Entries about adventure

It was freaking early when our alarm clock went of, but there was just no way around it. We still needed to go for our start to run lesson and since our day was already filled with lots and lots of things to do, the only option left for us was an early rise and shine!

The sun was already shining when we left our hotel and it seemed that by the time we arrived at Circular Quay, we weren’t the only once out there. Although it was relatively quite, still a few people were up and about doing the same thing like us, running or in my case jogging. I guess, the locals love their morning run as well, but can you blame them, the view is just too amazing.

Filled with lots of energy, we quickly showered and had a bite to eat and than it was off for another thrilling adventure!

Yesterday evening, quite pretty late actually, we booked the bridge climb. We were amazed to notice that there were still places available but now that there was an opportunity, we grabbed it with both hands. Our climb was going to be at 9.05, but we needed to be a bit earlier and so by the time it was a quarter to 8, we stepped through the front door. Are we good or are we good.

I must admit that I was a bit nervous because of my fear of heights, but during this trip I already had done so many crazy things, that I am starting to get used to it. I am amazed actually of all the things that I have done so far and although I am still terrified of standing on a roof terrace of a tall building, it was really strange that bungee jumping was so much fun, so secretly I hoped that I would get the same feeling again.

After we’ve got some safety instructions and got into our gear, we walked to another room where we could practice the stairs of the bridge and so far so good. My fear wasn't that high, but we were still in the building, so I hoped it would stay in the building as well.

Our guide for the next 3.5 hours is Shannon and although she only works in the weekends, she is loads of fun and seems really interested in the wellbeing of our entire group, As we walked to the first pylon, the real deal was going to happen anytime soon and to be honest, I got more nervous as well, but by the time we actually left the pylon and where just underneath the bridge, it all went away. When I had a look at the scenery around me, I was really surprised to be in such a beautiful surrounding. I tried not to look down because than I probably wanted to go back, but as long as I looked on eye level, all was well.

We got so much detailed information of the bridge itself from Shannon and although we walked very slow and had lots of stops on the way, it never felt boring for one minute. On every stop you had an amazing view, so what was not to like.

Exact 3.5. hours later we were back on ground level again and after choosing some of the pictures we had on the bridge, we walked out, ready for another fun thing to do here in this crazy city.

While we were up on the bridge, we saw a few people waving at us from the first pylon and we wondered how the view would be from up there, so as soon as we were back on the ground, we hurried back to the first pylon and had a look ourselves. By the time we arrived there, I must admit that the view wasn’t that bad, but the one on the bridge was way better and I am just so glad we got to do this, even if it was very expensive.

Back on the ground from the first pylon, we hurried back to our hotel to drop off our goodies from the bridge climb and than it was off to Darling Harbour and more in particular Paddy’s market. We still needed to buy some souvenirs for the home front and although we set a time limit of roughly 2 hours, it was way later when we finally came out again but with our bags filled with souvenirs.

As we walked out of the market, dark clouds were hovering over the city and in a way we were glad to have bought a souvenir umbrella coz by the looks of it, it could seem that we were going to need it any minute.

Not that we were looking forward to it coz we also wanted to go for another 4 kilometer walk towards an ice cream parlor which according to the Belgian newspaper from a few months back supposedly has the best ice cream of the entire world.Now that we were in the city, we couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that, now can we!?

The walk wasn’t all that hard, but finding the place was a bit more difficult coz we didn’t really got a precise map, only a street address, but that is all we needed thanks to google and a bit of smart thinking.

We arrived at the scene in the rain almost an hour later. Rain or no rain, we were going to have our ice cream and it seemed that we weren’t the only once. There was just a tiny table left in the back, but that is all we needed and as soon as we got settled, it was time for choosing the flavors. I must admit that this was the harsh part, coz there were just so many yummy looking flavors and in the end I went for lime (my all-time favorite), black currant and passion fruit. It was just to die for, the ice cream was more than yummy and by the time we finished ours, me and Tania looked at each other and thought just the same thing, we wanted to have seconds. I know it is a bit over the top, but we walked for 4 kilometers and had not eaten much today so, another ice cream it is!

Another round, another flavor and besides lime, this time I went for the bloodorange. Yummy as always, but after finishing this one, I was really stuffed so round 3 had to wait for another time. Maybe in the near future, you’ll never know!

