Auckland (cont.) and Queensland down to the South Coast

Sunday, February 12: (Michelle here) Sunday we had a nice sleep in because church wasn't until one. Church was great. Really nice ward, friendly, great teachers. After church we headed home for some amazing homemade lasagna that Andrea made for dinner. Andrea is an amazing cook and she spoiled us all week long. After dinner Paul, Andrea, Clark and took a drive up to Mt. Victoria to have a nice view of the city.

It was a bit rainy and hazy so it wasn't as clear as it could have been but it was still beautiful and sweet to be able to see the city in relation to Takapuna and all the other areas of Auckland. On the way home, Paul gave us a tour of the Church Offices where he works. There were a few conference rooms he showed us where he set up a hi-tech audio-visual conference call thingy. It was very impressive and the chairs around the conference table may as well have been lazy boys, they were that comfy. When we got back home, the four of us played 5 crowns, (Clark and I have probably played a dozen games since we left Salt Lake, we love it) and finished the night with a movie called Touching the Void.

Monday, February 13: Monday Clark and I used the tickets to the Auckland Zoo that Andrea bought us (you'd think we were their own kids the way she and Paul spoiled us while we were there) and enjoyed a perfect day with the animals. It was a sweet zoo and luckily we gave in and bought the $2 piece of paper that had a map of the zoo on it, so we were able to see all of the animals. We love the zoo, no matter how many times you go, or how many you've been to, they never get old. Here are just a few photos from the zoo because unlike the zoo, photos at the zoo get very old very quickly.

I thought these guys were so cute. 

While we were looking at the awesome seals this little girl came running down the ramp and yelled to her family "OOO, OOO, OOOO. SEALS!! I'VE BEEN WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS MOMENT!!" It was so hilarious. 

Andrea picked us up from the zoo that afternoon (she and Paul were so nice to drive us and pick us up everywhere we went. We could have taken the bus, but they always insisted. So kind)
After Paul got home from work we helped the Bennallacks clean their church, it was their turn. It was nice to be able to do a little bit to pay back all of the many favors, rides, meals, zoo tickets, etc that the Bennallacks had given us even though we were no where near even. After we finished cleaning, we picked up Rachel and some fish and chips for dinner then headed home. The fish and chips were probably the best we'd had so far.
After dinner we had a FHE and watched 17 Miracles which neither of us had seen then off to bed.

Tuesday, February 14: (Clark) Woke up early to catch a bus in the city that would take us to Rotorua. It was called the Naked Bus. It was not as exciting as it sounds. It was much cheaper to take a big tour bus than to even drive, so we went for it. Rotorua is very popular for many reasons but it is basically a city built on top of a giant hot spring/lake. 'Geo-thermal pools' are all over the place and it can smell very eggy because of the sulfur. It was not too bad while we were there but pretty strong in some spots. There is a big mountain, or hill, depending on where you are from, where you can catch a gondola up and see the view. It was actually very pretty but honestly not as impressive as the views in Queenstown. You wouldn't say that to everyone, but we thought Q'town was sick so this just felt like second best the whole time. There is a luge track there that we had wanted to do really bad on the south island but were feeling too cheap to do, but we instantly regretted it so we didn't let another chance pass us up. It was pretty sweet. About a trillion times better than the Alpine Slide in P.C. because you have complete control of your speed and you can steer yourself. You can seriously fly down those things and anyone can do it. We saw old ladies doing it and then five year olds screaming down the tracks. Michelle actually got a little over confident and took a nice spill on the advanced track. Good views and good fun for sure. Maybe we'll just open one of those up on a mountain somewhere, run it for a couple years, then retire. On our way home we stopped at the store and picked up a box of ice cream, a couple spoons,  and took it back to the hot tubs/pools at the campground and sat on the lawn chairs watching the sun go down. That was valentines day.

On the lift to the top of the luge tracks

Thats how fast Michelle was going

Cutie

Making Luging look good since 1986

View from the top

After the day on the hill we got stopped at some of those hot spots that were just in a huge park by our campground. There were some big ones that were just full of boiling egg smelling water, and others that were bubbling mud. The mud was the coolest, easy.

