Author: Sarah

Day 14 – Albuquerque

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Tuesday:

Waking up the next morning in Durango, I got up to be on the bus by 9.30am to go river rafting!
A few of us from Contiki went rafting and the rest went horse riding. (You got to choose what one you wanted to do)
We were all pretty hungover from last night and the river rafting was really easy and casual so it was just what we needed I think.
I did jump into the river and it was pretty cold! So that woke me up.

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I didn’t take my camera with me, so this is just a Google Picture of what it’s like

It took over an hour but it was nice just to float down the river and yarn about our New Zealand and Aussie accents to our American tour guide.
As we were floating down the river, I saw these little squirmy things in the water underneath the sand. Our tour guide said that they were like little snakes but they were harmless. This got us talking about snakes and I announced that we had no snakes in New Zealand but Australia was known for them.
One of the guys Ben then quickly said “No, I used to live in New Zealand and we have snakes”
Then the other New Zealander, Dave chimed in “Yeah there’s lots of snakes”
Me “Uhh, no there are defiantly NO snakes in New Zealand”
Dave “Oh course there are! I’m sure you’ve seen plenty”
Me “What the fuck, I have never ever seen a snake in New Zealand”
Dave “Yeah, the Trouser Snake”
Me “I have never heard of that type of Snake, You must be thinking of Australia”
Ben “Oh yeah Australia defiantly has them as well but I also know that NZ does”
Me – Getting annoyed by this point “What! No we don’t have ANY Snakes. I know this because my Mum has a massive phobia of snakes and that’s one of the reasons she moved to New Zealand from Australia”
Dave “Well I don’t think she got away from the Trouser Snake”
By this stage the boys were laughing but I still couldn’t figure out how they thought we had Snakes in New Zealand.
Even our Tour Guide joined in “Oh yeah! No we learnt about Snakes in School and New Zealand defiantly has them”
I was actually getting angry because I knew I was right and they were wrong.
It wasn’t until they made a little hand motion towards their nether-regions about 10 minutes into this conversation and said “You know, the Trouseeer snake” that I finally clicked what they meant.
*Sigh* they got me there.

Once we were all finished with rafting and horse riding, I went and got some food from the supermarket and we all met and boarded the bus to Albuquerque.imageAlbuquerqueAlbuquerque is the biggest city in New Mexico and it’s no wonder as they have around 270 days of sunny blue skies every year. Albuquerque is also known as The “Hot Air Ballooning Capital of the World” as it’s home to the International Balloon Fiesta, the world’s largest gathering of balloons from around the world. This event takes place during the first week of October every year so we were about a month too early to see this!
Breaking Bad was also produced in Albuquerque for all you Breaking Bad fans 🙂

We arrived here around 5pm this afternoon.
To be honest apart from the rafting, it’s been a very basic day. We’ve had a few stops on the way to get food etc… but it’s pretty much been a bus day which involves sleeping, listening to music or watching a movie on the bus.imageimageI’m now currently in bed at a hotel in Albuquerque. We all had a buffet dinner (lasagna, fish, chicken and salads to choose from) and then we did some karaoke at the Hotel we’re staying at. (Well I just watched the karaoke as I have a terrible singing voice)imageI went to bed pretty early as I wanted to finish doing all my washing, write up a blog and call my best-friend.
Not all the places you stay at have washing machines and driers so when you have a hotel stop that provides laundry it’s first in, first served!

Now that I’ve written this, I defiantly think it’s sleep time!!
😴
X

Day 13 – Durango feat. Monument Valley

Sarah1 Comment

Today we left the Grand Canyon nice and early just before 8am to head to Durango.
(Check out the map below for where I’m at)

grand-southern-start-new-york-city-map-785x550imageimageIt was a pretty long day of driving and stopping as we stopped off in Monument Valley and took lots of pictures.
If no one knows where Monument Valley is, it’s located on the Arizona-Utah state line and it means ‘valley of the rocks’
That’s basically what it is as well.
Clusters of large sandstone hills with flat tops that you’ve probably seen pictures of before.
As it’s in the desert, Monument Valley gets pretty cold winters and hot summers. When we were there it was very hot!imageimageimageWe stopped off on a road which is meant to be one of the most impressive roads on the Northern Route through Utah to Monument Valley. It was used as the location in the movie ‘Forrest Gump’ where Forrest ended his cross country run.
We all got photos on the road with the monuments in the background. It was hard though as it was a main road and there were lots of cars driving through. I’m sure they were annoyed that a whole bunch of Contiki people were standing in the middle trying to get an ‘American Photo’ with the flag!

On our stop, we also visited the ‘Forrest Gump Point’ where Forrest stopped running in the movie.

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Once we’d all taken plenty of photos, we hopped back on the bus to continue our journey to Durango, Colorado.
Just before 4pm we arrived and looked out the windows at this cozy little town. I’d never put much research into Durango before I arrived but I’d describe it as one of those cute towns you see in the movies where everyone may know each other.
In 2010, according to Google. There were around 16,887 people living here.
It’s nestled in the Animas River Valley which makes the town popular for whitewater rafting, kayaking and canoeing. It’s the place you want to go to if you love hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, hunting, off-roading and fishing.
As you drive down the Main Avenue, you’re greeted with clothing boutiques, gift shops, bars, lounges and restaurants. Like I said – cute.
imageDurango-Sign

When we got to the ‘Travel Lodge’ where we were staying, Ashley and I went down to the liquor store and bought some alcohol before we all went out for dinner. Our Tour Leader told us before we arrived that everyone in Durango knows when a Contiki Group is here. Maybe we just stand out or something…
When Ashley and I went down the road, we had a few people yell out of their cars “Hey Contiki Girls!!” so I guess he was right.

