Adrenaline Junkie

So time-wise in my giant recap, we’re heading to the end of October/beginning of November.

Skype does amazing things for keeping in touch, so I was never very homesick.

But I was excited for my parents to come and visit me halfway across the world to see and experience everything I was going through!

I met them on the South Island of New Zealand and continued with them through Christchurch, Queenstown, and Sydney, before they went to the Great Barrier Reef on their own.

After a little excruciatingly long complication with my flight to New Zealand, I finally arrived in Christchurch. The first thing on my agenda: food.

If memory serves, it was an eggplant based veggie sandwich with melted provolone.

I always appreciate a cheeky and clever sign:
Christchurch was still receiving aftershocks from the devastating earthquakes in September. Somehow we managed to avoid any during our short stay there. After some sight-seeing around the town and a visit to the botanical gardens…

It was off to the main destination: Queenstown

Oh-mi-gawwwd. I was so awestruck by this gorgeous scenery. The water is so clean that you can drink straight from it!

I have seen some gorgeous beaches along my travels, and hold the Colorado Rockies close to my heart, but I’ve never seen such gorgeous and clear water set against snow-capped mountains.

Majestic is the only word that comes to mind. Inspired, we took a nature walk along the water.Cool trees.Queenstown is definitely an adventure capital of the world. Bungee Jumping originated here and there are many outlets for skydiving, whitewater rafting, helicopter rides, and pretty much anything and everything for adrenaline seekers.

We did go whitewater rafting, which will go unpictured. But the following day , we jumped over that same river (The Shotover)

The first jump was tandem with mi madre.

Now, this wasn’t exactly a bungee jump, it’s called the Canyon Swing. It was a much shorter free fall and it sort of swings into an arc (and back again) instead of rebounding you like a bungee would.

It was such a rush, I decided to go again solo. The rule is that if you elect to do another jump, you have to do a different style.

I chose to rock backwards strapped to a chair…. dubbed “The Chair of Death”I was to scared to tilt myself back so I made them push me: so worth it!

Next up on the daredevil to do list: Helicopter tour of Milford Sound

I’ve never been on a helicopter before, but safe to say it was more scary then the Canyon Swing and white water rafting combined!The views were incredible and we could get so much closer to all of these sights in the helicopter. Don’t adjust your screen, the water really is that blue.For our first stop we landed on a glacier.

The next stop looked like something out of LostWe landed on a deserted beach that was very rocky and had heaps of cool seashells washed up on shore. Hello souvenirs! Finally we made our way over Milford sound. There were a bunch of waterfalls (against the rainbow in the picture below).This is where the helicopter got all windy weaving in and out of the mountains. Gorgeous, but a little nauseating.After New Zealand it was off to Sydney for a day. First stop was Manly beach, which I had heard was the best beach in Sydney.

It was pretty early so there was hardly anyone on the beach (which is usually packed) aside from some professional volleyball players.

Lovin’ how eco-friendly Sydney seemed to be.

Drink bottle fill stations:Cool bike/taxi thingo’s:The view form the ferry ride back from ManlyOpera HouseIT’s kinda hard to stop yourself from taking millions of photos of the Opera House. It just photographs so darn well.

I left my parents in Sydney and returned back to Melbourne.

Sydney was great fun (for my very short stay) but I really missed Melbourne. Sydney overwhelmed me a little bit with its great size and flashiness, in almost a New York sort of way. I’m definitely a city girl at heart, but my heart belongs to Melbourne.

 

xx

Casey