These were pretty sweet. Bubbling mud pools

The clouds are the best in NZ. The Maori word for New Zealand is Aotearoa, which means 'land of the long white cloud.' It's pretty spot on.

Posing by the thermal pools

Land of the long orange clouds

Wednesday, February 15: The other thing that attracted us to Rotorua were the rumors of the Redwood forests they had and that you can mountain bike them. Because of some pretty horrible advice from the visitor center we were under the impression that they were just rumors, that you can't actually ride there, so we planned on just walking around them (we would soon find out he was dead wrong and probably missed out on some stellar riding, bummed). We packed up camp and caught a bus there. While we waited for our bus, we met a very generous man named Borneo. He started chatting with us right away and even offered us some 'hash cookies'. If we weren't on our diet, maybe we would have taken some. HA. He was strung out like some laundry! He told us all about himself, his life, and how good our american cannabis is. When we told him where we were going, he was disappointed he had to go home, otherwise he would show us where all his mushrooms were all around the forest. He even taught us how to pick your mushrooms so that they keep growing instead of just dying. Good guy, that Borneo.

Caught the bus, walked around the gorgeous forest, slightly depressed that we were not Riding around it. If it had not been raining we would have just turned around and hired some bikes for the day, but we were soaked and already enjoying the hike (so annoyed at that guy though!). The forest was awesome. We did about a 5 or 6 km hike I think, and at first it was just a typical campground, but in no time it went from a Washington looking redwood forest to a tropical jungle.

The Holiday Park we camped at

Beautiful hike through the redwood forest

After the our hike, we wandered back to town and shopped around for a little bit, made our way to the mall, felt tired so we sat down in front of the TV's and started watching some cricket. It was NZ vs Zimbabwe. After about an hour we were trapped and ended up just watching the rest of the game. Good stuff. Then we hopped on our NakedBus back to Auckland. Of course the Bennallacks picked us up and being the day before Michelle's birthday they had a couple gifts waiting for her. They bought her an authentic Maori bone necklace and some movie tickets for us. Made me feel like a dirt bag. . . But yeah, extremely nice, Michelle almost cried. My gift to Michelle was a trip to NZ. I think she liked the Bennallacks gift better.

Movie tickets and necklace with Paul and Andrea

Thursday, February 16: (Michelle) Thursday was my birthday, and it was perfect for me. I woke up to some toast that I'm pretty sure Clark made for himself but as soon as he saw me, he gave them up for me. Sweetie. Then we had second brekky when Rachel made some eggs Benedict and we used up the rest of our morning watching Modern Family. For lunch we went to Burger Fuel where we had some kumara fries and a tasty burger then headed to the movie theatre. We saw The Vow and drank a large coke which would have been a small in America. The movie was good and it was nice to relax with my honey.  It was so so nice of the Bennallacks to give me those tickets and the necklace for my birthday. They really blew me away with their kindness.

The beach was just around the corner from the movie theatre so we went for a beautiful walk along the beach, something that I've become very fond of since we've been in Australia and NZ. After enjoying the beach we headed home for a roast beef birthday dinner.

A few days ago when Andrea found out my birthday was coming up she asked what I would like for my birthday dinner. (Are you beginning to see how wonderful the Bennallacks are?) Not being able to request a dinner from our wonderful hosts who were already doing so much for us, Andrea asked if I liked roast beef, and who could turn down a roast beef dinner.

It really was so delicious. Beef, veggies, corn, and an amazing homemade ice cream cake to finish the meal off. We have been so overwhelmed by the kindness we've been shown our whole holiday, especially with the Bennallacks, and especially on my birthday.

After dinner Paul, Andrea, Clark and I went to a NBL game to watch the Auckland Breakers play the Wollongong Hawks. NBL is a little different than the NBA for a few reasons but one is that the referees let the players play to the death (either that or they were really bad refs.) The game was certainly exciting because of that, plus the Breakers won. It was good fun. 

