There were alot of things on our list of "to do's" while on our trip and being in New Zealand, a couple of those things included a bit of "thrill seeking" activities. Quite honestly, I am really not a thrill seeker. I love to go long and far and love to see it all, but going fast and being scared to death; not so much. In saying that, bungey jumping and sky diving were considerations! I had hummed and hawed for quite awhile when it came to deciding if to bungey jump or not. Delia was quite decisive, and that was a big NO WAY, but I was still thinking! While still on Stewart Island, we were planning our way up the south island and if I was going to Bungey jump ever in my life, it would most certainly have to be in New Zealand and of course, it would have to be the highest - this would mean a stop in Queenstown, that otherwise would not on our agenda. "Do I or don't I, do I or don't I...?"....well, the answer was a definite, "Hell ya'"! I booked the time and paid my money....there was no turning back now - or at least not without a blow to the 'ole ego. Ready, setty, goey!!!
As an aside, as much as Delia wanted to head up the South Island instead of staying another night in Queenstown, she was happy that she was going to get one more chance to have a "Ferg Burger". When we were on the Milford Sound Track, the Kiwi and Dane group talked about this "Ferg Burger" that they were going to get after the hike. They described it as the biggest and best burger that they have ever had. Before we started the Routeburn Track, we had to meet a bus in Queenstown to take us there. With a 2 hour wait for the bus in Queenstown, Delia and I were able to experience this infamous "Ferg Burger". Although Delia was a little more excited then one should be about a burger, it was big and it was good. This was our first experience with the New Zealander burger. Beets were a basic condiment for burgers as well as an egg. I loved the beet thing, but never got to understand the egg. So, again, back here in Queenstown, we of course went to the "Ferg Burger" for dinner with a brewskie on the side! These times are all part of our journey. We met alot of young people here and one of the servers was from Burlington, Ontario.
Okay, back to the Bungey Jumping thing. I had the 8:00am start. We met at the AJ Hackeett office in town and took the bus. It was approximately a 45 min to drive to the bridge that I would be jumping from; the Nevis Bridge (134 m high). Given that the drive itself was a bit dicey, I was starting to question my decision, but once I was hooked up, I was so ready. I told Delia that I just wanted it to look good (that's really all it's about right?) and I did NOT want to scream like a girl, so I went in with full confidence. I got to the edge, prepared for the big dive, and when I reached the point of no return I experienced just a millisecond of "Holy Crap" fear! Literally, just 1 millisecond. after that first millisecond, I loved every millisecond after that; it was incredible. It is a feeling of complete weightlessness and the feeling that you really are flying - seriously!!! Only 8.5 seconds, but if I was rich, I would do it again - I loved it - it felt so good!
From Queenstown, we drove to Mount Cook. Mount Cook was the first mountain that Sir Edmond Hilary climbed - btw, he is from New Zealand. Although we were not going to climb the mountain, it is equally as beautiful from the base. We walked a trail called the Red Tarns that gave us a gorgeous view of Mount Cook and the Tasman Glacier. The snow capped mountain, the Tasman Glacier and the blue glacier lakes were beautiful. Not that much unlike the Rockies in Canada. This was probably our first disappointment of the trip as we would have loved to kayak the river up to the glacier, but the winds were too strong and the guide was not comfortable taking us out; too bad =( But with 2 months of travel under our belt and everything else being perfect, we were able to accept that we could not do it. We stayed in Mount Cook for 2 days and 1 night; clearly not enough time, but this is one of the things that we would love to do when we come back. We would love to climb PART of Mount Cook. The drive out was just as beautiful as the drive in. 
