From everything and some more!

Basically I could start every update nowadays with explaining that I've busy and I've been too lazy to update the blog. So there you go. However much has happened during the passed two months and I'm looking at my last 16 days in New Zealand. I have now finished my internship too and although I still have to spend time finishing a few reports, it is a good feeling. Winter has set in in this part of the world and where most people I know are walking in shirts and shorts I am snowboarding as much as I can. The last time I updated the website when I came back from doubtful sound which was I believe in May, just after my parents left. Best to pick up from then...

I haven't described the Doubtful Sound trip yet but since it's a while back already I'll keep it short. The trip was basically another famil (read freeloaders paradise) for front-office staff. It was a two day trip where we would overnight on a boat in the actual fjord. So we set of at 7 in the morning for a bus trip to the small town of Manapouri where we were loaded on a ferry that would take us to the other side of the lake. This is the only way to get to Doubtful since there is no road connecting it with either Manapouri or Te Anau. The ferry took us to the other side of Lake Manapouri where the famous Manapouri power plant is located. This used to be a prestigious power project that is now in full use (well, has been for quite a few years now). Visiting the plant is part of some trips but wasn't of ours. We were picked up by another coach that would take us towards to boat which was only 40 minutes away. On the boat we were assigned to our dorms and mixed with the paying folks (aka mortals). The rest of the day was pretty eventful too with sea kayaking (and close encounters with dolphins, pretty neat!) swimming in neat freezing water and an all you can eat buffet, still free for us. On top of that there was an open bar which closed at 10 pm (a couple of hours to early). The next day compromised of the trip back with buffet breakfast on the way, two minutes of absolutely nothing (everyone had to shut up and engines were shut off to give the best version of silence I had ever heard, or not heard of course). The rest of the day was the first days trip in reverse so not much to add there.

After this pretty unique trip all went back to normal with work getting boring and slow (off season) and the weather turned nasty. Nothing major happened until I was invited (read: constantly spamming their email from my side) by A.J. Hackett to be part of a bungy famil day. All you 3 die-hard readers of this blog will know that after doing the highest one in Macau I developed a new favorite adrenaline rush which is bungy jumping. I have now done a skydive as well but I still prefer bungy over it (by a long shot!). During this day front line staff across Queenstown is given the chance to do all three jumps in one day. I think I can make a long story short by just showing ze footage:



The first jump of the day was the Kawarau Bridge jump which is the oldest in Queenstown and I believe in the world as well. It's 43 meters high.



Next was the Nevis Highwire Bungy which clocks in at 134 meters, still about 90 meters short of the one I did in Macau (muhaha).



Last but not least is the Ledge jump which is located at the top of the gondola. This jump is unique in the sense that you are only attached to your stomach which creates the chance to run off the platform. It's 47 meters (although 400 meters above Queenstown).

Not soon after the jumps I finished my internship at the Holiday Park (27th of June). Ever since I am passing my time with snowboarding, city trips and planning city trips. I just came back from Dunedin where I watched the All Blacks getting beat by South Africa. I went with Tobi and Nick (ze germans are here! shit!) and met up in Dunedin with Eefje and her boyfriend Laurens who joined us to the game. We were quite lucky to get tickets to the game since originally we would get them off a friend of a friend but two days before the match this all went wrong. The only tickets still available were part of a package where we got to hang out with the local rugby club and get free drinks and food. Not a bad deal. All transportation to and from the stadium was taken care of as well. The came was alright, not great, and New Zealand lost by 2 points which was a bit of an anti-climax. The atmosphere was amazing. It still surprises me that all supporters are mixed up in the stands. Nick was the only one supporting S-A and would surely get a beating if this would be a soccer match. You could say that rugby is more civilized...

Now I'm still recovering from the weekend and planning a trip around the South Island while I still can! This would also mark the third consecutive year where I will celebrate my birthday during a trip (sniff!), but that's all good. I'm quite excited about the whole thing and of course meeting Dave in Melbourne after that. Boy time sure went fast, even though it was all a bit less exciting then the whole China thing (comparing pears with apples I know).

Anywho, I will try to upgrade my blog after the upcoming trip. Oh, don't forget to check out the updated photo album!

Cheerio!

Doubtful Sound

Just came back from Doubtful Sound, will write something about it soon, and upload some more pictures; but here is one to start with (Panorama shot of Lake Te Anau, composed of 14 seperate pictures)

New crib and new car

Right, now for the bad news. I almost killed myself driving downhill and crashing my car, quite randomly. It was the first rainy day in three weeks and roads where slippery. I went into a corner and took it too wide so tried to correct that and started slipping around. Of course I hit the brake (D'oh!) and hit a bump while shoving off the road. This launched me over a fence. After rolling five times I finally landed on my roof, with no injuries what so ever. It was like a movie scene. I'm happy I survived it but it costed me heaps of money. Besides losing the car I had to pay towing costs and had to take two driving lessons and pay for that. Eventually got everything taken care of and with the help of my parents I was able to buy a new car. Without that I wouldn't have been able to move out and all that so I'm very grateful for it (the new car can also be seen on the movie). For the rest of my time here, things are better at work but I'm stuck in a routine, as happens with a job, which kinda sucks. Not much to say about that so I just pass my days as normal as I can. I also bought a seasons ski pass so gonna do heaps of snowboarding in winter which I'm really looking forward to.

Till next time!

Ciao

A few weeks later...

Yes it has indeed been a while since I updated my website. Reason for that is lack of time and lack of motivation. As a mentioned in my last post, New Zealand is a great country. However some things are going different then what I expected. I live very near the campsite where I work and however this convenient this may be, it's still a bit out of town. Adding this up with the total non-existence of a public transport system makes it hard to get around here and therefore I got quite bored at times. The thing with me is that when I get bored I lose all motivation to go and do something, which leads to more boredom, and so on. Right now I'm trying to escape from the downward spiral by moving to town and buying a car. None of which is successful so far but I'm sure eventually will be. 

To make things short then, the last three weeks or see have mostly been quite similar to each other. Next week however the pre-season rugby training sessions are starting and I signed up for it. Hopefully I meet some more people there which I'm sure I will. The surroundings here are still stunning and every day I wake up I am amazed by the natural beauty of it. Now that it's high season most companies that offer activities don't take famils (offer activities free of charge for people that promote their activities such as yours truly), so I have to wait a bit before I can do bungyjumps, skydives and hang-gliding. However by now I've been rafting as well which was really cool. I was around 2 hours in the water on the shotover river which at times can be quite rough. I also been on the shotover jet which is cool as well, although I'm not as psyched about it as most people are. It's quite passive and although that sounds weird about a jetboat but you just have to sit there and that's it. Myself, I would rather be driving the thing... however they wouldn't let me... bastards. 

The holiday park is getting a bit quieter now that new year is over. We still have heaps of Dutch people as guests and it's still fun to see their faces after they made a huge effort to speak English and I simply answer them in Dutch (it's not hard to recognize the Dutch I'm afraid). Because the park is mellowing down a bit I start to have more time for my school assignment which I found out will end up being a huge report. That's fine though since I have enough time on my hands to work on it. 

So anyway... not much to add at this moment in time. I will continue to find a suitable car and place to live, which I hope will be successful sooner then later.

cheerio!