Clark and his Rainbow Paddle Pop, one of his favorites from before

Gary Wilkinson, Utah State alumni. Also in Bennallack's ward.

We ended the great day with more ice cream cake once we got home. My birthday exceeded all of my expectations. 

Friday, February 17: Friday was our last day in Auckland so we woke, packed up, caught a bus into the city to do some last minute souvenir shopping, and then caught a very long and windy bus ride back to the Bennallack's home. 

Paul was traveling to the states that night for work so he was able to get off work early and we all went to lunch together before they dropped us at the airport. 

Clark found the Wendy's that he thought was no longer around so he had to get a shake n' dog while we were in the city 

Wonderful lunch, wonderful people, wonderful end to our wonderful time in Auckland.

We finally had our first completely smooth checkin at the Auckland airport. Plus there were beautiful women all over the airport handing out free lollies. Once we were on the flight we thought I'd lost Clark's passport for about ten minutes until I found it under my seat. 

I managed to buy this $4 bottle of L&P while clark was in the toilets before we boarded the plane. It's "World Famous in New Zealand" and we both loved it. Clark was so happy when I pulled it out of my purse. 

So we were flying to the Gold Coast airport and the Bennallack's daughter, Jade and her husband Matt Krok live in Brisbane which is about an hour north. Andrea had kindly arranged for us to stay with them for a few days however, they were going to be at a reception when we landed so wouldn't be able to pick us up at the airport (we were really glad that they didn't have to come pick us up when we realized how far they lived from that airport.)

During the flight Clark looked at me and said, "what are we going to do when we land?" I just figured we'd catch a train up north somewhere near where Jade and Matt lived so I asked the lady sitting next to me if she knew much about the train and our options for getting to Brisbane. She said she wasn't sure which station would be closest to the suburb we were heading to, but she informed us that the closest train station to the airport was about a twenty minute drive away from the airport. We were bummed when we found that out because we figured there would be a train from the airport, but Kath instantly offered us a ride to the train station. We were hesitant because we didn't want to be a burden or put her out, but she ensured us that it was on the way and insisted that we let her give us a ride. She was such a sweetie, seriously. A heart of gold. 

So Kath waited for us to get through customs and meanwhile her husband arrived in his ute to pick her up (for those of you who don't know what a ute is, it's basically a two passenger truck) so she called her son to come all the way to the airport just to give us a ride to the station. Amazing right? So her husband headed home and Kath and her son took us to the station. They saved us. We have no idea what we would have done without them. Probably would have wondered around until Matt and Jade were able to pick us up which would have been so inconvenient for them. 

Kath walked us into the station and made sure we got the tickets and instructions we needed to make it to Rochedale South. We hugged her goodbye and she wished us "all the best" in her thick kiwi accent. It's people like her that make you want to be a better human. Clark and I hope that we will have lots of opportunities in our lifetime to help others the way we've been helped out so many times on our holiday so far.

We hopped on the train and made our way to a station near the Krok's house, where we waited at a gas station for our ride. The attendant at the station asked us if we were lost and informed us that we were on the wrong side of the train tracks so to speak. Luckily the Krock's friends came and picked us up soon after and we headed over for a fun evening with Matt, Jade, their daughter Pacey, Tayce and Josh Davison, and the friends who picked us up, Kirsten and Heath. 

Adroable Pacey. 

It was really fun to meet them all and Clark enjoyed catching up.

Saturday, February 18: Turns out Jade is a lot like her mother because we woke up Saturday morning to pancakes, plus they tasted exactly like her mom's and she didn't even use her recipe. So good and so nice of Jade. After breakfast was finished and cleaned up we were all planning to go swimming at a place downtown called South Bank, but there wasn't enough room in the car for all of us to go at once, so Jade took Clark and me into the city so we could walk around the shops downtown and then went back home and the rest came a bit later. Once again, just like her parents. She was so willing to make two trips into the city just for us. 

