Sydney

From Melbourne we flew into Sydney to meet up with our moms! Lucky for us that meant a few nights in a HOTEL! If you have traveled and stayed in hostels for an extended period of time I'm sure you would understand how amazing a hotel was for us, and if not, trust us it was a treat! We even got to watch American Idol! The first night we went to a bar and actually won some money...on crabs! The bar had crab races where you bet on a crab and the first crab to run off the table is the winner. I think it was the crab painted with a Japanese flag that won it for us and our next round was free! Fun night! The next day we decided to head to Bondi Beach, such a beautiful spot! Had lunch at a restaurant hanging over the water! The rest of the time we explored the city, even took a harbor cruise around! (k not really, it was a ferry ride but still it was great!) It was so great being with the moms and sad to leave them (and the beautiful hotel!)

Melbourne & The Great Ocean Road

So we arrived in Melbourne after the mild climate of New Zealand to 110 degree weather. We checked into our hostel and found out that all our research to find a good one failed. It was a complete disaster and in our bedroom that night while we slept it was 94 degrees (at one in the morning). We tried to tour the city the next day, which was beautiful with all of the old buildings, but had to stop every 10 minutes to walk into a cold store or cafe.

After doing two nights in the horible hostel we headed out for the Great Ocean Road. We rented a car, which was an adventure at first driving on the left side of the road and on the right side of the car. It was so nice to be in a car and be able to do our own thing since it had been about 5 weeks of no driving! The drive is absolutely amazing, kind of like driving on PCH but 100 times better. We hadn't planned where we wanted to stay that night but when we got there we found a really funky hostel that was right on the beach. It was more like an old house converted into a hostel.

The next day on the way home we did most of the sight seeing. We stopped to see the 12 Apostles, the London Bridge, and some Arc that were all rock formations made by the ocean. We also veered a little off the actual road to drive through the rainforest and do a walk through it. The best part was definitely seeing koalas in the wild! We were on a stretch of road where we had been told we could spot them and Britt was searching in the trees to see them while Shanna was driving. Britt shouted "I SEE ONE! I SEE ONE" so Shanna veered off to the side of the road in what wasn't even a lane...it looked more like we had crashed into the forest. Up in the trees, so high you could hardly even see it was a koala. We were so excited when a guy driving by stopped to tell us that you could see more, much better around the corner (we felt kind of dumb!) Sure enough, we pulled over 5 minutes later and there was a koala so close on the tree branches and so low we could have touched it! Probably one of the high points of the trip!

After the Ocean Road we were happy to be checking into a new, and airconditioned hostel in St. Kilda, another part of Melbourne. It was a really cute beach area with a strand of little cafes and bars. Soooo much better than the first hostel! We didn't really luck out with weather considering in rained when we got to St. Kilda but it was still really fun to be there and so much better than the heat.

After St. Kilda we were headed to Sydney to meet our moms!

Good Bye New Zealand! (Milford Sound and White Water Rafting)

From Queenstown we booked a one day excursion to the Milford Sound with a few of our friends. It was absolutely beautiful the entire drive down there, which takes about 4 hours. Once you are there you board a ferry which takes you on a cruise around the sound. There are waterfalls everywhere and the fog just above the mountain peaks made it seem like a painting! We ended our 8 days in Queenstown, losing other Kiwi traverlers daily...so sad! We absolutely loved this town and both said it was probably the one place in New Zealand we could acutally live in.

On our way from Queenstown to Christchurch, which would be our last stop in NZ, we went white water rafting on the Rangitata River. All of the rafters stay in a lodge together the night you arrive and go rafting the next day. We lucked out being that there were only 7 of us staying in the whole lodge that sleeps probably 30 people. It was raining pretty hard when we arrived but it almost went with the whole cabin vibe. We woke up the next morning, after a day of relaxing and started our rafting adventure. To go along with the running theme of NZ, we put on our funny outfits complete with helmets. The first half hour on the river is pretty mellow, while you learn everything you need to know, including what to do if you fall out in the middle of a grade 5 rapid....AHH scary! You start in a grade 3 rapid, which I'm pretty sure we thought was already a grade 5! Once we survived the first rapid, the rest just seemed exciting! The grade 5 rapids were incredible...thank god for the well trained staff (thats for you moms!) Such a rush and so much fun, we were laughing the whole time! At one point you stop and get to jump off a 10 meter rock (we are getting better and better at this, Britt actually went on the first count to 3!!!!!!) 10 meters (30 ft) is pretty freeking high when you are standing on the top looking down at the river! After you land you get to float down the river (in freezing glacier water) for a while and then get back on your raft. It was an amazing day ended with a bbq and a ride to Christchurch!

New Zealand was absolutely amazing and we are so sad to leave it! Looking forward to Australia...

SKYDIVING PIX!

Britt's Dive:

Shanna's Dive:

SECOND Highest Bungy in the World

So....when we left the USA we had every intention of skydiving and figured we would rather get malaria than go bungy jumping. Then, we met Matt and Dave. They are two guys that have been on the Kiwi Experience traveling with us the whole time and went skydiving with us in Taupo. They have been trying to convince us from the start to bungy and we said "absolutely not"...not even an option for us. On our way to Queenstown we stopped so anyone on the bus could buy their ticket for the SECOND HIGHEST bungy in the world (134 meters or 402 feet). Everyone gets off the bus to watch a video and look at the bungy center. While we were standing there waiting for the handfull of people crazy enough to do this we had what we like to call an "impulse buy"...a non-refundable pretty expensive impulse buy.

The next day, after a complete day of anticipation, we counted down the hours until the bus would pick us up. It is a 45 minute bus ride to the site of the jump and you could say the adreneline was pumping in everyone. When you get there they suit you up in your harness and you take a short gondola ride to the pod in the center of the canyon. That's about the time you go from a panic to complete terror. Then you get your ankle straps put on...OMG is about the only thing to be said, then you just wait around for your name to be called and the actual bungy to get attached to your ankles. Then 5..4..3..2..1 jump! They won't push you so you have to make yourself do it on your own. Getting yourself to jump of the ledge is definitely the worst part...then count to 2 and it is the most fun/crazy thing we have ever done...which we didn't think was possible after skydiving!

Google "nevis bungy" if you want to watch a video...ours took too long to upload.

PICTURES!! (finally)

We're going to try to be good now about adding pictures as we go but here are some from the last couple weeks:

BLACK WATER RAFTING ("CAVING")

MAORI CULTURE NIGHT

SKYDIVING!!!

DOLPHIN HUNTING CRUISE

TOGA PARTY!

SECONDS BEFORE THE BIG JUMP

MINIATURE GOLF

SPEED BOATS

NIGHT OUT ON THE TOWN

JET-BOATING

THE LUGE!

JUMPING OFF THE DOCKS

"WHAT THE F@*K!?" PARTY

TRAVEL BUDDIES MATT AND DAVE