Keeping Busy in Paradise: Hiking, Sky Diving and Bone Carving
Nelson, 24th - 27th November 2001
 We
got up early this morning so we could vacate our rooms. Late drinks
& early mornings don't mix. I felt much less than 100%, this may
come close to being my first hangover, which so far in my life I've
always been lucky to escape, no matter how much I've drunk. Oh well,
I'm getting older I guess.
We quickly gathered our stuff together, tripping over each other due
to being crammed in this matchbox of a room. With everything
together, we scrambled outside, heaved on our rucksacks, and checked
out of the hostel.
We struggled down the road in the direction of McDonalds to grab a
healthy (yeah right!) breakfast. We were just in time to get the
breakfast menu. This McDonalds was quite a strange one (we're
becoming McD connoisseurs now). It had a little 'McCafé' which
served cakes, pastries, cookies & coffees. Quite classy for a
McDonalds.
After a quick bite, feeling a bit more refreshed and a lot more
human, we started the long hike across town to our new hostel 'Paradiso'.
After almost a week of rain, the sun decided to show its face today,
unfortunately, in the middle of our cross town trudge. As we marched
through the streets with our backpacks making us an even bigger
target for gravity trying to force us to the ground, the sun began
to beat down on us. It became hard going, the 20 minutes felt like
20 hours, so we dropped halfway for a quick rest.
After gathering the strength to get up, we continued our journey.
Unfortunately, our Rough Guide map was a little off, so when the
hostel should have been just round the corner, it was in fact, round
the corner AND a long walk down the street.
However, the long walk was definitely worth it. As we entered the
hostel, we glimpsed a glistening, blue, cool-looking swimming pool
surrounded by blinding white sun loungers. The heat was slowly
building up and the pool looked very tempting.
We checked in and found the room was a little expensive (in
comparison to the other hostels in NZ). But, seeing as it was a
spacious, cosy, clean, comfortable, chalet-style, en-suite 4 bed
dorm for NZ$20 each (less than 7 pounds) we were very happy. We were
in heaven compared to Bumbles. In fact, this was probably our
favourite hostel so far!.
The Paradiso was so tranquil and comfortable, that we decided to
spend a few days in Nelson. The days passed fairly quietly, we did a
lot of chilling and relaxing, outside when the sun was out, and
inside when it wasn't. The highlights of the few days were:
The Centre of New Zealand
On one of the days, Em, Stinge and I decided to climb the nearby
(almost mountainous) hill. First we tried clambering over a fence,
then decided against it. After circumnavigating the hill and
climbing a few dead ends, we'd almost given up when Stinge decided
to ask some local people. We followed their directions, and after
about 40 minutes of climbing & walking through sheep infested fields
(which Stinge cleared out of our path by clapping vehemently) we
eventually reached a sign pointing to the 'Centre of New Zealand'
monument, completely by chance we had come across one of the sights
I wanted to see!
After an exhausting climb, we stood at the exact centre point of New
Zealand, which is at the top of a very large hill. We paused to
survey the land around us, then began our descent.
The Centre of New Zealand Again
The next day, we decided we needed some exercise as we had been
sitting around in the sun most of the day. So Stinge, Em and I
decided to go for a jog. Up to the 'Centre of New Zealand and back.
After the exhausting run, with a number of stops, and our legs &
lungs screaming stop all the way, we jumped in the ice-cold pool at
the hostel to cool down. After about 15 seconds in the pool, we
decided we were cool enough & jumped in the jacuzzi to warm back up.
Ahhhhhhhhhh. Pools and jacuzzis, this is the life!
Skydiving (Click this link for my diary special!)
I went TANDEM SKYDIVING!!! It was the most amazing and exhilarating
thing I have ever done! I jumped from 12000ft and it was IMMENSE!
The feelings & the rush simply cannot be described, I highly
recommend everyone does it. To give you an idea of the height, the
clouds start at 6000ft, and we kept on going to twice that height.
When they open the door the wind rushing back is like sticking your
hear out of a car window at high speed. On the fall the rush is
unbelievable. I reached about 140mph while free-falling (i.e.
parachute not deployed) for almost a minute), then suddenly slowed
down as the guy opened the parachute. It then went deathly quiet &
it felt like we were stationary. The houses slowly got closer &
closer then we landed gently
Bonecarving
Nat, Em and I went Bone Carving on one of the days. Before you start
yawning, it was actually really interesting. We learned a lot about
Maori culture, symbolism and beliefs. After a lot of drilling,
sanding, sawing and polishing we each made a really good bone
carving pendant out of a cow leg. They were great mementos of
Australia, and as we made them ourselves, they're unique. It was a
brilliant use of (another) rainy day!
Next Diary Entry (Sky Diving Special)>>
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