So Clark and I walked along Queens Street where all the shops are and enjoyed some window shopping and Chocolate from Crazy Clarks. I think it's safe to say we are addicted to Chocolate.

Really bad quality because it's just a frame from a video, but you get the idea.

Crocodile Dundee  

South Bank is a man made beach/pool right on the side of the Brisbane River. Queens Street was on the opposite side of the river, so when we were done at the shops, we walked across a bridge and met the Jade, Matt, Pacey, Tayce, and Josh at South Bank. It was a really nice day and really fun swimming around with Pacey, who is going to be quite a good swimmer. She has no fear. 

South Bank

To be continued...

More Stuff

Wednesday, February 8: Wednesday was our last full day in Queenstown so we decided to spend the whole day at the beach. It was perfect for us. It was partly cloudy so it wasn't too hot or cold. Very relaxing and a great way to end our stay in Queenstown. Around dinner time we went to the grocery store to get some din din in attempts to save money but we ended up spending probably more than we would have eating out, and had a really bad meal consisting of dry bread, dry cheese, dry crackers, and for dessert, dry fudge squares. So we ended up feeding half of our dinner to the seagulls which was always fun in Queenstown. They'll come and snatch the bread right out of your hands. While we were feeding the seagulls we saw this huge eel swimming around.

Where we fed the seagulls  

While we were eating our not so good meal, I was figuring out how to use our camera and Clark got really bored of me taking photos of him. This is the fake depth setting/I can start a photog. company cause my camera does this. . . 

So that night we had our last stroll along the banks of Lake Wakatipu and our last sleep in Mark Scott's yard.

Thursday, February 9: Friday we were traveling to Auckland, so we woke up, packed up, and headed towards the Airport for a pretty smooth day of traveling. We had to switch around all of our stuff in our bag so I could carry mine on, but after we proved that my bag fit into the carry on size box we were on our way. The Queenstown airport was tiny. I think there were only about a total of 6 or 7 gates in the whole place. It was nice having no chance of getting lost or having a long walk to your gate and cool walking outside and then upstairs to get on the plane. Felt very old school.

While we were waiting for our plane we actually ran into a couple that we met at Church in Queenstown. They were visiting from Auckland and their truck broke down so they ended their trip early, shipped their truck home and flew back to Auckland just a few hours after our flight. It was fun to talk to them and they even said they would like to have us over for dinner while we were in Auckland, but it never worked out. But they were really nice and friendly true to Kiwi form.

When we landed in Auckland the Bennallacks picked us up from the airport (the first of MANY generous and kind gestures). Their house was not too far away, but still very nice of Paul to get off work early and for them to both come get us. On the way home they showed us around a little bit and taught us a thing or two about the city and stuff. They live about ten minutes away from downtown Auckland in a town called Takapuna. They only have one car, and barely need it where they live. Within a few minutes of walking, you can get to: Paul's work, the Church, the grocery store, the Mall, the bus station, the Cinemas, dozens of great cafe's and restaurants, a gorgeous lake, and Takapuna beach. Literally you can see all of these things from the roof of their place, like they are all less than 1/4 mile away. Its the greatest city in the world (if it had a ski resort anywhere close, we would have just unpacked our bags for good). As soon as we got to their place and walked in the front door we could smell a delicious home cooked meal and then they showed us to our own room with a nice comfy bed. After a week sleeping on a front lawn and eating countless PBJ's, it was a pretty exciting couple of minutes. We felt at home instantly and enjoyed a homemade meat pie with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Delicious. The rest of the night seems foggy but I know it included dessert and relaxing on comfy couches catching up. We liked Auckland instantly.

