The Good Life: Feb. 20-24th South Island Travels

(sorry in advance that all the videos are sideways..I do not know how to change it..also let me know if some videos do not work so I can change them)

Since we had an extra week before school started my friends and I planned a trip all around the South Island. We took a Ferry that took us from Wellington to Picton where we rented a car. From Picton we spent a few hours in Christchurch and then drove through the night to stay in Queenstown for two days. Queenstown was a small but beautiful town that reminded me of Colorado. In Queenstown we visited Milford sound and I also bungy jumped there. We then spent two days traveling up the west coast to see all of its beauty which had more greenery and more jungle like than the east coast but had just as many rivers and mountains. Driving in the South Island was odd at first but since there is only one road to take the driving is much more scenic and easier to travel than in the States. When I drove I kept on forgetting that everything was on the opposite side in the car so when I went to put on my turn signal I usually turned on my windshield wipers first.

The Interislander..It is the Ferry we took to get from the North Island to the South Island

Leaving Wellington at 7am

First pictures of the South Island

On the Road from Picton to Christchurch

One of the many wineries on the drive

there were grape vines growing on the cafes that we stopped at as well

Center of Christchurch

Cathedral in Christchurch...half of it is now in ruins from the earthquake, we fortunately, left a day before the earthquake hit the center of this town so I probably have one of the last pictures of it standing

They were having a festival of flowers happening in Christchurch so it probably brought in more people to Christchurch around this time.

Scenery on the road from Christchurch to Queenstown. There were a lot of hills and mountains we had to drive through and up and around.

In the town of Queenstown

The hostile that we stayed at in Queenstown...lots of ppl tons of good smells because everyone was cooking their meals and lots of good conversations...we also watched American Pie with a bunch of kiwis and found out that they do not sensor anything here

On our way to Milford Sound, it was very rainy so the visibility was low but in return we also so many waterfalls on the side of the mountains

Many places near Queenstown and Milford sound is where they filmed Lord of the Rings which is understandable because this place is super mysterious and pretty

So much rain was coming down that it created extra waterfalls on the side of the mountains

All the water is rushing from the mountains to the sea

On the boat on Milford sound...this place was very tranquil and beautiful

The boat driver said that these are the reject males that couldn't find a mate this season so this is where they go to sleep, eat, and sulk

City center in Queenstown

Below is the Kawarau bridge where I bungy jumped. This bridge is where bungy jumping originated!

Messing around in a small town called Arrowtown...there was mainly older people here so we were definitely stared at a lot

One of the many sheep farms we saw through out the South Island...it's crazy that they have so many sheep but everything that was made out of wool here was over 100 dollars

They sadly had elk and deer farms here as well. One farmer told us that they do not like ferrel deer because they eat all the small trees in the forest so they seem them as pests. Hunting deer for sport is usually not the case here.

More Pictures of Queenstown

Here in NZ you can buy teapots that are filled with mixed drinks of hard alcohol. With the four of us I think we got close to 4 shots each for 17 dollars. It was an interesting experience.

I found it hilarious that they put George Michael on the "Fag" machine for cigarettes

saw the Lord of the Rings tour shop in Queenstown and had to bother the workers to take our picture

Random swing on the shore in Queenstown so I tried it out...notice I am barefoot since you can go into stores barefoot here! yay!

Pictures of the west coast

Freaking out on a very rickety bridge...well I am at least

This was suppose to be considered the blue pool...however with the fresh water from the rain mixing with the ocean water, this pool didn't look so blue

wide dried up rivers..there were many of these along the highway

Along the shore line were tons of these rocks stacked up together..people also wrote messages and names on them as well

Small parts of the glacier that are melting off into the river

Picture of me at Fox glacier that recedes about a meter each day

If you look closely you can see the different colors in the water...the mud mixing with the pure glacier water.

This glacier is Franz Joseph Glacier which seemed to be a little bit larger than Fox glacier

The second hostel we stayed at was called Noah's Ark where each room had an animal theme. We stayed in the sheep room. They also had a tiger, chettah, dog, giraffe, monkey, and an elephant room.