Day 42 – Westport to Franz Josef

The bus left Westport at 9am but as some people went surfing and some others went on a boat ride we had a bit of time to kill before we could pick them up, so Gary dropped us off at Cape Foulwind. We walked from there to the lighthouse, along the coastline to Seal Colony where guess what, we saw some seals! The whole walk was pretty cool and the views were rather nice, just a shame the sun wasn’t really out to make it that much nicer.

At the end of the walk the surfers had arrived and we just had enough time to grab an ice cream before getting back on the bus. The ice cream company over here are called Tip Top and we all went for the classic kiwi flavour Hockey Pockey. Its just vanilla with butterscotch balls but it was very tasty!

We drove straight from here to the Pancake Blow Holes in Punakaiki. The stop wasn’t very long and by the time we had eaten our lunch we only had 10mins left to do a 20min walk… we asked Gary if we had enough time and he said yes if we ran it… so challenge accepted! We looked a bit crazy but the views were cool and we got to see as much of it as we could and even managed to make it back to the bus and not be the last people, which to be honest isn’t really hard.

We stopped for a supermarket shop before arriving in Franz Josef as it was cheaper and easier to do it outside. It was a town Gary had never really stopped in before so he went around the roundabout and shouted ‘Shall we go around again?!’ so we did about 3 times just for fun. That’s what we need, a driver with a good sense of humour. Back on the bus and we had just less than 2 hours until we arrived at our final destination. To pass the time Gary decided to create a little competition where you can win a prize to spend in Queenstown, this competition was Karaoke or as he was calling it Buseoke, he said you just need to come up the front, choose a song on his iPod and take over the microphone. We had ‘Jessie’s Girl’, ‘My Heart Will Go On’, ‘Cups’ and some others. Half way through Kirsty decided she quite wanted to do it but didn’t want to go, after a bit of a discussion with the whole of the back the pair of us decided to sing the glee version of ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, lets just say I’ll never do it again but hey we know how to have fun without involving alcohol.

We dropped a couple of people off and then arrived at our accommodation called Rainforest Retreat. It was quite a nice place and the welcoming from the staff was the best we’ve had. As always checking in was a nightmare and we were last but luckily got a room together.

Kirsty, Francesca and I cooked stir-fry for dinner in a semi decent kitchen; well at least it was bigger than any other one we’ve been in. We wondered over to the bar as they have evening games on and tonight’s prize was a Queenstown Bungy! The game was fetch and the last person to return was out, unfortunately none of us won, not that I played or wanted the prize anyway… I suppose I could have sold it to someone else. I didn’t stay out that late as I have to get up tomorrow for a hike quite earlier.

Day 41 – Kaiteriteri to Westport.

***WARNING! THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG ONE!***

I never thought I’d be up, checked out and ready to jump out of a plane at 7am! Yes, that is what time we had to be on the mini bus for. We arrived at the centre just gone half past 7 where we were shown a video, explained how it works and what packages they have to offer. As this was my second skydive obviously bigger is better and I upped my game from 14,000ft (the drop I did in Mission beach, Australia 2010) to 16,500ft!!! I decided to go for the whole shebang again and get the DVD and photos. You just can’t beat watching them over and over again. I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve seen my other one. Plus, I know my mum wants to see me fall out a plane again, after all she did treat me to the few extra quid in getting it added onto my insurance. 

Just before 9 we were suited and booted in a very sexy onesie and harnessed up. Last time we just wore a harness and our own clothes which I think it way more hardcore, but y’know what they say goes so we had to dress up like clowns and get on with it.

I was excited to do another one especially as the weather was so clear and amazing but I was feeling just a little sick in the plane on the way up. To reach that height took just over 20minutes and when we got to 10,000ft we had to put an oxygen mask on and breathe through that which we definitely didn’t do before. I’m not quite sure why but they said it was to do with altitude and stuff.

THIS IS IT, Charli flew out first and then it was my turn… my camera guy got out the plane and then we went. The wind and the force was insane, I don’t really know what to say or how to describe it because I think I was more worried about how much pain I was going to be in with my ears later and how beautiful it looked around me. I must say free-fall is probably the least enjoyable part for me but wow what a feeling. 

As soon as he pulled out the parachute it’s a much calmer experience. You just feel like you’re flying through the air and you could even see as far as the bottom of the North island which was amazing. I just urge anyone to do it, if you think you can. It’s such a surreal feeling but totally worth every minute!

We arrived back at Kaiteri lodge where everyone was already on the bus, we thought we were late but in the end it didn’t matter. Something was wrong with the back fire exit door so we all piled off the bus and had to wait for about 2 hours for it to be fixed! Luckily the beautiful sun was shining away and it gave me a chance to relax after such a crazy morning. I had my laptop out so I loaded up Photobooth which passed some time and Kirsty, Francesca and I had a right old giggle!

FINALLY we were on our way! Once again we arrived at our next destination very late meaning we only stopped for breaks if we had to so Gary could just power on through. I was right about him; he is the best driver we’ve had so far. He’s informative but is also up for a laugh. Each driver has their own little thing and his is when he’s finished speaking his final words are ‘Sweet, stand by’. It makes us laugh every time. When explaining things he also pretends he knows people, for example when we’re arriving somewhere and he says ‘the toilets are on the left hand side of the bus where ohhh, who is that? Lucy, is just going in now, she’s a lovely girl.’ It probably makes no sense written down but you might get the gist of it.

Another thing Gary likes to do is as there isn’t a lot to do in Westport apart from a few activities and this is one of the points where there are a lot of new and different people on the bus, he asks for $3 towards some food to have a big BBQ & Bonfire on the beach.

We met outside the Bazils hostel at 7.30 to jump on the bus down to Westport beach, being introduced along the way to many of those people Gary knows (I think he might just be making names up y’know!) Within a few minutes of arriving on the beach we had a big fire going and found enough big logs to create a circle of benches. It was such a cool atmosphere and this is what the Kiwi bus should all be about, chilling, making new friends and having a good time. After the tide came in about 10pm we made our way back to the now party bus, sang some songs very badly and got dropped off at the only bar in the village to finish the night off.