Adrenalin fueled city

Hi guys!

So after we left Wanaka, we headed towards the adrenalin fueled city of the South Island and my favourite city of NZ: Queenstown. Very spontaneously Chloe and I decided to do the bungyjump from the Kawarau Bridge, which is located just before you enter Queenstown. Nervous as hell we signed up at the AJ Hackett Kawarau Bridge Bungy Centre and within 15 min we were standing on the 43m high ledge! It was so cool because the whole bus was cheering us on from the outlook platform, that made it even more exhilarating :)
I really wanted to make a good jump so I decided to 'fly' like a bird, jumping off the ledge with my arms wide open: what a feeling! The only thing you feel and what you can hear is the rustling sound of the wind passing by and seeing the blue water of the river coming closer. I wanted to touch the water, but unfortunately I just missed it by a few inches... Oh well, it was super cold anyway (like 8 degrees) so I wasn't that bummed out ;) In the evening we had a good night out in the pub The Find with live music and it felt good to be in a city again!

The next day Chrissy (England) and I went skiing for the day in Cardrona (2hour drive outside Queenstown). It felt so unreal, skiing in New Zealand! All my friends and family back home were celebrating the summer holiday in France or somewhere else and I was wearing warm ski clothes and skiing down the snowpistes! You can't compare it to skiing in Austria or Switzerland, but it was good for a day and the views from the mountain onto Queenstown and the lake was amazing. When we headed back we got a well deserved Fergburger (the most famous burger in the world and the most delicious one!!). Sometimes you have to que for an hour to get your burger, but believe me: soooo worth it. We had another good days and nights exploring Queenstown and before I knew it, it was time to leave. Nearly the whole bus went into different directions, so everyone was pretty sad to leave eachother. It's amazing how close you get to people just by travelling with them for 1.5 week, it actually felt like a little family!

I headed to Mt. Cook with Chloe, Rob, Siobhan and Lucas, where we did an amazing hike through the Hooker Valley to see the glacier coming down Mt. Cook. That was our last night together, because the next day I would leave the group to go to Lake Tekapo by myself to do some more hiking. The scenery in the south of New Zealand is amazing, everywhere you can get a good view of the Southern Alps. Then my Stray trip nearly came to an end! :( Just one stop in Rangitata (known for really good white water rafting, but it was closed due to wintertime) and then off to Christchurch where my Stray adventure ended. I had a few days in Christchurch and Akaroa (a small little countrytown on the water). Christchurch was quite a sad sight, you could definitely tell it used to be a beautiful city but since the earthquake in 2011 it's just run down. Everywhere you go you see constructionsites and cranes and all of the old buildings are collapsed. Such a shame! In Akaroa I did some more hiking through the beautiful countryside, it really reminded me of the hills in the UK.

And then... off to Fiji! I could not believe how fast these 4 months in New Zealand had gone. I had such an amazing time living on the farm, that was a fantastic experience. And then travelling with Stray on the South Island was a perfect end to my New Zealand adventure. I really recommend NZ to everyone, it is such a beautiful place and the people are amazing. I am secretly thinking about moving to NZ ;) Kiwi for life!!