World's Highest Canyon Swing

Mom don't let Dad look at this. I liked it so much they let me do it twice...

Nevis Bungy!

See that thing hanging in the distance. That is the what I jumped 134meters off of today! It was the most terrifying/amazing thing I have ever felt. The Nevis Bungy is the highest bungy in the southern hemisphere. Tiger Woods came to New Zealand and liked the Nevis Bungy so much he did it twice. This bungy was way better than sky diving!

Walking to the ledge and still taking deep breaths. They instructed us to look forward instead of looking down and not to hesitate when they told you to jump or it would only get worse... oh geese. The other super scary factor was that it was very windy today and the crew told us that we really needed to jump when they counted down because if we hesitated or didn't jump out and forward, we could hit the ropes below us.
The bungy crew called me "Arkansas" and they kept looking at me and saying "Don't over think it because it will never make sense" and "Arkansas take deep breaths" I was as close to hyperventilating as I have ever been in my life. Before I realized what I was getting myself into :) If you look behind me in the distance... you will see the Nevis Bungy hanging by cords between the two mountains in the distance. We had to take a cable car to get to it.

Glacier Hike

Franz Josef glacier hike was beautiful! We hiked about 8 hours going through holes, tunnels, and even got to fill up our water bottles using the streams of glacier water... yes it was very good water. The guides might have been the most entertaining part of the day, they were constantly posing and then saying this was our photo opportunity. I guess guiding this glacier hike 5 times a week can get to your head after awhile.

Much Love,
Hannah

Costume Night

Well my two new friends from Holland talked me into actually going out last night. It was a costume party and everyone had to dress up. I went as Micheal Phelps girlfriend and my friends from Holland went as rubbish (trash). The last picture is my attempt to be creative and do a cartwheel to capture sunset.

Much Love,

Hannah

Westport

I boarded the Kiwi Experience Bus this morning and said goodbye to my new friends, the Boar Hunters.

I wasn't expecting this activity (above left) to be so much fun but it was a really nice surprise. The picture above is our group of motor bikes. I was just expecting a normal 4-wheeler but these things were so much faster and lighter. We road on sand, rocks, through a stream, and rough tracks... and I only got stuck once :)

The group on this bus is about 38 people and most of them love to party. So when they left to go bar hopping I took advantage of the computer and fireplace.

Much love,
Hannah

Boar Hunters!

Above is the progression of skinning a wild boar! Crazy stuff. The past few days I have been staying on a farm with a family of wild boar hunters! This has definitely been the most unique Kiwi experience yet. These guys live a rough life and are passionate about hunting. I walked into a house full of bones... they have 14 hunting dogs and hunt almost everyday. This isn't typical hunting either... you need to be really fit to do this stuff. I went on one hunt where we had to run through the bush for an hour to find the dogs. The dogs sniff and when they smell a pig they go crazy and chase after it until they find it. The hunters run after the dogs. When the dogs get to the pig, two of the dogs hold the ears of the pig while the other dogs surround it barking. Then when the hunter gets their he picks the pig up by its hind legs, turns it on it back, and stabs its heart (worst part... def couldn't watch it)! If the pig is fighting too hard or the dogs aren't doing a good job then the hunter shots the pig to be safe. This is just skimming the surface of explaining this kind of hunting.

River Valley Riding

Oh geese. I love riding horses. Although this ride was quite different than I expected. Our horses weren't the typical easy riding horses they kinda had minds of their own. So my horse ended up racing another horse and it stopped so fast I almost flew off. Our guide was laughing so hard but later told me she was a bit nervous too. The views were incredible and I wasn't ready to part with "honey" (my horse) when the ride was over.