Friday, February 10: (Clark now, for a few) I remember one thing we talked about last night, and looking back on it, I regret saying it. I mentioned that I don't like cereal and so for breakfast I would usually just eat toast or something, or a lot of times just miss it altogether. Rachel, their youngest daughter who is 18 and getting ready to head off to Uni, asked if I liked pancakes. I said of course, but you don't have time to cook those everyday for breakfast. Anyway, sure enough when we came out of our mattress coma, we were greeted with pancakes from scratch. I know I was probably hungry, but they were seriously the best pancakes I have had. She gave us the recipe and everything - but they rocked my world and I felt like a spoiled little punk. She served them with all the normal stuff, but mentioned that she usually just eats them with butter, then sugar and lemon juice. We tried it, and we will never need to buy syrup ever again. We both loved it and asked for permission to spread that pancake gospel around when we got back to Utah (So hit us up if you want to try them). After breakfast we just walked down to the beach and hung out for the morning and afternoon. The beach is really pretty and seems to be pretty popular for moms to bring their kids and for jogger's because the waves aren't big and when the tide goes out it is really long and flat. We realized we never took a picture so have a look at a few professionals versions. A nap and a sunburn later, we went back 'home' and then the Bennallack's took us out to a Mongolian BBQ place for dinner. I am sure there are places like it in the U.S. but you just gather all the stuff you want for a stir fry, meats and veggies and stuff, then they just put it on a huge grill and cook it up for you. It was heaps good though. We wanted to chip in for the bill, but were denied. A feeling we got used to with Paul and Andrea.

ViaDuct Harbor with Andrea. Behind us is a Huge catamaran for big races and stuff. 

Next they just took us downtown in Auckland where we could just walk around and see a few things. Its a beautiful city and they have beautified it a bit more even with the recent rugby world cup a couple months ago. Paul told us that Auckland has the most yachts per capita than anywhere in the world. I believe it, there were thousands all over the harbor.
A place called ViaDuct Harbor was really nice, and clearly where the night life is on the weekends, with cafe's restaurants and bars all over. I guess New Zealand won the America's Cup, the huge sailing competition, lots of years ago and were quite proud. The ship is now lifted up and mounted like a trophy in the harbor, its kind of funny. The city was very nice but felt just like every other big city while we were walking around. Overwhelming. We enjoy going in and seeing them and wandering around, but definitely think its more impressive just looking in from the outside. Its best looking at it from the Auckland Harbor Bridge. Either way, its a nice place to see.

SkyCity Tower with nice looking sky.  Clouds are always awesome, no matter what.

Saturday, February 11: The Bennallacks had mentioned that Hamilton was worth seeing for lots of reasons, but especially the Temple. So we went. It takes about two hours to get there and the drive is really beautiful, especially the famous Pokeno ice cream shop. It is a staple for all driver-by's, including the temple goers. Basically a Baskins Robbins but dirt cheap because apparently its a dumb town not worth stopping in otherwise. We experimented with some nice flavors and pretty soon we were in Hamilton, the ice cream broke it all up nicely.
The Temple is sort of in the middle of the country side, outside of town a little bit. It sits on top of a hill ironically, and looks out over hundreds of acres of farmland that the church owns. Its a good spot. The temple is really old, and well used, of course it doesn't look like.

Yeah, its that blue. 

A little prayer and I finally got some wind. 

The grounds are beautiful and they have a pimped out visitors center to see all kinds of the new I'm a mormon ads and stuff. We really liked the session and walking around afterwards. If you ask any families that have history in Australia, NZ or of the hundreds of Islands all around, they have all made Huge sacrifices over the years to get there. We have heard a few stories since we have been here, and its pretty inspiring. Since then they have built all the other Aust. temples and one in Samoa and Tonga etc. Its not as busy as it was but still serves all of NZ.

After we were done with the temple we went into Hamilton to get some lunch and stopped at Subway, only to find out that they were out of bread. . . So we moved on to another one. Weird right?
Anyway, we got home just in the nick of time to make it to the dirt race track. Paul is secretly a 'PetrolHead', he won't admit it, but he couldn't wait to go watch the sprint cars and he was pumped to tell us all about it. We weren't willing to pay full price for the tickets so he tried to talk them into a lower price, and when that didn't work, we tried walking around the perimeter looking for a hole in the fence or something. It felt like being kids again, it was pretty obvious Paul had done this before, only if we were younger we would have found a way in! We had to settle for a spot up top where we could see a portion of the track and the TV screen. Funny stuff.