With eating all this ice cream, I was surprised we could even walk so far, but we did and a little over an hour or even less, we were back in the centre of Sydney again. I know it is more logic to have dinner first and than dessert, but the both of us really wanted to do something crazy so instead we just had our dessert first and now that we were back in the city the search was on for some dinner, which we easily found at a small Thai place. Instead of going for the noodles all the time I wanted to do something crazy and went for the curry instead but that was my biggest mistake ever. My god, this was just sooooooo unbelievable spicy that I almost drank 2 liters of water and still my mouth was on fire. Serves me right for not choosing noodles I guess???

By the time we were back in our hotel, it was yet again pretty late and needless to say we weren’t going to sleep before midnight but a little after we did. I was completely knackered after such an exciting day and tomorrow another one awaited us.

Since we had another free day today, this meant that we could sleep in as well and that is just what I needed after a day like yesterday. After not sleeping a whole night the day before, this was more than welcome, but we still wanted to do some stuff today, so we set our alarm clock at about 8.15 AM and while the damn thing was making its usual noise, we slowly got dressed and had some breakfast.

We didn’t plan any extreme activities today because like always you’ll never know what the weather is going to be like, but for some reason the weather gods agreed with us and as soon as we opened the curtains, we saw a nice blue sky and that yellow thing that we saw yesterday was back again as well. What a little bit of sunshine can do to a person coz I felt instant happiness.

Because we didn’t plan nothing, this didn’t mean of course that we weren’t planning of doing nothing. Lots of people from our group said to us yesterday that the view from up the mountain was so beautiful, so we planned to go and have a look around. Unlike everyone else, who just took the gondola upstairs and back down again, we wanted to go and hike up the mountain and of course come back as well.

I know that we looked like a few crazy tourists, but since we started this trip we did so many active things, that walking up a mountain is just a part of it all.

As soon as we arrived at the base of the gondola, we could follow the tiki trail all the way up and that was just the thing we wanted to do. The start was pretty steep and so was the middle and the end. For an hour long we did nothing else but climb and climb and this wouldn’t be a biggie if it weren’t for the trail itself. It wasn’t always that flat, sometimes we had to cross rocks, roots, trees, you name it what you can find in nature and we crossed or passed it. But I have to admit that the views on the way up were so nice and as soon as we arrived at the top of the mountain, we even got rewarded with more than beautiful sceneries. It was just so worth it!

Going back down wasn’t as easy as well coz now we had to do it all over again and sometimes we thought we were going to slide from the mountain sooner than later, but about an hour later we were back at the base, happy to have made it and done with this morning exercise.

Since it was already after 12 AM, we just went for a quick bite at the local bakery and than we were in search for some bikes. We wanted to rent one for the remaining of the afternoon. Now that the weather was still so nice, we had to make the best of it and what better way to do it than with a cycling trip.

It wasn’t hard to rent a bike, finding a good one was a bit harder, but after a bit of walking, we finally found the right bike shop and about 15 minutes later we were out of the place and were ready to start a trip along the lake, that is if you know that you have to ride on the left hand side, which I must say, wasn’t always that easy for the both of us and I was more than happy that most of the trip we just had to follow the gravel road.

The views we saw on the way were so amazing but by the time we ended up on the other end of the lake, we urgently needed some food into our body and this was hard to come by. It seemed we were always too far away from civilization if you didn’t count the endless houses with a lake view.

It took us a few more minutes of riding when we suddenly saw a sign to a golf club , which also had a cafe and it invited all travelers along the way. This was the ideal situation and since we craved for some food, we went for it. Only the way up wasn’t all that easy and the road was just too steep for me to handle. I had to go further on foot, but hey, although completely tired, I made it.

We ordered some pumpkin soup and afterwards we split a passion fruit muffin and with some food in our system, we felt more human again.

Back on track about half an hour later, the road got more heavier and above all, it wasn’t as flat anymore, there were rocks on it and getting up a hill wasn’t that easy. I am not a real experienced mountain biker, so after we came to a certain lookout point, it was the ideal place for me to end this ride all together and although Tania went a little further to go and have a look, she also told me it came to an end at a beach. There wasn’t much to do anymore than slowly drive back to the centre of Queenstown where we arrived about a few hours later.

