New Zealand

Throughout my life I've been on all sorts of holidays with my family but never any solely with friends. In fact, the only 'break' that I've taken with my friends was our schoolies vacation after our high school exams, and even then there was nothing really major that we needed to plan. The ten days that we rented a little beach house was spent either on the beach, by the lake or just generally lazing around playing boardgames. 

This all changed last week when I went to New Zealand! We actually had to organise everything ourselves - and I mean EVERYTHING. It was the first time that I'd really been completely independent - my entire trip was funded through hours of hard work (although all the wonderful people that I work with make it much easier and enjoyable) and all the flights, accommodation, activities, car hire, food, you name it had been planned by my three friends and I. It was strange being completely responsible for everything that could go wrong (and go wrong they did), but it was definitely rewarding and made the adventure all the more exciting!

The Mountain Range coming out of Christchurch towards the West Coast

We arrived in Christchurch at 1am, and spent the night in jail. Well, no, not literally in jail, but in what used to be the Mountfort Cell Block which was closed in 1999 and later renovated into a backpackers accommodation. It was extremely atmospheric, and the rooms were surprisingly warm, I would definitely recommend this place to anyone travelling on a budget. 

We only stayed in Christchurch for one night, and left that same morning with the aim of travelling across New Zealand from the east to west coast in 7 hours. The roads were incredibly windy and narrow, especially Arthur's Pass (which is apparently one of only two places in New Zealand which has an apostrophe in its name), but the views made it worthwhile. 

Giant Donut in Springfield

We also saw snow for the first time on the trip in Arthur's Pass, and I am unashamed to say that we spent good half hour frolicking in slush. Snow is just something that we don't get very often in Australia so can you blame us?

New Zealand is magical. Now I haven't seen Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit (both have been on my 'to watch' list for a very long time), but I can understand why New Zealand has been chosen to provide the backdrop for such movies. We managed to cross the country in two days (Christchurch to Queenstown via Franz Josef and Wanaka), and on those days we saw mountains, snow, forest, sand, lakes, oceans and glaciers!

Hokitika Beach

Franz Josef Glacier

Like everyone else in New Zealand, the main purpose of our trip was skiing, well, learning to ski or in my case, to snowboard. I expected it to be hard, but once I got the hang of it was easier than I originally though. That isn't to say that I'm now a pro. This is definitely not the case, and I have the bruises to prove this. During our time in Queenstown we hit three mountains - the Remarkables, Coronets Peak and Treble Cone. The last one is more suited towards advanced skiers and boarders, and I spent most of that day falling and indulging in one of my favourite past times - apres skiing; better known as sitting in the warm cafe and drinking hot chocolate. 

The view from the top was incredible! We spent our days skiing and our nights exploring everything Queenstown had to offer. From the diner which had an actual jukebox, to Buffalo Club, Cowboys and of course Fergburger, where the burgers were well worth the 40 minute wait. I also may have had a cheeky day off and spent my time going from cafe to cafe and shop to shop. 

Vudu Cafe and Larder

 And of course, being in the adrenaline capital of the Southern Hemisphere, we had to do something completely crazy, and crazy it was - we went SKY DIVING! The feeling of falling out of a plane at 12,000 feet in the air and free-falling for 45 seconds is unparalleled! I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel a bit sickly afterwards, but I do not regret it at all!

One of my gorgeous friends plummeting head first out of a plane

This trip did not go entirely according to plan, and there were many things that went wrong, causing mass panic at the time. Looking back, it is these mishaps and the paths that we were forced upon which define our trip, and along with the new friends that we made and old friends that we met, are the things which I will remember in years to come. Sometimes the perfect plan is overrated. 

♥