Lynne is back on the road!!

Thurs 24th September!!
Well, it’s been a while eh! I’m still alive, very much alive and still as happy as ever. I didn’t really see the point in keeping my blog updated recently as I had pretty much settled and wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. Partying as usual, snowboarding and chilling by the lake!

It really started to hot up over the last few weeks and I’ve had a couple of days sitting out in the sunshine. I also decided to leave Wanaka, things were a bit too comfortable there and I was desperate for another new adventure and I’m currently on it!

I spent the last two months living with a Canadian girl, Laurens the Belgium drove me round the bend so I got shot of him and Jess from the hostel moved in and took his place, it was an enjoyable experience and nice to get rid of him!!
Well four weeks ago I decided I had had enough of gorgeous Wanaka, I was going to move to Te Anau then as usual changed my mind and decided on heading to Nelson for a couple or two months.

Nelson is the sunniest city in NZ so I spent the last four weeks in Wanaka on a detox, diet and fitness regime. I did 3 classes 3 times a week at the gym and on the non gym days I swam for an hour. No alcohol, ate salads and grilled meat. No chocolate either. I managed to shed over 2kg in three weeks. I loved being back at the gym and realised how much I’d missed it. I’ve already organised gym membership for up in Nelson!! I need a beach body haha!!

I checked the price of the busses to get me up the West Coast and got a pleasant surprise. It must be like megabus, I managed to get $1 fares!! I thought it was worth booking as even if my travel plans changed I wasn’t loosing much!

To mark the end of my stay in Wanaka, I decided to do a skydive and waited for a bluebird sunny day to do it. That day came last Thursday, Jess had decided to do it with me so off we went in the courtesy bus to Wanaka airport!! When we arrived there were people floating down on their parachutes and we were wandering what we were doing haha!!

They suited us up in some sexy jump suits and put the harness on and the guy with the camcorder interviewed me, I met the man that was going to be strapped to me and hauling me out the airplane then argh...it was time to get on the plane. We were last on, so of course last in, first out!! The instructor was lovely and kept me chilled out. It was amazing how calm I felt, not at any point did I feel terrified and want to change my mind. We were all having a good giggle and then we arrive at our destination, 12,000ft!! Time to get off!! The instructor strapped me in tight to him, told me what to do, then we shuffled to the door, legs dangling over the edge. It was cold up there!! I remember looking down thinking oooo this is quite high and then the lovely man pulled back my head and off we went!! We were tumbling round and round, no words can describe the feeling!! The safety chute came up which keeps you in a free fall but balances you so your facing the ground! We were doing fast spins round and round and having lots of fun falling at 200kph! I was sooo cold but laughing away!!

Then the chute opened up, that was actually quite a nice feeling knowing that I wasn’t going to end up flat on the ground like the possums on the main road!! He still made it exciting and made us spin round fast, he knew I was enjoying it so much that he kept trying to scare me!! I was trying to shout over to Jess who was also falling through the sky!

We got close to the ground and I lifted up my knees so he took the fall. I couldn’t stop giggling!! He unhooked me (with just two clips!!!!) and I went running over to see Jess, I was so dizzy it was amusing!!

We hung about and picked up my personal DVD which was a great watch!!
I’m addicted, I loved every moment and if it wasn’t so expensive I’d do it every day. I had looked into the course to be able to jump myself and become an instructor but I don’t think I’d have the upper body strength for it! I’ll certainly be jumping again when I get to Nelson though. It’s such a rush!!

Well, I packed up my bags on Monday ready for the off, I had a lovely couple of evenings with my Wanaka friends before leaving. Tuesday morning came and I went to have my last coffee at Kai, a couple of my friends waved me off and that was it. Wanaka life was over!

The bus took 7 hours to go from Wanaka to Hokitika, where I am now. We passed through Haast, Hari Hari, Franz Josef and Fox. Stopped a few times for coffee’s and lunch etc. The driver was great and told lots of stories, I was at the front so had an excellent view! The driver was kind enough to drop me right at the door of the hostel and I convinced him to pick me up from there on Thursday (today)!
I’m staying at Birdsong Hostel, I’m sitting in the communal area looking out the huge panoramic windows at Tasman Sea. The West Coast is a hostile environment, the weather here hasn’t been great but that’s the west coast for you!! It’s a lovely small hostel and no TV which was great as usually it’s a conversation stopper! There were three couples staying, a guy on his own and the lassie that’s running it and the woofer (work for accommodation girl). We all got on really well and everyone was booked in for the two nights so last night we all got some beer and wine and told stories and enjoyed each others company!

Yesterday the host, the owners brother in law and the woofer and myself all went away to the Gorge and it was gorgeous, the colour of the water was unreal and it was amongst rainforest. She then drove up into town and the Japanese girl, Hatsuka, and I had a look round the jade carving places and had a general wonder! I also went for a walk along the beach and breathed in the sea air!!

In the evening, Chris and Hatsuka took me to the glow work dell just down the road. Strange little creatures, it wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be, I’ve been told that seeing them in caves is the way to do it!!

Well this morning I packed up my humungous backpack again and I’m sitting waiting to be taken to Greymouth where I’m staying for the night before my travels to Nelson. Suzanne the host is going to whip up a batch of whitebait for me to try. Must be some kind of deep sea FASH!!

I’ll be keeping my blog going until I settle again. I can’t upload pics at the moment as I’m paying per MB rather than time. I’ll pop some on when I get to Nelson!!
Take care folks xx