As soon as we got rid of our bike, we searched for some more food and this time we went again for the noodle canteen. It is quick, it is eatable and I guess it is a bit more healthier dan going to do golden arches every day, so we weren’t exactly complaining.

The sun was still shining so bright that we enjoyed every sunbeam. We walked around town till the sun was almost setting and before we went back to our room, we went for another piece of lemon meringue. It was just so yummy and after a day full physical activities, I felt like we kind of deserved it. 

Since we were going to leave tomorrow for another part of the tour, this meant packing again and this time it was a bit more difficult with all the souvenirs and stuff, but we made it. A quick shower later, I called it a night and closed my eyes. I must have been more tired than expected coz I fell asleep in an instant.

I don’t know what happened, but although I was mentally prepared for my bungee jump since a last couple of days, somehow this night I couldn’t sleep at all. I guess the movies Tania showed me on YouTube didn’t help all that well. We practiced our jump a few times last night and although I was sure I was going to be prepared, my dreams begged the differ. I kept on dreaming that the rope broke, that I couldn’t jump because my feet were stuck somehow or even that I jumped completely wrong. I kept on practicing my jump in my dreams till it was morning and when it was time for Tania to leave for her skydive adventure, I could finally close my eyes for a couple of hours, when I suddenly woke up at about 8 AM.

Today was going to be a relaxing morning coz Tania was already high up in the sky and by the time that she was done at about 10 AM, I was going to meet up with her at the skydive shop, but till than I just got dressed and had some breakfast, which was simply a bowl of cereal and a toast with jam.

Not that much, but my stomach wasn’t up to something more. I still was very nervous, but can you blame me. I am afraid of heights and now I was planning to jump of a bridge, but I had to do it. If I want to achieve something, I need to take action, and this was as good as place to start with it. After all, I already overcome my fear of heights a little with skiing, so this is just another step in the right direction. Some people I would know, would tell me that this is a bit extreme, but it is my life, my decision!

On the other hand, that doesn’t made me less scared, so in order to put my mind at ease, I just went into town and walked all the way to the waterfront where a few people where feeding the ducks. It was such a reassuring picture and with the sun on my face, it felt like a real holiday and after all, that is just what this is!

Earlier than expected, Tania send me a text message that she was done already, so I just walked up to our room again where we saw each other again after a few minutes.

Tania was really excited about her skydive and loved it so much that I was beginning the wonder why I didn’t join her, but on the other hand, my jump this afternoon is scary enough, falling out of an airplane from 12500 feet, that is a little bit more extreme. Maybe for next time, I have to think about it, if I survive this one of course.

Our jump was planned for 1.30 PM, so we had enough time to walk through the Gardens Park of town and have something small to eat for lunch. We didn’t wanted to eat something too heavy, so we just opted for a bowl of hot soup with some bread and that was more than enough for me.

All excited and nervous for what was about to happen, the two of us went to the shop and paid for our jump. We were not alone, two girls from our group, Kelly and Avril were going to join us and by the time we left with the bus, we were with about 20 people who were going to jump. Most of the group was going to do the higher one, the Nevis jump which is about 143 meters, but I was satisfied with the bridge of about 43 meters, think small I always say.

The strange thing about it is, that I was really nervous this morning, but by the time things got closer and closer, I felt more and more at ease.

On our way up to the bridge, I sat next to a girl from Christchurch who was going to do the Nevis swing and she was so excited about the whole ordeal that I suddenly wanted to go for it. Although still very nervous, I had set my mind to it and once we arrived at the scene, the people were so friendly and nice that I almost forgot my anxiety and once I saw the bridge and walked over it, I knew … this is it!

Tania and Sini (a girl from Germany) first wanted to have a look at the jumpers, but I knew that if I was going to do that, I got more nervous, so I just walked up to the bridge and within seconds I found myself right in front of my worst nightmare. Some Korean guy was in front of me and the next in line and I saw on his face that he was really nervous and a bit scared as well, so we started talking and made a few jokes and before I even realized it, he was gone and I was next.

I can’t explain the feeling exactly, but at the moment they put everything on me, I was just so relaxed that it didn’t even felt real. It was like I was sleepwalking and before I knew it I was standing on the platform when it suddenly hit me. One of the crew members just told me not to look down since I told him about my fear of heights and he told me to concentrate on the bridge in front of me. I just did that and by the count of one, two and three, I jumped when he told me to jump. It was just that easy!!

