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The Final Part

Here is the final part of my story.

We grabbed the rest of our stuff and then set off for Wanaka with a beautiful view of the mountains following us. We travelled through the mountain range, along a beautiful river and eventually reached the small town of Cadrona. As we were hungry we decided to stop for lunch at a quaint little hotel pub. The reason I’m telling you this is that we found out after that the very same pub we ate in was also the set of the Prancing Pony of Bree in the movie The Lord of the Rings. Half an hour after our lunch we arrived in Wanaka and soon found our hotel. It was a nice looking place run by a couple from Sydney.
The next morning it was up to the mountains for some down-hill skiing. We all took a lesson it get the basics of it as we had already learnt how to ski the previous year. After our lesson we did a few more practise runs before we hoped onto the ski-lift and went up to the peak. It was an exhilarating trip back down with frequent stopping required. We called it a day as we were all tired so we went back to the hotel to relax. The next morning we went back up to the mountain. This time I was learning how to snowboard. As I was the only one in the class I got a chance to have a private lesson with Kylie. This meant I got the chance the learn everything I needed in only half the time. I practised on the easy slopes before I worked up the courage to try something steeper. I went on the chairlift by myself and slide down the peak again. Unfortunately I missed the turning I was meant to take and ended up going down a trial that was too narrow for beginners to manage. The result was me falling over a lot.
The next morning was time for us to leave, I struggled out of bed, and my arms were aching. We packed everything into the car and headed up to Lake Tekapo. Along the way we were greeted with the most spectacular site ever. Photos could never capture the beauty of what we saw. Driving along the road we came around a bend and a lake stretched out before us. This was not like any other lake we have seen. It was a magnificent turquoise colour. The water looked like it had come fresh from a glacier. In fact it had, when the ice in the mountains melt it carries down a very fine dust called Rock Flour. When the water reacts with the sunlight it creates this beautiful, deep pale blue colour. We stopped and took heaps of pics because it was just amazing. After a dozen or so different shots from various angles we left to get to the next place.
We shortly arrived in the town of Tekapo and settled into the B&B we were staying in. We went into the town for dinner and had some great pizza. Then we went back to the B&B for an early night. I took the chance to use their computer to check up on people’s blogs and to write a quick entry. I tried to get an early night but couldn’t really sleep that well, not to mention I was aching all over from the snowboarding the previous day.
We got up early for breakfast (I don’t know why we do it we’re meant to be on holiday) then headed out to Round hill ski field for a couple of hours of skiing. We did alright; I managed to get more footage of my parents skiing.
After that we left Tekapo and drove back up to Christchurch through the long and windy roads.
We had a quite night in, like most of our nights actually. We ate KFC for dinner then went to bed early. After we woke up we took the rental car back and settled in for a couple hours of waiting at the airport. I took this opportunity to do some shopping for my friends.
It only took 3 hours to fly back to Sydney, I watched Sahara on the in-flight movie because I had nothing to read. We arrived back at Sydney airport, where my Mum’s shoes set off the metal detectors. Next we went through customs; my mum was stopped again because of medication. My Dad and I had already passed through before we even noticed she was missing. She eventually made it out again, annoyed at us for not waiting. We waited about 3 hours for the flight back to Perth, which took 4 hours to get there. I bought a book at Sydney so I didn’t bother with the movie.
When we got back to the beautiful city of Perth, I was greeted at the terminal gate by a most wondrous site. My gorgeous girlfriend Fiona came to the airport to meet me.
Once I had put my luggage in my parent’s car I hopped into Fiona’s car and we went and got some coffee. We had decided to give each other our presents on that night, so I gave her a matching pair of earrings and a necklace. I had also bought a little crystal statue that changes colour depending on what angle you hold it at.
Fiona had gotten me a large photo portrait of herself, wearing a fairies costume. She looks so cute, I’ll have to try and get a good photo of it to show everyone. Unfortunately I haven’t found anywhere to hang it yet, and there really isn’t anywhere to stand it up. So I will have to think of something.We ended up staying out till 2am, we had a wonderful time together, and I was so glad to be back with her.

I hoped you enjoyed the exciting tale of my New Zealand trip. If you would like more information about anything you have read about, please don't hesitate to ask.

Here is the beautiful lake. You can see it better once I get the time to make a DVD of the trip. 

This is Lake Tekapo. The water was a more pale blue then this. I'll try and find a better shot later. This lake was just amazing to see. You can read about it soon when I post another part of my story. 

Another part.....

Here is the next part, hope your enjoying it.

Our rooms were on top floor of the servant’s quarters. Each room was named by the theme it was decorated it. My parents stayed in the Queen Victoria room with a stern looking Queen staring out at them from her portrait. My room was called the Kauri room; it was a comfortable room with well-crafted wood furniture inside. The view from my room was spectacular, and the view from my bathroom was even better. The only problem was the lack of curtains in the bathroom; this meant that I had a great view of the valley while taking a shower. This didn't really disturb me though as the closest house would have to be several kilometres away in a straight line.

We had dinner in a small restaurant only 15mins away from the castle. I had a beautiful steak for dinner that was served with bacon and melted cheese on top. The meal was large so we didn't stay for dessert; instead, we went back up to the castle and settled down in our rooms. I watched TV and spoke with Fiona on the mobile before I went to bed. Next morning we woke up, ate breakfast in the stables then headed off to the city centre of Dunedin. We did a bit of shopping before we went to the see some albatross. There were meant to be 40 adult birds and 20 chicks but we only saw a few of them. Anyway, we had dinner in the castle on Friday night. We were in a formal dining room with 8 other people. I had Quail for entree, it tasted like chicken, and then I had pasta, followed by fruit salad and ice cream for dessert.

