New Zealand: A Land of Firsts

Today is my last full day in New Zealand, and I am spending the majority of it transitioning from Wanaka to Christchurch via Naked Bus (hopefully no nudity will be required for entry, but that will be revealed in about an hour and 15 minutes). This is unsurprising given the amount of bus travel I went through while here, but it was all worth it (more on that later in my NZ Revisited post).

What I wanted to talk about here are the firsts I went through while in Kiwiland, because I did a surprising amount of things for the first time while here.

- Perhaps most impressively (and most surprisingly) I bungie jumped for the first time ever in Queenstown at the AJ Hackett Kawarau Bridge jump - 43 meters of pure awesome

- I hitchhiked for the first time (as well as a few times after that) - I highly doubt that will be the last time either

- I went snorkeling for the first time ever

- Better yet, I swam with dolphins for the first time (and good god do I hope it isn't the last)

- I had my first frisbee golf hole-in-one on the 10th hole of the Queenstown course

- I grew a "beard" for the first time (two points: my beard is a patchy hodgepodge of randomness, and this isn't really a NZ experience but it is something I'm doing for the first time while here

- First time seeing a penguin in the wild in person

Not a ton of things really, but a fun list of very memorable experiences. My Facebook page is now loaded with pictures for those that are interested in that type of thing. There are only 54 pics on there but I can say this - I took over 1000 pics, many of which are not so good (I subscribe to the quantity makes quality school of thought in photography).

Today New Zealand, tomorrow Australia. Here is hoping my first I get there is getting MDK'd by a massive spider as I sleep in the Outback.

Music of the day: Eluvium's "Copia" (the salve to my insomniac woes when my room is an oven and a girl is snoring something fierce)