Your brain dosn't want to jump down a canyon

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The day after my last post I went cannoying. While it was very fun I was a little disapointed that there were alomost no water slides we could go down, a lot less opportunities to jump down cliffs and a lot more abseiling than the website made it seem. The guide told us that this is, because the canyon changed during the covid years and the jumps and slides they used to go down are not save anymore, so there is abseiling instead. Which also meant longer waittimes, because abseiling ten people takes longer than all of them jumping down. It was still very fun and a great experience with amazing views. A week later I was supposed to go river surfing but because I mixed up the dates I had work that day. Luckily they were able to fit me in another week later. So ten days ago six others, two guides and I made our way to the river with amazing weather. Equipped with wet suits, finns, a helmet and a board we entered the river. After some training, that was a lot harder than the riversurfing itself, we made our way down the river. During the first rapid I was doing amazing, having the time of my life at the front of the group. But during the secound one I drifted to far to the side because my board kept sliding out from under me, so one of the guides tried to pull me over which led to me falling fully of the board and getting thrown around by the waves. Right in time for the third guide to take a picture from the shore. There is also a lot more body contact with strangers in riversurfing than expected, since the water will constantly push you into each other. One of the other girls was going to send me her gopro fotoage but lost the camera when jumping down a cliff right before the end. When I arrived back in town I went and made bookings for more activities. Last wednesday I went and did the Hydroattack Shark ride. You sit in a little shark shaped boat that dives under water and then jupms its entire 6m length out of the water in a 90 degree angle. It was so much fun and totally worth the money if you ask me, eventhough that seems to be an unpopular opinion. Then just a few days ago I did the canyon swing. You freefall 65m from a 100m high platform into a canyon and the swing back and forth before they pull you back up. While the freefall is absolutely horrifying the swinging is one of the greatest experiences ever. Which is why I decided to add on a second swing after doing the first. For my first swing I did something called lucky dip, where you sit down in your safty strab, they move you away from the platform on a crane like arm and you have three straps you can pull, but only one will make you fall. Which seemed like a great idea at first until I had to take one of my hands of my "lifeline" in order to a strap. Scared that I wouldn't be able to grab it again I refused to do it until the guide and I compromised that we will do them in turns. After I pulled the second cord and still not fallen I knew the last one would make me fall which led to my brain not allowing me to take my hand of the "lifeline" to pull it. It was like trying to put your hand on a hot stove. The worst part is that the guides knowing you are scarred for your life will play with you as form of entertainment. For my second swing I wanted to just do the forward jump, wich according to the creens with all the jump possibilities was the least scarry one. They were wrong. Because to do this you have to actively overwrite your brain trying to keep you alive. It didn't matter that I had savely done it just ten minutes ago, my brain was convinced I am going to die. So instead of making to big steps and jumping of the guides had to heavily convince me to even step up to the edge and the I needed another minute or so to finally bring myself to take a tiny step over the edge so I could swing down. While I've never been so scared in my live, it was one of the greatest experiences ever and I will totally do it again. During quiet times at reception I've been planing what I'll be doing when my contract at the hostel ends. My plan is to make a few more stops on the south island and the go up to the north island where I'll hopefully work in another haka hostel. Besides that I've booked my flights for when I leave New Zealand. On my way home I plan to make stops in Australia, Bali, Thailand and Vietnam. While the flights are booked I'm still deciding on what things I actually want to do and see.

After a few rainy and cold days last week, the sun is shining in Queenstown again and the temperatures are back up. Which invides to read and have lunch or dinner at the lake. Besides that I have made several visits to the bead shop, to make a atching bracelet and earring set. I'll propably go back to finish the set with a necklace.

My collegues and I have now moved from our four bed dorms into one big eight bed dorm. The biggest challenges here are lack of storage space, a tiny window as the only air supply where we removed some screws to open it more than 10cm and the fact that one of our nightmanagers is in the room with us, meaning there is hardly ever a window bigger than 4h without anyone sleeping in the room. Since we can't access the staff room anymore due to renovations this makes it very dificult to find a quiet place for phonecalls etc. Alice bought a car which is great because now we can go on daytrips and grocery shopping will be a lot easier.

I am also writing applications for uni and am trying to figure out what I will do with my life when I'm back in germany.

That's all for today, I'll let you know when something exiting happens.

Stay save

PS: wrote this on the work computer, so pictures will follow

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