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Dart River
That really was the colour of the water (thanks to rock flour from the glaciers reflecting the light differently) I was lucky enough to swing two whole days off both works this week so making the absolute most of my time off i decided to get some more adventures rolling on.....
First stop....canyon swinging on the worlds highest swing. Turned out to be a great way to clear a hangover! Vital stats of the swing: a freefall of 60m/200ft down into the Shotover canyon then the ropes smoothly pendulum you into a giant 200m arc at 150kph....translated as a little scary but wicked fun! Having no choice about what jump style they were going to make me do i was first strapped into a garden chair and then teatered backwards on the edge of the platform until wooooaaaahhhhh my balance was tipped and off i went, phew what a rush! Sceond time, hand buzzing after being tricked into a cheeky electric shock by the canyon boys, i did the 'pin drop' where all i had to do was hop off the platform...sounds easy eh. after a moment of wimpyness off i went! Not as scary as the bungy, nothing has quite beaten the adrenalin rush i got from that, but fantastic fun!
Second stop.....river surfing. Like white
canyon swing
Didnt your mother warn you not to swing on your chair?! Thats a 200ft freefall drop waiting for me... water rafting only no raft in sight just a puny little body board! something i've been wanting to since some crazy alaskans recommended it in Paihia. Reminising to days of surfing the beaches with dad in France and brushing off warnings that it was really hard work and you should be at your best i decided to prepare myself for the challenge being having a big night out on the town with the boys and girls. The morning canyon swing cleared my head quick sucessfully though so got wetsuited up and jumped in the river. A quick training session, basically don't drown do have fun, and we set off down the Kararau River for a 6 km surf, encountering grade three rapids on new zealands longest commercially run rapids. Along the way we learnt to surf standing waves, ride whirlpools, lose boards, hit rocks with knees very hard and ride backwards all whilst not drowning! Failed completely to master 'squirting' where you press the front of the board down and catch the underwater currents and fly underwater....i just succeded in getting a face full of water! Then we had the chance to do it all again.....never one to bail out
river surfing
A bit of a cheat i'm afraid this is a nicked photo and i'm not in it but you get the idea. in i went for more punishment. All in all a fantastic trip, physically exhausting, pretty terrifying at points, but brilliant fun.
Met some great aussie guys on the trip who were as much in need of a beer as me when we finished so we rocked up into town, ate some great pizza (cranberry, chicken and brie mmmm) and played the night away. Deciding to do the tourist thing we got coated up and headed into Minus 5 The Ice Lounge....a bar made completely from ice.... the walls, the seats, the sculptures, even the glasses! A cocktail and a vodka luge (see picture) later we headed back into the real world....first time Queenstown has seemed warm for a while!
Feeling decidedly foggy the next morning and aching all over from the river surfing, the sofa was as far as i managed to get. Pulling myself together i booked me and Hippo the hostel mascot on a jet boat trip for the afternoon in one of the most beautiful places around here with Dart River Wilderness Adventures, a small and delightful company who fed me 'a high country stockman's bbq lunch' before taking the group out on the river
ice bar
Ice luging...vodka in top,down inside the ice head into the silly punter! through mountains, forests, wilderness and bucket loads of Lord of The Rings 'Middle Earth' fodder. Racing through braded rivers in glacially cut valleys we oooed and ahhhed at the stunning scenery of Mount Aspiring National Park with it's towering snow capped peaks, aqua waters and gorgeous glaciers, and enjoyed being in Paradise for the afternoon...no joke there really is a place here called Paradise!
And so back to the real world again (well, as real as it gets round here) and another 36 hour shift at the hotel. Hope you enjoy the photos, maybe they will entice some of you people over to new zealand to come and play! Hope you are all well and enjoying the spring, Claire xxx
ps Message to rachel; it's great to see your little mesages on the comments bit, thanks for being such an avid blog reader my geoggers pal! And thanks to everyone else who i know is still keeping an eye on us out here!
And to mum, dont worry i've no time off booked for another week so cant do anymore crazy stuff for a while 😊
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marcy marc
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i'm not jealous at all
yeah right. i got to be in work solid. yeah !! lifes so fair. sorry for no blogs from me of late but i've really done nothing of note. hopefully that will change soon. take care. marc