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Published: November 22nd 2006
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Saturday 11th November Laura - Today we went horse riding in a lovely little town near Queenstown called Glenorchy. The drive there was along Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by mountains, so it was really nice. Unfortunately I had to put up with Paul's pessimistic comments for the ENTIRE journey regarding the weather. There were clouds gathering around the mountains so he was convinced we'd get rained on and would have a miserable time. And he says I moan! Grr...
Anyway the sun stayed out for most of the two hours we were riding and it was really good fun. We were taken out in a small group which consisted of two of the most gormless people in the world. One of whom was completely inept when it came to controlling his horse and let it wander off all over the place. The other gormo was a woman who declared as she arrived that "horses made her nervous". Legends! The place we were riding for was used as the backdrop for 'The Misty Mountains' in Lord of the Rings, (and for some other scenes that I have forgotten). A few of the horses were even stars in the film! We rode
through a few rivers, which was fun, and even had a go at cantering for part of the way (Mr and Mrs Gormless were lead away to gorm about with another guide). We really enjoyed it. Our backsides suffered slightly though!
After saying goodbye to Laddie and Will (our cute horses), we drove back to Queenstown and had a potter about and booked a couple of activities for tomorrow...
Sunday 12th November Paul - The Nevis Highwire Bungy is 134m high above a gushing river. I don't think anything can quite prepare you for the fear when you stand on the edge of a 134m drop and you know you have to leap into it. The first few seconds of leaping off towards the mountains and then seeing the river so far below is to hard to describe. It's such a rush! The ground comes towards you and you think "Oh shit, I hope they strapped that bungy on tight". After bouncing around a couple of times I came back up with a huge grin on my face and adrenalin shaking through my body. It's such a fantastic feeling.
Laura - I think Paul was
quite brave with his huge leap this morning but I don't regret not taking part. It was ridiculously high! I think I was shaking more than he was, and probably annoyed the guides by asking them to make sure the rope was attached properly!
Anyway, I was brave enough to suggest we go hang gliding in the afternoon. The very helpful lady in our hostel sorted it all out for us and luckily the weather was fine for us to go 'flying' at 6pm. There were eight people flying altogther, with four guides, and we were amongst the first people to go. We set off from a peak in the 'Remarkables' range, and I have to say it was a lot higher than I expected it to be! We got kitted up in sexy gear and watched as the first pair set off. The wind was quite strong at the top of the mountain, and they were blown up high as soon as the guide let go of the glider. It made me feel slightly nervous!
My guide went through the 'launch' procedures with me and we had a practice on safe ground before it was my turn
to go. I was strapped in to the glider with my arms around the oh-so-sexy guide (he had lamb chop sideburns) and before I knew it we were flying high and fast above the world. I had a few problems getting my feet secured but after that I relaxed and enjoyed the ride. It really was like flying. I loved it. Everything was so small below us but strangely I wasn't at all scared. I even got to have a go at steering! After about twenty minutes we did a few scary dives and turns and then landed in a field, which in itself was fun because it basically involved skidding along the ground on your belly until you came to a stop!
Paul was still circling above me so I watched him for a while and waved up to him before he came skidding down to ground. He really enjoyed it too, although he admitted it wasn't quite as exciting as the bungy. We were given a couple of free beers and watched the rest of the group fly down before being driven back to town. On the way back we were informed about the accidents that have
happened to hang gliders in the area in the past. We were also told that they were the only company in the area that didn't supply parachutes! I was very pleased that I didn't know that before I went up!
Monday 13th November Paul - Left Queenstown early and had a lovely drive over to Wanaka where we stopped at the hilarious "Puzzling World". They have a huge 3D maze and obviously I wanted to race Laura through it to see who would win. Proving that I don't think she has any sense of direction, Laura failed to complete the maze and came out one of the emergency exits granting me enternal glory. After a good 45 minutes of gloating we had lunch at Lake Wanaka before pushing on towards Fox Glacier for the evening.
We were greeted by pouring rain so we had a sauna and called it a day.
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mum
non-member comment
oh my god!!!
Here we are at home nursing your poorly sister and there you two are intent on committing hari kari - i took one look at the photo of paul and thought - help!! - god i couldnt have done that if you paid me a million pounds - although it sounds though you really enjoyed it - are you mad laura then suggesting hang gliding - and there i was thinking at least there was one sensible person out there - anyway New Zealand looks fantastic - i will come and visit if you move out there - continue having a great time and take care - lots of love mum and dad - am at auntie marees at present reading this and derek is quickly printing off the next issue.