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Published: March 26th 2008
I can't really remember what I did at Makaroa so it couldn't have been that good... I think I must have been preserving my energy for the next day. I decided that I would bite the bullet and do a skydive over one of the most beautiful locations in the world, Lake Wanaka. Three others also decided to do the jump so I was quite happy that I had some company on the way up in the plane. It was all over and done with quite quickly. They kitted us out in some comedy, clown-style jump suit and then rigged up the harnesses. The plane was tiny and crammed eight of us in sitting on each others' knees. The views were spectacular on the way up and I wasn't really feeling nervous about the jump until they opened the plane door and the first person jumped out - I could see him falling like a little rag doll! I didn't have enough time to get properly nervous though as we were next - the guy I was jumping with was shuffling me towards the edge of the plane and a few seconds later my legs were dangling into mid air. I
can't really explain what happened after that as it happened so fast but I think it was a couple of seconds of being really scared followed by a euphoric feeling that I was falling at 200kph or terminal velocity through thin air.... I seemed to stop worrying about the parachute opening and just enjoyed the 45 second fall. When the parachute opened the ride was totally different - a bit more like the hang gliding except for the spinning!! I do think it would have been a totally different experience if I had to rely on myself to open the parachute - but you do have complete trust in the expert who has done thousands of jumps - he said 15-20 per day. When we touched down the first thing I said was that I wanted to go back up and do it again! What an awesome experience - I really think everyone should do one!
We didn't stop over in Wanaka unfortunately, instead we travelled through to Queenstown. I really liked Queenstown. A very small and trendy resort totally geared around tourism. it is nestled in by a lake and surrounded by mountains. It reminded me a bit
of Chamonix but not quite as spectacular (it's hard to beat) I was very tempted by some of the bungy jumps and speed boat rides but after the skydive I thought it wise to keep the purse strings drawn tight and just enjoy the town. It was St Patricks day the next day so we enjoyed getting dressed up in green and celebrating in the pubs overlooking the river. After the skydive we passed a bridge which is about 13-15 metres above a very deep river. It was a hot day so our driver said if any of us fancied we could jump off to cool down. I was so pumped from the skydive that I decided I would see how high it was and maybe jump. We must have looked a bit crazy all these people running round by the side of the road jumping over the bridge barrier. It was very high but I thought i'd do it anyway (the only girl who did I might add!!) I hit the water fine - I just didn't expect it to be SO COLD!!!! It literally took my breath away and i couldn't talk or breathe very well for about
2 minutes!! That'll teach me!
After Queenstown it was time to loop the south of the island. We would return to in 5 days to Queenstown. A few of the boys from the bus are trying to persuade me to do the Canyon Swing. I said I would think about it. We stayed over next in a place called Tutapere (the sausage capital of NZ) where people were given the option of shearing some sheep - I declined - I didn't really want to pay for the pleasure and it doesn't really appeal to me!
After Tutapere we drove out to Milford sound where we went on an overpriced cruise. Milford Sound was very pretty but we were told not as impressive as usual as there had been little rain over the past 3 weeks, which meant that a lot of the waterfalls had dried up. After the cruise we drove down to Invercargill. The less said about that place the better. A completely average town. I just read and caught up with some sleep! I think they stop here as you have an option to travel across to Stewart Island. I heard good things about it but didn't
want to pay the $160 extra to do it.
Dunedin was next - on the way over we stopped at a beach and saw some lazy sea lions. It's hard to comment on Dunedin as we arrived on Good Friday and pretty much everything was closed. It is supposed to be based on Edinburgh and the buildings were definitely the most architecturally pleasing i've seen in New Zealand but then again - that's not hard. I'm not sure about the comaprison to Edinburgh as I have only briefly visited but i'm not convinced. The next morning I was feeling a bit sluggish so thought I'd wake myself up with a run - at least that way I got to see a bit more of Dunedin as we were leaving at 10 in the morning to go back to Queenstown. Discovered I'm getting very unfit!!! Just before we left some of us walked up Baldwin Street - one of the steepest streets in the world, although you can't really tell from the photos!
Back in Queenstown I had my arm twisted to do the Canyon Swing. This is quite hard to explain but it is a platform at the
upside down
I don't actually remember going upside down!top of a cliff that you launch yourself off. You freefall for about a 100m where the swing catches you and then swings you out 200m over the canyon. It is a variety of bungy jump bit with wires rather than elastic and instead of bouncing back up you swing out - a lot of people say it is more scary than a bungy but I can't compare.... yet. The way I felt about doing this was completely different to how I felt about the parachute. For a start this is me on my own with no one attached.... secondly when you are freefalling so close to the ground and metres away from rocks it seems a lot more real than thousands of metres up in the sky. Once I had got my harness on I was petrified and kept on looking down realising how high it is! The guys who ran the swing were really mean and obviously enjoyed picking on vulnerable girls like me. There were a variety of ways that you can chose to jump off the cliff. You can fall forwards, backwards, swing back on a chair, lie on your back, be suspended upside down or
just sit up. They give all of the different jumping styles a rating of 1 to 5 (5 being the hardest) I decided that being brave enough to even do it there was no shame in doing a number 1 - lying back and looking at the sky so that I can't see the ground hurtling towards me! Somehow - the guys managed to convince me that doing the one I wanted to do wouldn't be advisable because I have poor eye sight and there could be a risk of detached retinas. They looked so serious when they told me the most advisable way to do it and least pressure on my eyes would be hanging upside down with my hands dangling in the air! I always have been really gullible!! (I went from rating 1 to 5!) Once I was in position they carried on being mean - they left me there for a good 5 minutes pretending to drop me but not actually doing it and when they eventually did, they did it mid sentence saying "whatever you do it is vital that you remember to......." how cruel! I really wasn't expecting it right then. The freefall lasted
about 6 seconds but felt longer. I actually felt in this time that I was going to die!! Once the swing caught me though it was really enjoyable! i'm so proud that I did it but I definitely won't be doing it again! The photos don't show the swing out - just the drop.
I'm currently in Christchurch just relaxing and trying not to spend any money before I head off to Australia tomorrow. I really have had the time of my life in New Zealand. It was everything and more than I expected! Time to start all over again in a new country tomorrow though. I'm very excited! and for the first time since I started my trip am up to date with my blog!
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