The feeling was just incredible and to be honest, I thought it was going to be much scarier, maybe this bridge was too low???  I don’t exactly know, but it was fun and the only thing that went through my mind at that moment was … I DID THIS!!!! Hell yeah!!!

I can recommend it to everyone, even with fear of heights, one should once in a lifetime do something like this and it even makes me wonder if I could do the Nevis as well??? Maybe for the future???

Anyway, once I was down, Tania was up next and just like me, she had the feeling that it was going to be worse than it actually was. Are we good or are we good??? In a way I am just happy that nothing went wrong, but that's just me. I was so proud that I could finally do something of which I don’t have control over. It felt great, I can tell you that!

Since we still had a little bit of free time on our hands, we took some pictures with our goofy looking t-shirt and than it was of to the souvenir shop and a few minutes later, the shuttle bus was there again to bring us back to town. With a big smile on our faces we walked inside the bus, still feeling a little bit „high”.

Upon our arrival in town we were so hungry that we decided to go for the famous Fergburger. It is said to be the best burger of the whole country and although we had to wait for almost an hour, I must admit that it was a good one, but too big for me and I still don’t understand why people want to wait for almost 3 hours to get one in the first place!!!

By the time we left the place, it was already 6 PM, this meant that within an hour we had to go to dinner again with our group and food was the last thing on my mind right now.

The weather was still very nice, so we decided to do some souvenir hunting and of course we scored a few things. With our new purchases in our hand we walked back to our room only to leave it again about half an hour later. Tonight we were going to a pizza place which supposedly has to best pizza’s in town, but still not hungry, I ate only a bit of bread and one slice of pizza. It was just too much!

On the other hand drinks were no problem, especially the vodka with raspberry, that was way yummy, but when the alcohol started to kick in, I felt sleepy as well and by the time it was 9 PM, me and Tania went back to our room. No party for us tonight, we were way to tired, what a jump (or even two in Tania’s case) can do to a person.

By the time we closed our eyes it was already 11.30 PM, way too early actually, but I didn’t care much about it, I was completely knackered.

Making sure that we weren’t going to miss our bus to the caves, the two of us set our alarm clock yesterday evening, since we already had to leave at 7 AM, but hearing the noise of one alarm clock is worse, but the noise of two, that’s just insane! One thing is for sure, we were quite awake!

We quickly got dressed and ate some instant porridge with a cup of tea and than we were on the move towards the ferry building so that we could catch the 7.20 bus from Naked Bus all the way to Waitomo. Upon our arrival, we noticed that there were three buses in total, but with a bit of asking around we were on the right one in no time and we even got a nice enough view coz we were in the first row. Talking about a great deal.

Exactly at 7.20 AM our driver left Auckland behind and it was a good 2 hours drive towards Hamilton where we had a 15 minute break and about another hour and a half later, we arrived at the small town of Waitomo. Most of the people got out here, so it seemed that me and Tania weren’t the only ones who wanted to see the famous glow worms.

Since we were still a bit early to go on our tour, we wanted to get something warm to drink and although the town isn’t that big, we eventually found a nice enough cafe where they served an excellent cup of tea and they even had a yummie pineapple and cheese toast. I have to admit it was but a quick bite, but we needed to get a little bit more food in our system before our tubing through the caves.

As soon as it was time for our tour to the caves, we walked down the street towards Caveworld, where we booked the whole „water tube adventure”. It seemed we were the first once to arrive at the „scene”, but a short while after even 3 girls from the UK and a couple from Germany arrived as well and together we would form a group for the next 2 hours.

Our guide arrived a few minutes later and as soon as he introduced himself we could all leave in the van towards the spot where we could change into our swimmers and where we got our wetsuit. It wasn’t that long of a drive, about a minute later we arrived already and the two of us were wondering why we drove all the way while we could easily had walked, but hey, when in Rome!?

Getting in our swimmers wasn’t that big of a problem, but as soon as the wetsuits were handed out, that was quite another ordeal. The one I got seemed just too small, Tania on the other hand had a different problem. Hers was just too big, but it seemed that not all sizes were available, so we just had to go with the flow. Easier said than done and although most of our group already had their wetsuit on, mine wasn’t moving anywhere, my god, who on earth invented this shit!?

