12,000 ft above sea level

Yesterday evening as a pre-farewell drink we went to an ice bar. There was 6 of us and we got two cocktails each. We had a half an hour time limit but you wouldn't have wanted to spend more than that in there as it was freezing. Afterwards all the other girls went back and myself and Lauren went to join the Kiwi Experience bar crawl. We weren't out that late as it was a boring and expensive.

This morning we had a leisurely morning just wandering around the town. All the others had gone off on activities so Lauren and I just mooched around the gift shops. At half 11 we started queuing at Fergs Burgers, which every time we walked past, has been rammed and had a queue out the door down the road. It had been mentioned to me by a former  work colleague and also by the bus driver when we arrived. The queue moved quickly and we ordered our burgers and found a seat inside. Lauren ordered a standard cheese burger and chips. I ordered a pork belly burger with seeded apricot mustard and a hash brown. They came pretty fast given how busy the place was. And they were AMAZING. We both thought they were probably the best burgers we had ever had. Lauren couldn't finish the chips as the burgers were so big. We went and finished them by the lake front as the sun was shining and the sky was beautifully clear.

Around 1pm we were joined by Sophie and Beth who had returned from rafting. We sat chatting for a while and then returned to the hostel. Sophie showered while Lauren and I chilled, then we met up with a Canadian girl we met at Hot Water Beach, and the four of us went skydiving.

We were all absolutely terrified. We suited up and met the dudes we were going to be strapped to, and into the plane we went. We were squished in with some others and when we got to 9000ft, 4 people jumped out. We then climbed higher to 12,000ft which felt like it took forever. Then we opened the door and I was the first to go. It was absolutely terrifying when we first got out the plane. But as soon as we were stabilised and falling flat it was just amazing. We were over Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables mountain range. The feeling was insane and the view was just unbelievable. I went first, followed by Lauren, who was apparently screaming before she even left the plane, then Emily the Canadian, a random girl called Jen, and finally Sophie. We were free falling for about 45 seconds before the parachute deployed. Then we floated down to the ground before landing with a bump. We all absolutely loved it. I was so proud of them all as they were all absolutely terrified having never done it before. I was terrified too despite having done it before, although this was 2000ft higher. The whole thing was over very quickly but it was so amazing and we were all so glad we found the courage to do it.

After we got back we went to a donut shop and got amazing 'freakshakes'. These were like amazing milkshakes. We came back to the hostel, did some laundry and broke the news to our mothers.