On our way from Mount Cook to Arthur's Pass we picked up a hitchhiker. A young German guy making his way up to Kaikoura, NZ (north/east side of the South Island). We drove him as far as Sheffield which was about 3 hours from where we picked him up at. I normally don't like to pick up hitchhikers, but it is a bit different in New Zealand and Delia does like to help out, especially young kids. He was travelling alone with no set plan and to stay in New Zealand as long as his money held out. He had an average size knapsack, but was also carrying a guitar. That is the difference between travelling as an adult when you have the money and resources and when you are young and do not. I found it hard enough with the gear that we had and we had the luxury of a car. Anyways, he was fun and appreciated the ride.We again only stayed 2 days and 1 night at Arthur's Pass. We were getting a bit tired at this point and just went for a short hike up to Devil's waterfall. That is the thing with New Zealand, is that you don't have to go far to get outstanding views. From here, until we reached the Able Tasman trail, we were taking it pretty easy. We did not
stay anywhere extravagant, but we were not camping or staying in hostels. Although we love both, it was nice to spoil ourselves a bit. I am not sure if I have mentioned yet or not, but the cool thing about accommodations in New Zealand, the owners are always so pleasant and genuinely interested in where you are from and what your plans are. If not in hostels or camping, we stayed in places that I would not call hotels, motels, Inns or B&B's, but I guess for the most part would be compared to our motels. When you arrived, you were always greeted with open arms. As we did the paper work, the owners would make sure that we knew of things to do in the area based on what we liked to do and of course always had a story to tell. The owners would then ask us if we wanted milk for our tea in the morning. If we said yes, they would go to their fridge, pour some milk into a container, walk us to our room and make sure that we were all set up and had everything that we needed. Maybe this does happen in North America, but I certainly have not been exposed to this type of treatment unless it was a B&B. We always felt so at home, no matter where we were in New Zealand and that is no exaggeration. The dinner in Arthur's Pass was at the "Wobbly Kea", where we had Blue Cod again (there is a reason that this fish has earned it's reputation - very good!) with a beer on the side.......hmmmmm....I wonder why we are not losing weight on this adventure....????? Ah, but it is all worth it! We relaxed in the evening to the sounds of complete silence and woke up early to make it to Nelson in time to catch our bus to Marahau; the town where the Able Tasman Trail starts. We started off just before 6am and it was dark. Driving in Tasmania and New Zealand for the most part is crazy. The roads are narrow, winding and most often you will have shear cliff walls on one side and shear drops to the sea on the other. Makes for beautiful scenery, but "nail-bitting" just the same. So now take these same roads and drive them in the pitch black - yikes! I was pretty quiet until the sun rose. To make things just a bit more dicey, this stretch of road also had one lane bridges and of course the only people out on the roads were transport trucks. Okay, I still get shivers when I think of that morning.
Once the sun was up, we were able to enjoy the west coast views. We stopped at Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks and the Blowholes. We got there at low tide, so the blowholes were not as impressive, but still gorgeous to look at. We reached Nelson, dropped the car off and headed off on the bus from Nelson to Marahau. We stayed at the Barn Backpackers in a double room. We stayed there the night before we left to do our 5 day Able Tasman hike and booked another night for when we returned. I do have to mention the Barn Backpackers for one main reason. You remember back on Stewart Island when we Kris consoled us for our men's hockey team.....well, by this time, the Olympic hockey tournament was over and the results were in. Six days later, I gave up trying by this time as no one seemed to be able to tell us and we couldn't seem to get the information any other way of the status of the men's hockey team. So as we were checking in, of course they asked us where we were from. Being from Canada, the first thing that the guy said was, "Oh, you must be happy about your men's hockey, they beat the American's in the final for the gold". As all my Canadian friends can appreciate, Delia and I jumped over the counter and hugged him. The guy being from Germany, being young and not really a sports person, you could imagine his fear, when two girls came at him like that. He did forgive us, but I think he tried to avoid us after that! Oh, what a great feeling. I know it is only sport, but as much as I feel that the Olympics are tainted, there is something to be said about the Olympics bringing the country together; especially with hockey! The night ended with a great meal in town and packing our gear for our last trek on the South Island....or so we thought!
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