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Published: October 31st 2006
Canyon Swing
Just chillingAnother day in Sydney, seems I can't get away from this place. Arrived yesterday evening and didn't do a great deal so full of beans for this morning's activities. Well, we wandered around central for a bit searching for a secondhand bookstore or somewhere to exchange books. We found two places but they didn't want our lovely stack of books so we decided to carry them for a while longer, at least to New Zealand, before binning them.
What next? What could possibly top that exciting morning? Headed out to do the Bondi - Coogee beach/coastal walk. It looks quite nice from photos I've seen and it was. We started at Coogee and walked up to Bondi but I'm sure it doesn't matter which way round you do it. Passed lots of joggers and rocky coastline and a rather large cemetery on the way. Maybe photos can explain it better than I can...
24 October, Tuesday... Up early to catch the flight to New Zealand... I didn't think it was that far but there's still a three hour time difference to Australia so I'm now exactly 12 hours out from blighty. Stepped off the plane to
a nice 9 degree chill, quite a shock from the 30 in Cairns and 18 in Sydney I think I might have to buy a jumper or fleece or some of those cup a soup arms that give you a hug. Went to hostel in Christchurch, raining... super. Went for a quick wander about town, this place seems exactly like England! There's a nice cathedral and old buildings and some gardens all very green. I didn't take any photos so you'll just have to imagine what it's like. Decided to take the Tranzalpine train in the morning but the ticket line seems to be closed, why do I take so long to come to a decision?
25 October, Wednesday... Got on the dog and bone first thing to constantly call for train tickets, reminds me of buying concert tickets. Luckily in the end they did open 15 minutes late and could get on to the train this morning. The views from the train were absolutely amazing, the whole journey seems to be there for the ride rather than the destination of Greymouth which sounds a bit of a dump, rather like the kiwi Gladstone. There are a lot of
Nevis
Are you sure? mountains, rivers and lakes in New Zealand, far more than I thought. Spectacular they were.
Off the train and onto the bus, oh this is all going too smoothly. The bus was to take us to Franz Josef to see a nice big glacier (not mint). It soon became apparent that NZ organise their buses as they do in Vietnam, lots of rest stops and trips to cafes. Also some commentary on the scenery thrown in for free. Lots of hills in these parts you see. Franz Josef town is a big tourist trap where you can do hikes, heli-hikes (they fly you up the glacier then you wander about), ice climbing, trekking, canyoning, etc. We opted for a full day hike on the glacier and settled in at our hostel to watch a few of the free dvds on offer before our mammoth adventure hike tomorrow.
26 October, Thursday... All right. Glacier day. 9:15 start, super. Time to get kitted up, boots, crampons (or talons as they called them), jacket, overtrousers and a rather stylish red bumbag. Well we certainly looked the part so our group all piled onto the bus for a 5 minute drive to
Nevis
Are you really sure? the foot of the valley. Glaciers, it would seem, look pretty cool (get it?) it's a bit like someone just plonked a big lump of ice down in between two mountains. After a short walk we were at the foot of the glacier staring up at about 5km of the 11km total. The ice at the top is blue and in the middle and especially at the bottom looks kinda dirty but I'm told that's rocks not dirt.
Up we went, cold but not too cold, some nice handrails and steps carved out at the start for us. The guide had a rather large ice-ax to carve out steps for us where there were no steps. It felt like a bit of a cop out to me but I couldn't really forge my own path. After squeezing through several crevasses and taking umpteen photos we were ready to head back down (after about 8 hours). The descent was especially slow as the guide seemed to have to do the ice equivalent of sweeping the stairs on the way down. Great fun and awesome scenery.
