstown |
I didn't plan much for my trip aside from the recommended B&B where I stayed, the ever-so-lovely Chalet Queenstown. There wasn't really anyone besides me and a few people staying at the small inn & I got a large handful of suggestions of what to see/do from the Chalet's owner Alex. I also was fortunate enough to get some dinner/drinking/touring recommendations from other friends who had travelled to Queenstown. Needless to say, I knew there was no shortage of things to do, I just needed to sort out my plans.
For the next 5 days, I spent most of my time being a fantastic tourist. I got asked several times if I was a professional photographer or part of the paparazzi because I was carrying my extra large camera around my neck for 80% of the time outside of my hotel room. I spent Friday touring around a very small town outside of Queenstown called Arrowtown. It's essentially 1 street and was quite charming; although I only needed an hour to walk it 5 times before I caught a bus to a winery nearby that was recommended to me called Amisfield. I ate lunch at the winery's beautiful restaurant & tasted delicious wines, mostly Pinot Noir's which the region is known for. Luckily Friday was the only day where the weather was pretty miserable so I didn't feel too guilty about not being overly adventurous.
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| Amisfield Winery + Restaurant |
Another fortunate thing that I did while in NZ was decide to take a day trip/tour to Milford Sound, a small Fjord about a 30 min flight from Queenstown. I had heard amazing things about how beautiful Milford was and also read that it's been called the "Eighth Wonder of the World." Just like most of the scenery I saw in NZ, Milford exceeded all expectations & rave reviews. The pictures look fake, but, Milford is most certainly one of the most, if not the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I took a cruise through the Fjord, saw seals, got a few feet away from an enormous waterfall, and flew over the alps....It was truly a perfect day.
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| View from the flight to Milford |
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| Scenery by the airport in Milford |
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| New Zealand fur seals |
As many of you already know, the highlight of my trip was also probably the most ridiculous, scariest, and absurd thing I've ever done...Skydiving. Although my father didn't know before (my mother did, because I couldn't really keep this a secret), I had planned nearly a month ago to jump out of a plane at 15,000 feet above the ground. I had heard of a reputable company, Nzone, both from a guide book and also a friend who had jumped out of a plane with them a couple years back at the same height. Although I was positively scared both before, during, and even a little bit after of the jump, I knew that I had wanted to do this for quite some time and couldn't imagine seeing a place more beautiful from so high. Here's the link to all the pictures & I also got a DVD of my jump. If you want, you can pay extra for a videographer to jump with you to film the whole thing....since no one was there to watch me do this insane thing, I needed some proof to show everyone that I really did it this time.
I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous...every part of me was shaking and praying that jumping out of a plane in freezing cold weather, thousands of feet above mountains, would be worth it.
As the skydiver's story generally goes, after the jump was over I was stunned and thrilled and completely freaked out about what I had just done...The feeling I had while free falling at 200km/hr from a plane for 65 seconds was something that I will never be able to adequately describe. All I know is that it was worth every minute of nervousness and fear -- the view, my tandem master (Ralph, pictured above), and the jump were outrageously amazing and I would 110% recommend skydiving (esp in Queenstown) to anyone. The rest of my NZ pictures are here, in case you want to see the rest of the pictures I took.
...And now I'm back in Sydney for my last 10 days before I depart for the States on August 12th. In between lots of dinners, lunches, drinks, goodbyes and work, I am doing my best to take in everything that is amazing about Sydney. My walk to work, the fresh air, the Aussie accents, the brekkies, the coffee, etc...I can truly say that I feel at home here, even in a place that's so incredibly far from everyone & everything that I love so much.
'till later,
s
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| Me in the pilot seat on the return trip from Milford Sound |
omfg. that picture of you in the pilot seat! you are such a cute munchky muffin!!
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