Thursday 9 January 2014

Happy New Year!

Christmas when it's warm doesn't feel much like Christmas at all. Except that it did feel like Christmas because it rained and was cold.

So we've been here nearly 5 months and a lot has been going on. Rich has been very busy on the farm but we have been lucky enough to have some great weekends away. Summer decides to show its sunny face every now and then but I'm still wondering if this place ever goes a day without pouring down.


With an unexpected weekend off  at the end of November we headed to Queenstown for the weekend. Arriving on Saturday morning we spent some time wandering around shops and looking around. We had a famous Fergburger for lunch (the first of many) and then decided to hire some mountain bikes to go and explore. Off we went in the scorching heat plastered in sun cream on a "leisurely" ride. After hours (about 45 mins) of going uphill we finally reached Moke Lake. The scenery was fantastic and it was just like being back in the Lake District.




After not nearly enough of a break, Hitler (Rich) insisted we set off again along the other side of the lake and down the proper mountain bike tracks where I was more than likely going to break my neck. When I expressed these concerns to Hitler I got the response "what is the worst that can happen?!" and then he cycled off in to the distance. Oh crap. Anyway after a lot of screaming and multiple cuts and bruises later (sadly all mine) we made it back to the road.


On the way back we stopped next to Lake Wakatipu for a break and happened to stop where some guys were out on the lake using hydro jet packs. I'm now saving for one!


Back into QT and it was time for a well earned drink and pizza.
The next day we decided (stupidly) to go and do a bungy jump. I wanted to go for the small jump as I was pretty scared but somehow 2 hours later we were on a bus on our way to the biggest jump possible. 134m of terror. We were harnessed up and taken out to the jump platform in a cable car. Rich was stood with a big smile on his face while I was on the verge of tears. I still have no idea how he was so calm. There was 8 of us waiting to jump, going in order of heaviest to lightest. The first man went forward for his jump and didn't jump, he was too scared."If a man can't do it how the hell am I going to do it?". The next two guys after him jumped straight away. Then it was Rich's turn, off he went with a massive smile on his face and diving very gracefully. I couldn't even watch him jump I was absolutely petrified.



Then it was my turn. I sat down to get the rope attached to my feet and then after some words of advice from one of the crew I was lead out to the platform. I was definitely crying by this point and I think if I hadn't paid $200 for it I would have turned around and ran home. The rope was thrown out in front of me and after "5 4 3 2 1 JUMP" I was still stood on the platform shaking my head. I am still convinced that the only reason I jumped was that if I didn't do it I would be reminded of the event by Rich for the rest of time. So that was that, the decision was made, I had to go. I bent my knees and very ungracefully fell off the platform flapping my arms all the way down much like a baby bird trying to fly for the first time. Once I felt the rope pull tight then I started to enjoy it, and once I was back on solid ground I enjoyed it even more. I can't believe I did it but I'm definitely glad I did. I would recommend anyone to try it once, but once is definitely enough.




Once back in QT and after all the excitement of the day we decided it was time to go home.

A few weekends later we decided to take a trip to Auckland. So early one morning we drove to Queenstown and jumped on a flight and headed off in a northern direction. Once arriving in Auckland we dropped our bags off at a hotel, grabbed some lunch and off we went to explore Auckland. We went up Auckland's answer to the Empire State Building, the Skytower and then wandered around the shops before going out for dinner that evening down on the harbour. After being in the remote world of Nightcaps where seeing another person is a rare event it was nice to be in the busy city and we are both looking forward to going back later in the year. The next day we explored some more and then soon enough it was time for us to head back to the airport to fly back to Queenstown. 
Auckland by night


Up the Skytower 
Auckland from the Skytower

Brave enough to sit on the glass floor 
Auckland
Back in Queenstown at lunchtime it was time for a Fergburger and a trip up the Skyline Gondola and Luge. 
Loving it!

Mountain bikers coming up the gondola

QT from the top of the gondola

Another bungy choice.

It was time to head home again and get back to work and get ready for Christmas.

Nelly was certainly excited for xmas

Christmas was a little different for me this year as we were working. Most of the others on the farm have families and children to spend Christmas with and as we don't, we said we would happily milk cows. So on Christmas morning at 4.15am we got up and went off to milk at the herringbone. Back home at breakfast time it was time for skype and to open the Christmas boxes full of presents that had arrived from the UK. Skyping Rich's dad and Step mum we saw just how fat Rich's cat Sam has got and we opened a box full of chocolate and matching Christmas jumpers! 
Chris and Sue had kindly invited us to have Christmas with them at Chris' brothers house so we turned up in our matching jumpers and pretty much got laughed at for the next 3 hours. All the kiwis sent pictures of us to their laughing kiwi friends. Apparently Kiwi's don't have the need for a warm jumper at this time of year so this 'Christmas jumper' tradition is wasted on them. However due to our festive look they are now all converted and have requested we send them Christmas jumpers next year. I think we can class that as a win for the UK. 
"Merry Christmas you filthy animal"
After having a lovely Christmas dinner of Turkey, Beef, Ham and Salmon it was time to get back to the cows again. In my food induced coma milking was a struggle. But shortly after we were on our way for Christmas dinner round 2 and some pudding. Home again at 9pm and time to skype Rich's sister and then my crazy family. More presents, more chocolate and more Christmas jumpers. Perfect.
It was a very different day but one we both really enjoyed and one I'm sure we won't forget.

A few days later and with work done for the year we headed off to Te Anau to stay with Chris & Sue at their holiday home. While in Te Anau the rodeo was in town, having never been to a rodeo before I was like an over excited child. I'm just glad we were on the spectating side of the fence and not the side where people were being mauled by bulls.
Rodeo
After Te Anau we travelled to Queenstown to celebrate New Year with some friends from Devon, it was great to see some familiar faces. New Year's Eve was crazy but so much fun. Queenstown had a brilliant atmosphere. New Years day was very tame in comparison as we were suffering from hangovers, thankfully nobody wanted to do anything like a bungy as I think a few of us would have probably been sick. Pizza and Cinema was the choice of activity for the evening.
New Year Giggles
The next day Rich and I decided to head up to Wanaka to check out our half ironman course which is now only a week away! It was raining, windy and cold which did not make the lake look appealing at all. Hopefully it'll be a little warmer next weekend! After finally sorting out our wetsuits for the race we agreed we were both knackered and it was time to get home to see the crazy dog and recover before work started again.

The Cardrona between QT and Wanaka
Back at home and it's nice to be back to normality after a busy couple of weeks. The rest of January is set to be busy with Julie (Rich's mum) coming to visit next week, our half ironman next weekend and also Rich's birthday coming up. So lots to look forward to.
2013 has been an amazing year and I'm sure 2014 will be just as brilliant.
Happy New Year to you all, we hope you all had as much fun as we did!
QT Gardens

1 comment:

  1. Great to read Holly....lovely stuff. Looking at those bungy pics still makes my stomach flip :-)

    ReplyDelete