Pentathlon

On Thursday, November 21st I arrived back from Queenstown carpooling with some friends from Jucy and we all had a barbecue in their garage. The next night someone had a crazy hat party, Monday the kayakers had a venison barbecue and on Tuesday Alex from Jucy had a going-away party.

On Thursday the 28th we had one of the first major Milford events - the pentathlon. The Milford Pentathlon consists of running, swimming, kayaking, cycling and eating events. The first person ran from the pub to Deepwater basin and tagged me, I swam from the pier to the kayaks - unaware that the water was shark infested... I tagged a kayak team and they paddled out to the Sinbad moored in Deepwater and back. Finally, the cyclist rode back to the pub and tagged our lucky team mate who drank a pint, ate a couple rotten bananas, followed by a weetbix, then blew up a balloon.

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Q-Town Adventure

On Thursday, November 14th we went to Shaun's for the first of several gatherings over the course of the week. The next night we had a going-away dinner for Mandy at boxes and over the next couple nights we had Lasagna night and another Fajita night. When you have a place packed full of free food it pays to get people together for a slightly more inspired feed.

On Monday, the 18th I hopped on another scenic flight to Queenstown in order to submit my medical results to immigration.

The next day I decided to start hitting up some industry specials starting with a free jet boat ride through KJet.

After that I headed over to Shotover Canyon Swing and jumped off a cliff.. twice!

That night I went to a place called The Find for a burger with a couple fellas from the hostel both named Julien, one from France and the other Germany.

On Wednesday the 20th I went paragliding on Lake Wakatipu and then rafting on the Kawarau River.

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Fishing the Tasman

On Monday, November 11th Adrian used an app on his phone to prank call everyone in the village and a couple places in town as well.

The next day was my birthday and I went to a barbecue at Southern Discoveries. The 13th was Go Orange manager Russel's birthday so we went out on the Haven for a fishing trip and had a pretty class feed of Crayfish (Lobster) and other seafood.

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Glow Worm Caves

The Maori translation of Te Anau, "caves of swirling water," was a mystery until explorers found the glow worm caves. On Friday, November 8th a few of us from Milford went there. We crossed Lake Te Anau and walked through the visitor centre after which our guide led us into the caves. Inside we found waterfalls, "swirling water" and, of course, Glow Worms. Our guide took us on a silent boat ride into the depths of the cave where the ceiling lit up with thousands of stars - Glow Worms.

Scenic Flight

On Wednesday, November 6th I took my first scenic flight to get back to Milford. At 45 minutes, the scenic flight is significantly shorter and less taxing than taking the five hour bus ride back through Te Anau. Of course, the views alone are worth it.

After arriving back in Milford I took my bike out for a ride with Hyerim to see the Chasm.

Back at camp Adrian wanted to walk to Bowen Falls down the closed track by the terminal so we rode over there and had a look around.

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TSS Earnslaw

On Monday, November 4th I drove into Te Anau in the stores truck to get it a WOF (Warrant of Fitness). From Te Anau I took one of our buses into Queenstown for the first time. When I arrived I went to the Fear Factory where some friends I met on the road work at. I had a run through and, while I'm not easily spooked, I'd say it was a pretty darn good haunted house - they certainly don't make it easy to just walk straight through.

The next day, after meeting with the Real Journeys immigration counselor, I took care of a plethora of expensive medical appointments. I had blood/urine tests, Xrays and medical checkup for about $800 and took a trip to the dentist which probably sent the figure up over $1000.

That night I took the Earnslaw to Walter Peak for dinner - that, of course, was free.

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