After we all had sat around our coffee for a while, we all decided to leave for bed. I gave Fiona a call before I went to bed, had a shower then curled up in my big warm queen size bed.

On Saturday morning, we had breakfast, finished packing all our belongings, hoped into the car and drove to Queenstown. The trip was filled with scenic pictures and snow-capped mountains and sheep scattered hills. After a short 4-hour trip, we had arrived at the picturesque area of Queenstown. Our lodging for the night was at a 5 star apartment on the shoreline of the lake. The apartment was two-stories and very comfortable. In the afternoon, we took a gondola trip up to the peak of a small mountain where we got the chance to watch a Haka performance. After the entertainment, we enjoyed a buffet dinner before taking the gondola back down. After a night in our comfortable beds we woke up early and unfortunately had to pack.

A taxi came to pick us up and dropped us off at the Queenstown airport where we took a short helicopter trip up into the mountains and then dropped us off at the Nevis Snowmobiling. We put on special protective clothing and hoped on a snowmobile each. Soon we were speeding along snowfields admiring the beautiful mountain peaks. No words can describe the wonders that we saw.

Snow covered ground stretch before us, and on the horizon, we could see the icy peaks of the other mountains. A brisk wind blew a light snow covering along the ground. The chill wind numbed your face as we drove along the fields.

After 1.5 hours, we had made it back to the cabin where the helicopter was waiting for us again. We stripped off the special clothing and jumped back into the helicopter. In a matter of minutes, we were soaring back over the peaks and heading to Queenstown.

My Trip

A couple of weeks ago I was in New Zealand, I would have still been in Christchurch actually. During one of our long driving trips, I decided to make a little journal of our trip. It is nothing special but I talk about some of the things we did. I've got most things down but if I notice any that I missed, I will add it later.
Seeing as its a few pages long I thought I would only put it up bit by bit. I don't want to make it too long in case it puts anyone of reading it; also, it means you will have to keep checking to find out more about my trip. So here goes...

Well here I am sitting in the backseat of our Ford Escape, driving yet again to our next destination.

This time we are going to Queenstown. It will take us 4 hours and 25 minutes to get there. So far we have been driving for 1 hour. I've finished reading my Harry Potter book so there isn't an awful lot for me to do. I decided to turn my attention towards writing. This will only serve to distract me for another hour, well according to the laptop power anyway.

I think it will now be time to regale you with the various adventures and whatnot that occurred during the trip so far.

It was a cold morning and the sun hadn't even reached the horizon. We woke up at 4:15am to prepare for the trip ahead of us.

We arrived at Perth airport at 6am, the sun only just peeking over the hills. We stood in the long line of people waiting for their boarding tickets. After a short wait in the QANTAS club check-in we passed through security. We found a few seats available together and sat down to wait for our plane to start boarding.

A soft voice called out over the PA system for all passengers on the flight to Adelaide to start boarding now. Once the que had shortened we got up, dragged our hand luggage onto the plane, and found our seats. The plane taxied to the runway and the roar of the engines soon drowned out all noise. Passengers were forced back into their seats as the jet turbines thrust the plane into the air.

The plane levelled out and passengers could finally relax. Breakfast was served and only after a couple of hours did we slowly descended into Adelaide. It was only an hour wait until we boarded for the plane to Sydney. After a couple of hours we had touched down in Australia's largest airport. We took a shuttle to the international airport were we had a 5 hour wait for the flight.

In less then an hour is was sitting in the comfortable seat of the QANTAS club, sipping a Bacardi and diet coke while nibbling on some cold meat and cheese. The 5 hours seemed to pass by quickly as I read my book and drank complimentary drinks.

Anyway, to cut a long story short we fly to Christchurch and arrived at the hotel at 1:30am. I gave Fiona a call to tell her how things went, and then I curled up into bed to get some sleep.

The next day we picked up our hire car then had a little drive around Christchurch. The second day we visited Hanmer Springs where we got the privilege of soaking in some thermal springs. The water is heated by a local volcano where it is the pumped into some pools. The coolest pool was 36C while the hottest was 41C. We enjoyed a couple of relaxing hours soaking in the water before we headed back to Christchurch.

Thursday meant that we had to leave the cosy Manor and drive to Dunedin. It was a 5-hour drive straight there but we stoped in this nice town called Timaru. We had lunch and a great cappuccino before we hoped back into the car and kept driving.

The sun was slowly setting by the time we reached our next destination.

The sound of small rocks crunching under the tires suited the image before us. The setting sun bathed the century old castle in golden beauty. The flag above the battlements flapped in the wind, and a gander of geese waddled to the fountain sitting in the well-kept courtyard. We climbed the stones steps, flanked by two stone lions, and rand the doorbell. A kind faced woman answered the door and proceeded to check us in. We drove the car around the castle to the stables at the back and parked.

We had McDonalds one night in Christchurch, its wasn't bad aye. 

Me at adelaider...

This is me at sydney airport..... i look tired. 

Me feeling jet-lagged.. 

Here is the castle from the outside. We actually stayed in the converted servants quarters at the back. 

Apparently this is the most photographed train station in the world. 

The spectacular view from the castle we stayed at... 

The tower entrance.. 

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The view from my toilet... :D 

baa 

baa 

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