With a little male help from our guide, eventually I even got suited up so to speak and after even getting my boots on, there was a quick explanation of the lights on the helmet and off we went, after a few group shots that is.

The drive towards the cave wasn’t all that long, but a bumpy one and I was glad I had my helmet on coz more than once I said hello to the window of the van. My God, I just hope that I survive this thing!

As soon as we arrived at our cave, we all got our „tube” and after crossing a meadow, we finally arrived in some kind of forest and to be honest, I expected a hobbit to pop out any minute. It was really fairy-like. Without even knowing it or should I say realizing it, we entered the entrance of our cave. On came the lights and as we walked a little further into the cave we suddenly had to put off our lights and than the most amazing thing happened, we saw our first glow worms!

To say it in the words of a kiwi, that’s mint bro!!!! (I don’t know if this is written correctly though ????)

Our guide gave us an explanation about the life of a glow worm and I have to admit, it doesn’t sound that appealing when you know it is actually pooh of a worm that makes the glowing effect, but nevertheless, it is quite nice to look at.

From here we walked further into the cave and got the see even more glowworms and a few minutes later it was even time to try our tube … OMG, the water was just freezing and went through our wetsuits like nothing, but hey, that’s part of the adventure I suppose. As soon as we walked for a bit, it was time to test our tube and with our heads pointed to the ceiling while gently floating, we saw another bunch of glowworms, that's what you call an experience. I know it is but a stupid comparison, but it looked like thousands of stars in the sky on a very dark night. Like I told you, no comparison, but that’s how it looked like.

After floating for a while and even crawling between some zip lines, we arrived at our first waterfall where we had to jump backwards into the depth, oh well, it was but a few meters and thanks to the tube we landed safely on our butts, but on the other hand, we were soaking wet as well. The word "freezing" popped up in my head more than once!!

Going deeper into the cave, we once again made kind of a snake and floated a bit more, but this time we went with the flow, much nicer when you come to think about it, I like to see what’s coming, but that’s just me!

A few meters further up, we arrived at the second waterfall which was about 7 meters high and although our guide made the appearance we had to jump off it, when we finally arrived, it turned out it was just one gigantic slide. Man, I really loved this, but once again, in the end you were soaking wet and the water wasn’t exactly warm.

We weren’t that far removed from the end of the tunnel and although we had lots of fun slithering through the water, jumping of waterfalls and that sort of things, in a way I was also glad to be out of the water again, because I was frozen as hell.

The walk back towards the van wasn’t that long and walking once again through the forest, I am sure I saw something moving between all the ferns, so maybe there was a hobbit somewhere. Anyway, I was glad to be back at the beginning and after a warm shower and a cup of hot coco I felt like a human again.

Since we still had lots of time to kill till we could take the bus back to Auckland, we first looked up another cave, but not wanted to sit in a boat and pay a lot of money for seeing another group of glowworms for just 15 minutes, however amazing they are, we decided to go for a walk instead. There weren’t that many trails, but one trail in particular, the Waitomo Walkway, went up to some kind of lookout and since it was only an half hour walk, we even could have some lunch afterwards as well and this time we went for a wrap with fries, one word only : delicious!

We stayed at the porch of the cafe till it was time for us the leave, I was a bit tired and closed my eyes while enjoying the rayes of sun on my back and head while Tania updated her latest blog and checked out more things on the internet and believe it or not, before I even realised it, it was time to leave already.

Just as punctual as it was this morning, our Naked bus arrived right on time and although I tried to stay awake this time and gazed at the beautiful sceneries, I couldn’t but help to doze off from time to time. I am bad when it comes to traveling with a bus, I can’t help it, but I constantly fall asleep.

It was already 9.30 PM when we finally arrived back in Auckland and we still needed to look for something to eat. It was dark outside and just by looking at the different streets, we quickly noticed that there weren’t lots of options, so instead we went for the quickest one and went to a local supermarket and bought ourselves some noodles which you can make in a microwave oven. I don’t know if this actually is healthy, but going to the Golden Arches isn’t as well so, we took our chances.

Dinner wasn’t too big of a success, like we expected in the first place, but I was just too tired to think about that and after a quick shower, it was time for once again a well deserved nap, after all we are on our holiday, we can relax!