A bright and early morning for us world travelers, so no going out the night before; especially considering the fact that we are walking on very thin ice with management at the Peppers Beacon. When you have 24 people in one apartment, and those guys’ voice are not quiet, it’s easy to receive a few noise complaints. And as I may have mentioned earlier, this place we’re staying at costs $500 per night! I have no idea how we managed to get such a good deal, but we have to be on our best behavior here on out!
A group of 5 (Emily Smith, Katie Carlson, Chris Schultz, Sara Dockendorf, and I) woke up and caught a Kiwi Discovery coach bus at 7:45am and headed towards Glenarchy where we would Jet boat up the Dart River Valley and then take Funyaks (inflatable kayaks) back down the river. The little town of Glenarchy is charming and scenic. They have a library where the children get their coloring books, a school with 18 students (3 teachers), and 4 bars. That pretty much sums it up! We arrived at the Dart River building to put on our gear, and being that is was only 8am, taking off my warm layers to put on another wetsuit did not sound enticing. I just wanted to bundle up back in bed again, but hopefully the sun keeps us toasty and we don't get too wet on the river.
We took a jet up the River, and this Jetboat is infamous in New Zealand. They whip you around, make sharp 360's, and come within inches of boulders and the shore. It was an exhilarating ride a bit chilly at the same time. At one part the driver told us to take out our cameras from our water-proof bags, and so we all did. Unfortunately another jet driver came whipping around the corner and white-washed our boat. Now, anyone who knows me, probably knows of my luck with cameras...I don't have any! I was absolutely furious! I couldn't believe my camera got wet! Luckily there were towels in the boat and I got it dried off right away and it still works, but why the guy told us to take pictures when boats were whipping around is beyond me. Oh well, no damage was done, luckily!
Once reaching our destination on the river, we had to manually inflate our Funyaks. Sara and I took turns. It was hard work and warmed us up quickly! Sara and I got the privilege to ride with one of the guides, and he told us we were lucky because we wouldn't have to do much work--my kind of ride :) He is from Canada and has been living out of his van in Queenstown since October. He looked kind of "outdoorsy." I was disappointed to hear that he didn't know where Minnesota was!! Are you kidding?! We're touching Canada! Well I did my best to explain, and he said, "Oh right by Iowa." He knows where Iowa is and not Minnesota?! Come on!
Riding down the river was a blast, and we even got to stop for lunch, which consisted of delicious sandwiches with Gouda cheese, my favorite!! We got fruit, hot cocoa, and dessert too, my ultimate favorite! Coming up to where our journey would end, we saw the mountain that was filmed during the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, which is the mountain where the tower of Isengard was located in the movie. Also, we got to go to the site where the new film Wolverine is being filmed with Hugh Jackman. They were filming last week and again in a few weeks. We were shown this white farm house that was built just for the movie and that they were going to blow up...so everyone watch for that in a few years when the movie comes out, because I was there!
The day ended with a Pub Crawl around town. We went to 5 bars and got a drink at each one. Don't worry I was just the camera girl and I made it home safely! Only a few more days here, and they should be pretty relaxing. I can't believe I start school in a week...although it's probably about time! Until next time, peace and love always ~
Molly
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