When everyone had gotten dressed and the girls had made themselves a bit more glam, our bus driver Ricky drove us all down to a restaurant for dinner, I ordered some beef and bean mix with salsa type stuff on a flat bread which was good but not amazing.
After our dinner and a couple of drinks, we all headed down the road to this small club called ‘Moes’ which is the regular Contiki Bar.

The rest of the night was filled with far too many drinks and shots. I even did the ole’ Belly shot and felt like I was on Spring Break. Haha!
My phone however died so I have no pictures from last night!
Maybe next time 🙂

Xxx

Day 12 – Grand Canyon

Sarah1 Comment

It’s my birthday today!! I am now a big 24 year old 😆🎉🎉
However my birthday day didn’t start off very well…

I had put my name down on the Contiki Activities List to go on a 45 minute Helicopter Tour that morning with everyone else. We were all told to meet on the bus at 7am sharp.
At 7.10am I got a call on the phone in our room from our Tour Manger Blake asking where I was as everyone was waiting on the bus.
I quickly realized I had slept through my alarm!!! I couldn’t believe it.
I jumped out of bed so fast with my heart racing with anxiety. He said I had 3 minutes to get to the bus otherwise they were leaving without me.
So I quickly grabbed some clothes and put them on, grabbed my make up bag and my contact lenses and shoes and ran to the bus.
Everyone saw me run to the bus dropping everything along the way! 😂😂 what a loser.

Everyone clapped when I got on the bus and I’m glad they waited for me otherwise that would have been a very expensive sleep – in. (As you have to pay for the activities you put your name down for even if you don’t turn up)
When I was on the bus I realized that my phone didn’t even charge overnight and it was on 2% battery so my camera wouldn’t work for taking pictures at The Grand Canyon 😥
I had a small digital camera in my bag however so I just used that for the Helicopter tour.
Unfortunately I have no pictures to upload on here though from it.

When we got to the helicopter place, we watched a safety video and all got weighed so they could put us in the appropriate helicopters for our weight.
I ended up getting such a sore stomach while we were waiting that I pretty much curled up on the couch while I waited for my turn in the Helicopter.😯😯
This stomach pain has been an on-going problem with me for anyone who knows me. I used to always get really bad stomach cramps every few months for no reason. One time I ended up in A&E in Australia because I was in so much pain. I didn’t end up seeing a doctor then to find out what was wrong with me because the emergency room was too busy that night but they told me they thought it was something to do with my gallbladder which is really annoying.

Apart from my stomach hurting the whole time and wanting to bend over into a ball, the helicopter tour was great. Riding in a helicopter is so much fun!!
I got to sit at the front next to the pilot and we had amazing views of the whole canyon. My pictures aren’t that great though because my camera kept getting the glare of the helicopter windows in the photos. The Grand Canyon is kind of one of those things to see in real life to appreciate it anyways.

When we got back to our lodge, I went back to bed and curled up in a ball for about 4 hours and went to sleep.

When I woke up, my stomach was heaps better so I had a shower and went down to the local shops with 2 girls on my Contiki. I got a Twix ice cream, pita crisps, spicy avocado hummus and some cans of cider to have to drink later on. (reading that sounds bad after I complained about my stomach all day and then I go and get crappy food)
When we got back to the lodge, we met up with everyone else to take the bus to the edge of the Canyon to watch the sun set.
A few people on Contiki had been drinking all afternoon so half of us were pretty loose and ready to party.
I however stuck with my 2 cans of ciders as not to upset my tummy too much!

imageAs it was my Birthday, everyone sung me Happy Birthday at the Canyon which was nice and I was presented with a slice of carrot cake and some candles that we couldn’t light because it was far too windy.
Blake tried to light a match for me like 3 times so I could blow it out and make a wish but it was far too difficult haha.

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Me enjoying a bit of my Carrot Cake

imageI tried to take pictures of the Canyon at sunset but it was hard to see the Canyon with the light from the sun shining into the camera.
Note to self: Must take a Photography Course of some type.image

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Myself, Ben & Scott from Australia

Once the sun had set and we’d all had a group photo and a cup of wine, we lined up for the local bus to take us back to our lodge.
It was so windy and I got pretty cold because I didn’t bring my own jumper 😧
When we got back, we all went to the restaurant  (well it’s more of a big hall where you go and get food from different cafeteria areas and pay for it at the counter) and just sat and talked for a bit.
The hall is where you have the wi-fi but it’s terrible when everyone is on it.
I tried uploading the same blog like 7 times over the last 2 days! And it kept failing 👿

I got to bed just before midnight I think so it was a bit of a late one for me.
Once you find a group you like, it’s hard to get away because you’re all getting to know each other more and more so everyone just talks about their life and starts relating to each other.

So far Contiki has been really fun. Everyone seems to have a good attitude and we all kind of look out for each other or make an effort to chat to one another.
Of course with any type of big group there’s the odd one or two that’s a bit ‘different’ to the rest in terms of not making an effort to get along or causing problems but I think we’ll all having a good time.
Can’t believe it’s only been nearly a week!

X