'I fly', 'No Petrie, you fall'

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Into the blue, or perhaps out of it, our never-ending quest to take part in just about anything the world could throw at us took another step forward this week when the world threw us 140ft straight down. At the 'World Home of Bungy' we, rather heroically I felt, lept off a bridge with nothing but a giant elastic band and a hangover to keep us company. It was an early winter morning when we and 8 other surreptitiously quiet nutters felt the need to wake up New-Zealand style. We'd only been in the country about 23hrs and most off that had been spent delayed at Auckland airport so we were eager to get going and see what all the fuss was about. And what a fuss.

'You go first'
'No you'

Whined the butch looking Americans as we sauntered past them and made our way for the bridge, Nic trailing slightly behind it has to be said. So that when we finally made our way to the platform all others had conveniently vanished into the background, but they were happy to cheer us on as the first lucky jumpers, how thoughtful. There wasn't much to fear, however, as out qualified instructor was all the way from Glasgow and we were sure that if others had understood the safety instructions with that accent then us, who'd had some practice with its lilted nuances and witty repartee, would be fine. In fact he assured us that he'd been working here for almost a month and so was almost a veteran.

'Five'
'Four'
'Three'
'Two'
'One'
'Jump'

'Sorry, did you say 'Jump'?'
'YES'
'Oh Ok, AAAAAAAHHHHHH .....'

Heart pounding, rush of air, blood coursing headwards, river getting scarily close .... TWANG .... 'WEEeeeeeeeeeee!'

And everything in reverse (cept breakfast, thankfully). River getting smaller, head going upwards.

And ... down again.

It went on like this for a wee while and after some pole grabbing and help from two blokes in a dingy we were safe again, heading back up the stairs just in time to check out the overpriced DVD and laugh at the feartie cats that hadn't summoned the courage yet.

The sensation could best described by Nic's response to the man in the dingy's request to 'Look at your feet'. She responded, rather hesitantly 'Where are they'. Nuff said

Our visit to Queenstown was short and sweet, we'd be back later due driving conditions so we felt we could leave it there and head to Christcurch - the largest city on the South Island. Many have suggested that it's the most 'English' city in New Zealand and that would perhaps be true if the only part of England they had visited was Milton Keans. Its Cathedral is tiny and there can only be about 10 building across the city that in anyway resemble 'Old England'. In fact we took a little smug pleasure in pointing out that one of these looked more like a highland hunting lodge than an old English village. This is not to say that the city isn't without a little charm, but people do seem desperate to cling onto something that just isn't there. We were hoping that we would see New Zealand culture and New Zealand traditions, not some bad mock up of OxBridge covered in references to Welsh legends.

Time to move and move we would. It was time to pick up the bright orange box of goodies from another planet. Our Spaceship would be kitted out with cooker (ish), water supply, double bed (again ish), amply storage space and our own personnel cinema - now if I could just find somewhere to park.

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