That graffiti wall went all around the track. Pretty cautious of cheapskates. This spot was pretty good until we got murdered by mosquitos. 

After giving up on the pretty bad 'free seats' we headed back to the house. Stopped on the way and got some good authentic chinese food, had a chat for a while, then hit the sack. I guess Michelle watched Meet Joe Black and fell in love with Brad Pitt, but I fell asleep. Fortunately for her. (I assume these details are really really really lame for everyone, but they help us remember stuff, so I apologize - but it's our blog)

Queenstown cont'd

(Clark now- becoming a long post, sorry)
On our way back to Queenstown from Glenorchy, we got a call from Li (Bro. Scott's wife) who had gotten off work at Burger King earlier than planned. So, being 45 minutes away, our driver turned into Vin Diesel on Fast and Furious and cruised back to town. It was quite scary. Every time I was about ask him to slow down, which I was almost forced to do, I had to remind myself that the man drives worse roads than this everyday in a cement truck! He told us that, and it did bring a little bit of comfort.  So about Li. . . (as promised from before) Bro. Scott had mentioned casually that his wife was chinese and they had been married only a couple of years. Feeling like he left the story hanging like a carrot, we were forced to ask more questions that anyone would have, such as: Where did you meet? Where is she from?  Is this your first marriage? etc. . . He was more than happy to answer them all - plus a little more.
Mark, who is Bro. Scott, was once married to a New Zealand woman and had two children who are all grown up with families of their own. He was married to her for about 20 years or so. After years of rough patches, his wife's Bi-polar disorder became too much to handle and Mark decided to scoot from the coop. He packed his things and left the family. Years prior to the separation, when things were going fine, he mentioned to his wife after waking up that he had had a dream. In the dream he saw a young chinese girl and after had the impression that he and his wife needed to adopt this chinese girl. Nothing more came of the dream for several years. Later on, after almost 10 years of separation he moved to Queenstown.  He got to know some Chinese neighbors who mentioned they had a sister back in China that was in a pretty bad situation and wanted a better life somewhere else, like New Zealand. Due to tough immigration laws the best option was for her to marry someone from NZ. Optimistically, they asked Mark if he would be interested in doing them a  really big favor. Sure enough, he was willing to help out (always willing to help out the needy - we found out personally). Eventually they met through the neighbors and slowly got to know each other/date through MSN and email over a period of time. Meanwhile, he saved up money to go and "get"her. After arriving in China and speaking through a hand held translator, they began to arrange the journey to her new home. For whatever reasons, she was not allowed into the country right away so he had to come back without her and then wait for her to get permission. After a lot of protesting from her family back home and suspicious immigration officers, I am sure, she was allowed to come to live in NZ.
Anyway, pretty shady stuff, and as he kept feeding us the story we found out that she is only 26 years old. He is 53. Ha! Crazy and weird. He also believes that she was the Asian girl from his dream which at the time of the dream she wasn't even born yet! Revelation or justification, we can't be the judge of that, but either way it was really weird, funny, crazy and interesting all at once.
We made it to Burger King where Li was patiently waiting outside, then drove back to their home/our new home. Seeing the two of them interact made it all the more bizarre, not that they were being romantic in front of us or anything, but he called her darling, she watered the garden and fed the chickens and carried on like any married couple. We just couldn't quite wrap our heads around the fact that she was 26, but looked 20 and he was a 53 year old man who colors his hair and has kids older than his new wife. Stranger things have happened I'm sure but this one took the cake during our time in Queenstown.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. After we set up our tent in Mark's front yard we found out that they have two other male flat-mates to help pay the rent. Funny stuff.

So here it is, our home for the next 3 nights.

Michelle typing:
So we finished up our Sunday by setting up camp and strolling through the city and along the beach. It was a great day. Our favorite in Queenstown so far.

