Our final big adventure was hiking a glacier. Sounds cold right? It was actually sunny and beautiful and after three hours of hiking up a steep mountain with recently built stairs we were exhausted and sweaty. Conveniently there were fresh springs running down the side of the mountain under which we filled our water bottles. Finally we made it to the middle point of the glacier (you need to take a helicopter to reach the summit) and we were given ice picks and crampons to strap to our shoes. Our guide walked ahead of us digging out fresh places to step and cautioning us to hold onto the rope as we crossed steep ledges. When we reached an open area we were able to take pictures and had a snowball fight. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. We were expecting to have to take the same route home back down the mountain but instead we were lead off the other side of the glacier which took around 40 minutes! "Why didn't we just come up this way!!!" we all protested. Our guide said that in order to reduce injuries and keep the glacier safe they try to reduce the amount of times particular spots are walked on. As we reached the bottom we saw what looked from the top of the glacier to be a chunk of ice the size of a small car actually turned out to be larger than a house! I wouldn't want to be a hiker the day THAT fell.

This is the first bungee site in the world! It started with two friends who were bored one day and decided to strap some bungee chords to their ankles and jump off a bridge. In order to increase attraction to the new sport one of the guys snuck up the Eiffel Tower and bungee jumped down the middle. He was arrested but interest was sparked and now thousands of people jump every day.

Our second night in Queenstown we went out to dinner at a burger shack called "Fergburger". I am not kidding when I say this was the best burger I have ever eaten and I love burgers! Since it is open all day and late into the night, the tiny burger shack serves thousands of people a day and is one of the town's main bragging points. Later we went to a bar called minus five. It is a bar that except for the ceilings and floors is made completely of ice and is kept at a chilly five degrees below zero. The bar is fairly small but due to the chilly temperatures and the affect alcohol has served in such conditions, the longest you are allowed to stay in there is half an hour. Signature drinks are served in glasses made completely of ice and when you are done you can smash them. We were given winter jackets, boots, and mittens to keep warm. There were ice sculptures, drink luges, and even furniture all made of ice.

Next on the agenda was our three day stop in Queenstown "the adrenalin capitol of the world". This is a small city filled with businesses devoted to making your heart race. There was bungee jumping, sky diving, river rafting, canyon swings, four wheeling, speed boating etc. I chose river boarding which for those of you who are unfamiliar is essentially swimming down a class three river attached to a boogie board. Not having a whole lot of extra money to spend I chose this because it was the cheapest and lasted the longest and in the end I am glad I did because it was awesome! about five people from our bus tour including our tour guide Craig and a father son duo jumped in a van and headed along the river. Looking out the window my nerves began to kick in because it was rough enough that there were white caps and whirlpools. One girl opted out because she did not feel like she was a strong enough swimmer. We were fitted for extreme safety gear including wet suits that were about half an inch thick, life jackets, helmets, flippers, and of course our boogie board. We spent about 30 minutes in a nice shallow and gentle part of the river reviewing river safety, hand signals, and how to maneuver our board. While we all had smiles on our faces you could tell everyone was getting pretty nervous. We were assured that there was nothing to worry about and we had three guides to make sure nothing happened to us. Finally we were released into the river and began our 40 minute adventure. We came across "oh shit" which is a pretty large drop in the river, "hell's whirlpool", and other crazy obstacles. The water was freezing and having at least 30 pounds of safety gear on did not make for easy swimming and by the end ever muscle in my body was dead tired but I have never had so much fun swimming! Once we reached a calmer part of the river we got to play in their "play area" where we rode on the back of a jet-ski on our boards, slid down a huge water slide, and jumped off a rock ledge.

After exiting the ship it was back on the bus for a day of driving filled with photo opportunities. We stopped before a tunnel that is the longest one way tunnel in the world. It was dug right out of a mountain and is about a 4 minute drive through pitch black tunnel. Our driver put on the Indiana Jones theme song and it was pretty cool. We got out of the bus to stretch our legs and were greeted by birds who love rubber. People who park over night need to cover their car windows and mirrors otherwise the birds will eat them! They have really pretty orange feathers underneath their green bodies and they were super friendly towards humans. One girl even fed one her rubber shoe. We also walked through a forest on wooden bridges and canopies. It is a little hard to tell by the pictures but a waterfall was running down probably 100 feet through cavities in the rocks.

Our next stop was an overnight cruise on lake Ohau where we spent the night on the boat in Milford Sound. We were one of three small ships surrounded by mountains in this little alcove of water. We got to kayak and I saw a rare kind of penguin within ore's distance of my kayak! It was pretty amazing. We also saw bottle nose dolphins and seals in their natural habitat. The cruise was beautiful and we saw a ton of water falls. We spent the night drinking and playing games and in the morning a few brave (and kind of insane) people jumped into the freezing water off the top of the boat and swan around our ship.

We made a stop at a fresh fruit stand where we could pick out fruit and they would chop it up and make it into ice cream :) I got strawberry and it was really good. Out back was a huge rose garden that looked like it was from Alice in Wonderland. There were thousands of these huge and perfect roses in every color imaginable with fountains and statues. It was breathtaking. Then we made a stop in a huge field filled with edelweiss (a little white flower) and danced to the sound of music soundtrack.

Some pretty amazing pictures at the base of Mount Cook and the basin of a glacier. New Zealand is very proud to be the home of the Lord of the Rings movie and a lot of the scenery I saw was the set used for the movie as well as the Chronicles of Narnia. They have whole tours dedicated to the Lord of the Rings movies and people even dress up!

Our next stop was Lake Pukaki which lays at the base of the southern Alps and glaciers. The water in this lake was some of the cleanest and bluest water I have ever seen. The pictures look fake it is so blue however for some reason they are not uploading as nicely as i had hoped to the blog! In the background is Mount Cook. Right on the lake is the Church of the Good Shepard as well as a monument dedicated to the Border Collie dogs used to herd sheep.