Day 93-101: Southern New Zealand With Contiki

I have no intention to leave Australia without paying a visit to New Zealand. A high school friend of mine have long ago recommended that I study abroad in New Zealand. She said it is better than Australia, and I agree with her.

Any word that I attempt to describe New Zealand is an understatement of its magic and beauty. Nothing other than being there yourself could justify what I am about to show you. I have been telling my friends that if fairies exist, they would live in New Zealand. This place definitely has that magical and mysterious feel to it.

I have notice some differences between Australia and New Zealand:

Things are generally cheaper;
people are in less of a hurry;
streets are less crowded and quiet;
less street lights;
close to nature;
it is perfect for retirement(plan to have my retirement life here)

Some else happened on this trip that is worth mentioning. That would be my tour group: Contiki. They have my highest recommendation in traveling. I LOVE this group. They really take care of you. All you have to remember is time: time to eat, and time to meet. Everything else someones has gotten take care of. Besides that, they also made great friends. Shamika and I met an Australian Chinese on our first night..and man tell you what..it was love at first sight. We became good friends on this trip. We still keep in touch. Besides her, I also met someone from China, Korea, Poland, and Germany. We got pretty close and we even met up for dinner when we were back in Sydney. They are lifelong friends now. Contiki really is the best thing that could happen to us! Love Contiki! I would never forget.

Now the pictures:
Day one:
Recognize the place???..................the battle scene from Narnia. A lot of well known movies are shot in NZ, such as LOTR and Narnia.
Whipping out the cameras!
When we think of jade, we often think of China, but did you know jade is also widely produced in NZ. The Maori people made them into various jewelries in the shapes of their traditional symbols. The following picture is a Maori symbol meaning power and authority. It is called Hei-Matau.
Water reflection...
The first night we stayed over at a hostel called Rainforest Retreat. My roommates and I went soaking in a hot spring with rain forest surrounding...so warm, just right for the NZ's winter =)

Day two: Franz Joseph, Fox Glacier
There are only two places in the whole world where we could see the type of glaciers I saw in NZ. Besides NZ, you can only see it in Argentina. Glacier man, how many of you can say you hiked one? I would never have dreamed of doing such a thing. So Shamika and I did a glacier hike of about 800 steps up the mountain and stood on top of the glacier despite the cold rain.

The white mass in the distance is the glacier. The area get about 50 meters of snow every winter and the all that snow just piled on top of each other. The area also get a lot of rainfall. During heavy rain, the land between the two mountain ranges is covered in water. In the picture it is just a tiny river, but it will expand and flood the entire area.
Blue ice is formed by squishing all the air out of the glacier from the weight of the snow falling on top.
Day three: Queenstown, the adventure city of the world
Dinner at the Gondola with Corrie (right), our love at first sight, and Shamika (left).
The top view of Lake Wakatipu from the Gondola:
The lake from close up:
I love the turquoise colored water with the ice capped mountains. Feel like something like this would only appear on a postcard...so unreal but yet so real =)

Day Four: the Luge
Luge is like a go-cart where you race down a track in a cart. It is located at the Gondola so we saw lots of the same scenery with more foggy today.
Walking down to the track:
It was weird seeing snow in June for the first time =P

The trees are so so so neat. They look like someone has purposely planted them that way. An entire mountain full of these neatly arranged pine trees. I love them! Makes me happy when I see them so neat.
Later that day, we went for a walk on our way to ice skating...
The night's entertainment was ice bar, Minus 5 degree. There are only a handful of ice bars in the world. There is one in Sydney. The bar's temperature is kept around -5 degree. The admission is about $30 with one free drink, and you can only stay at the bar for 30min due to the low temperature. Inside the bar there are lots of ice sculptures and different colored lighting. It is a once in a lifetime experience. Do it once and it is enough. Btw the peach vodka I had was pretty good =)

Day Five: Dart River Wilderness
We basically had a jet boat tour of one of the national park in southern NZ. We also get 360 turn in the jet boat. It was quite thrilling =)
Then the rain forest...
On our way back to Queenstown, we had a drive around Glenorchy, a town of about 200 people.
The landscape is incredible!! Feel like I am in a movie =D
Furry cows!!!
Day six: Staying overnight on a cruise in Milford Sound
on our way to Milford Sound
Gateway to Tasmania Sea:
Kayaking!!! First time =) The night before we saw seals and sharks in the ocean and now we are kayaking in the same ocean =S
hahahahahaha....
Day seven: Toga Party
We had a new couple on the trip, so our tour guide decided to have a wedding for them. To make the party even more enjoyable, we had to dress up in a toga. Toga is just a while cloth/fabric, and you have to wrap yourself in it (usually with nothing underneath) creatively.

the flower "girl", Daniel from Germany
the grandma of the bride (our tour guide, Sara, in a wig)
The bride and the groom reading vows.
Last day: Lake Ohau and the area
"Traffic jam" in New Zealand.........cows!!!!!!
Back in Christchurch.
You may feel that a lot of these pictures look similar, and yes to some degree they do. But seriously, you can never get enough of the scenery. Every time you see it you can't help but snap your camera. New Zealand is truly a heaven on earth. It is insanely beautiful.

This trip is worth every penny!!! Fall in love with NZ!!!