Monday, February 6: Monday we woke up and set out for a hike up the mountain. There is a gondola in town that takes you up to the top of the mountain where there are a lot of things to do such as paragliding, luge ride, mountain biking, dining, enjoying the great view, making and eating PB&J's... We did the later two. It was really pretty at the top and a great reward after basically climbing strait up the mountain. It was a lot steeper than we anticipated or we are just less fit that we realized. But it was a pretty hike, a beautiful view of Queenstown, and a great activity to get us ready for the Super Bowl.

The view from the top. The chair lift is for the luge ride.

Everyday there are constantly paragliders in the sky 

We are a long way from home

Clark is pointing out where we had just hiked to. You can see the restaurant at the top.

We hiked back down and found the first bar that was playing the Super Bowl. It was really crowded but after standing around for a few minutes a couple of chairs opened up so we snatched hem up. After a few quarters I started falling asleep, so I left the bar, found some grass and the sun, and had a nice nap. Clark, being sorely disappointed with the result of the game, came and joined me for some nice relaxing time in the sun.
After our nap we headed up to the Holiday Park that we had stayed at the night before and used the showers. Technically we weren't supposed to, but because we had to pay two dollars for a shower we didn't feel too bad about it. We think the One Armed Bandit (self named one armed camp director) may have been on to us towards the end of our stay in Queenstown.
Apparently February 6th is Waitangi Day which is the celebration of the signing of a treaty between britain and the Maori Chiefs. I only know that because I just googled it. According the the celebration in the Queenstown botanical gardens, Waitangi day is the celebration of drinking a lot of beer with all of your friends on a hot summers day, and nothing else at all. We could hear the Maori music all throughout the city, so we decided to go over to the gardens to join the celebration. We were expecting to see food, activities, a market maybe, but there was absolutely nothing going on except what you see below.

Vintage Booze Cruise 

 It made for a great people watching day.

Later that night we bought some fish and chips or "fush and chups" as they pronounce it in NZ. Delicious as always. We ate them on the beach and watched the people and the seagulls until the sun went down.

Before we went back to our tent at Mark's house, we went back up to the Holiday Park to use the computers they have up there. Again, we were paying for their services so we didn't feel like trespassers. And we had payed them 40 bucks a night for 3 nights to sleep on a tiny piece of grass, so we were just getting our moneys worth. Anyway, we booked two tickets for the Nevis Bungy Jump and then headed back to our tent.

Tuesday, February 7: We already posted the pictures of Clark's jump that we bought from the bungy place, but here are a few more that we took

I tried to upload a video of my jump but it won't work, so I'll try to put it on YouTube or something later on.
Unfortunatly I jumped with our camera case tucked into my harness, woops, but luckily the camera wasn't in it, and our new camera didn't even fit in the case anyway. Like I said in the other post about the jumps, it all happened so fast, but I knew it was a bad idea to tuck the case in my harness when I did it. You can see the case if you look close enough in the video.
Anyway, the jump was SO fun! We both wished we could do it again right after so we could take it all in the second time. It was quite the fall though, 5.5 seconds free fall, and a total of 8.5 seconds until the bungy starts pulling you back up. It was a blast.
Look at the older posts if you didn't see the pictures of Clark's jump already. They're really cool pictures and sort of give you a better idea of how far the fall is.

After we got back from the bungy jump, we got our swimming suits on and went to the beach. It was a perfect day with only a few clouds in the sky, which were spaced perfectly to give relief when the sun was getting really hot. It was so nice to relax and lay in the sun all afternoon.

Amazing day at the beach. The little man right in front of me was probably 80 and wearing a blue and pink striped speedo

After we had soaked up the sun, we rewarded ourselves for eating PB&J's for the past 3 days with this...

FERGBURGER. Clark had been drooling over these burgers he kept seeing all over town and so we decided we would save up and treat ourselves to these monstrous burgers before we left Queenstown. The place was always packed especially at dinner time. It was a madhouse and we had to wait forever for our food, but it was well worth it. It tasted as good as it looks. We could have done without the fries though. It was a ton of food.
It was a great end to an even better day.

Actually this was the great end to the day...

more to come...