27 October, Friday... Bus to Wanaka today. Don't know too much about Wanaka, according
Canyon Swing Extreme
Thom took the cheaper option to the Lonely Planet there's a lake there and some mountains. Sounds ok to me. We got in early afternoon and wandered up and back down the road to find the hostel which was only about 2 mins walk from the bus stop in the end. Time for a walk I thought. Waterfall Creek in a 1h30 return journey I expected some big cascades and views. Unfortunately it's just a name and after about 1 hour walking around the lake shore we found a stream with a sign labelled 'Waterfall Creek'... super. The lake is huge and even walking that distance didn't change the view too much. Time well spent, at least I got some exercise. Back to the hostel to drink some beers, play some scrabble (ooh), and head out to town for 10 minutes only to discover everything is pretty much closed in the low season. Decided to leave tomorrow.
28 October, Saturday... Checked out of our hostel after wandering the other side of the lake from the town. Went to catch bus, bus had left before we got there, we had seen this bus but assumed it wasn't ours as it was 20 mins too early,
we were wrong. Another day in Wanaka!
Problem was it was raining and the views were rather spoilt by the mist and cloud. I did get to read some of my book, watch One Hour Photo and the Last Samurai before getting some food. What a great day. Luckily Thom had a rant at the guy at the booking office for the bus so we didn't have to pay extra to catch the bus tomorrow as they tried to force us to.
29 October, Sunday... Second time lucky and having learnt our lesson we headed out 30 minutes early to catch the bus today. The bus arrived after about 10 minutes, picked us up and promptly left. Must remember this in future. We went to Queenstown today via a Salmon farm where the coach decided to stop for half an hour despite the fact it was only just over an hours drive in total. Checked in and went to check out the town. There seem to be a lot of bars here and a lot of shops offering adventure sports. Oh, and a lake and some mountains. The mountains are called 'The Remarkables' which I think is a
fantastic name as they are really quite remarkable. Time for dinner and the Pizza Hut buffet deal for $14.90 seemed rather tempting. This left us both feeling rather ill but happy that we'd stuffed our faces so we went to the hostel to rest our bellies. Two more movies later and I'm starting to think I'm not making the most of my time in New Zealand. How many movies and lazy days have I had so far? Must try to do something tomorrow...
30 October, Monday... Had a nice lie in. Woke up, watched some telly, read some of me book and decided to take the plunge (quite literally) by booking a bungy jump. Seeing as how I've come all this way I decided to do it properly and rather than the 43m bridge bungy opted for the 134m
Nevis jump. Except it wasn't very busy and we were the only two people booked on that afternoon so they didn't do the trip. Unperturbed by this unfortunate turn of events we shifted that jump to tomorrow and went for a
Canyon Swing instead. It's a 60m freefall followed by a swing in a 200m arc and it was super cool.
I did it backwards because I am super cool. Photos on the flickr site in the Queenstown set but I can't upload on this pc at the mo. I got very nervous beforehand but actually it was fine. No really it was. Looking forward to the bungy tomorrow.
31 October, Tuesday... Today we had decided to check out, do the bungy and head to Milford Sound. Except we didn't. We paid for an extra night here instead as, as always, travel times and tours aren't really suited to what we want to do and when. Anyway. Got to see the second half of Man City and Boro on the tv (ooh yeah) and some highlights. Then off we toddled to the town where we had to sign all manner of disclaimers and get weighed up before taking a rather long bus journey to the bungy site, stopping only for some 'roadworks' which appeared to be clearing a rockfall.
Everyone started out in the coach very cocky but as the bus carried on up the 45 degree incline road people started to notice the distance between us and the valley floor. At the top we had a view of the platform. A cable car suspended above a valley with some bungy ropes hanging over the side. Then screaming. Someone jumped off and we all realised 134m is a long way to fall. Back came the nerves. A short ride on a rickety transport took us out over the valley so we could see the previously hidden floor and as we waited I poked fun at Thom for having to go as one of the first (they go in order of heaviest to lightest) until I realised my wait would just build my nervous anticipation.
Anyway. I was a brave little boy and I jumped off that ledge. I got it kinda wrong and went from horizontal (stomach towards the floor) to the other horizontal (back to the floor) but I righted myself in the end and had my head pointed downwards. This is top and I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a heart condition.
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