Going crazy in the extreme sports capital of the world

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Day 172: Thursday 18th December - A final Kiwi Experience party in Queenstown

It’s only an hour’s drive from Wanaka to Queenstown, New Zealand’s party capital and quite probably the world’s extreme adventure sport capital. Before we head to the centre of Queenstown we stop at Kawarau Gorge. The ‘K’ gorge is the site of the first commercial bungy operation, started by AJ Hackett in 1988. After watching a video on the history of bungy jumping, a number of people on the bus opt to jump the 40 metres from the bridge. It’s a beautiful spot to do your first bungy jump, but I’m still sticking to jumping from the Nevis highwire, Queenstown’s highest jump at 134 metres. After the disappointment of the cancelled skydive and being high on adrenaline still, I try to change either my bungy jump or canyon swing to this afternoon without any luck.

After watching everyone jump successfully - albeit one girl, Rose has to be pushed off - we drive on to Queenstown to get a final group photo by Lake Wakatipu. The theme of our photo is cross-dressing, so the boys have to swap clothes with the girls and everyone looks ridiculous, but it’s a good laugh. I spend the afternoon walking around the busy Queenstown, which seems much busier than a town of 15,000 people. I guess it’s all the tourists swelling the numbers as its probably the tourist capital of the South Island. I bump into so many people off my old Kiwi bus who are still in Queenstown, we swap stories from the last week and I agree to meet up with many of them in the bar later. I re-book my skydive for tomorrow afternoon, which means that with a bungy jump and a skydive it’s going to be one adrenaline fuelled day tomorrow! I also check out Fergburger, famed around these parts for the quality of its burgers. It doesn’t disappoint, the burgers are huge and it’s easy to see why a number of its more illustrious multi-national competitors no longer trade in Queenstown.

To celebrate our arrival in Queenstown and due to the fact that everyone on the bus will go their separate ways over the coming days we have a final Kiwi bus party. We start proceedings in the hostel bar with a Jagertrain. The bar is lined with about 30 Jagerbombs (a shot of Jager and redbull), the shot glass balancing above the glass of redbull. The first shotglass is then knocked over and this in turn knocks all the other shots into the glasses. The Jagerbomb is then followed by numerous 2 for 1 beers,, which later turn into 2 for 1 wines when they run out of beer.....this is going to end up being messy!!
The bar is full with people from both Kiwi buses that I’ve been on. I’ve met some great people on both buses (the Manchester boys, Lee, Denise, Rich, Rebecca, Cookie, Candice, Lea, Charlotte, Naomi, the American boys, Team Canada, Henrik, Fran, Joanie Ian.....the list goes on and on and I can’t be bothered to type any more names). The people I’ve met along with the cost and ease of the transport have been the good things about Kiwi Experience. The downside has been the pace of travel (that’s mainly my fault for not building in more time) and if you’re not doing any of the activities you just end up hanging about in random places waiting for others. All in all I would recommend it to others, but I prefer travelling independently still simply because it’s more flexible and on your terms.

The world bar is the next and last bar of the night. You can buy teapots filled with cocktails here, which just has to be done. I try to get a second, but the queue at the bar is horrendous and I give up and decide to go back to the hostel instead. The queue was probably for the best as I am more than a bit tipsy. There is still time for a visit to Fergburger on the way home.

Day 173: Friday 19th December - “One bungy jump is enough”

Get up at 10.30am, as late as possible before I have to go for my bungy jump. I’m feeling rough this morning, this is a good and bad thing - on one hand its stopping me think about my bungy jump but on the other I’d much rather be in bed still. I meet Jonas, from Sweden and off my Kiwi bus downstairs. We’d agreed yesterday to do the jump together. We walk along the road, check-in and then we spend what seems like an age waiting for the bus to take us up to the gorge where the Nevis highwire is located. I’m not looking forward to my bungy jump, I want to get it over and done with as there’s something not quite right about throwing yourself off a ledge 134 metres above the ground!! Still on the 45 minute bus journey there I’m preoccupied with nursing my hangover rather than getting too nervous ahead of the jump.

We arrive at the gorge, get into our safety equipment and then cross to the middle of the gorge for our jump. There are another three people jumping besides me and Jonas in our group. Looking down from the Nevis platform to what seems a tiny river in the gorge below my nerves are starting to increase. It’s only when I get into the ‘dentist’s chair’ to fit all my harnesses and bungy cord that I start to get really nervous and that my underpants start to change colour! I don’t wait about when they say I can jump. I’m straight off thinking to myself “let’s get this over and done with”. My bungy jump is more of a stumble than a jump as I barely clear the ledge, my legs frozen with nerves. I end up falling feet first for the first part of my jump before the cord flips me over and I descend the rest of the eight and a half second freefall the more conventional head first. I can’t even scream for the first few seconds, again overcome by fear and incomprehension of what I’m doing throwing myself off a 134m high ledge, the seventh highest bungy jump in the world. The next few seconds I scream a few profanities but I’m still falling when my voice gives way!! This is one high jump, one scary fall. I bounce a couple of times before I’m supposed to activate a release mechanism which flips me over and will allow me to ascend head first back from whence I came. I can’t manage to activate this so I end up going back up the more uncomfortable feet first. I’m so pleased to be back on the ledge, and even more so when we get back across to terra firma.... I think I’m still shaking from the ordeal but I’m so full of adrenaline I can’t really tell!! My opinion on bungy jumping: never, never again. I can’t say I enjoyed the experience but I’m still pleased I did it. It’s all in the head....all about having the courage to jump to what your brain is telling you is your death even though logic and past safety records suggest otherwise.

I’m still a mess on the bus journey back to Queenstown. I can’t work out if it’s the drink or the bungy jump that is causing this!! Back in Queenstown I get the obligatory Fergburger before going to check-in for my skydive. I’m feeling much better after my Fergburger, and ready to tackle the skydive. I’m looking forward to this one as we get briefed in the office ahead of driving out to the airfield. Let’s hope its third time lucky in my pursuit to skydive. At the airfield I’m told i can’t jump from 15,000 feet due to cloud cover and that I’ll have to go from 12,000 feet. It’s cheaper but means you get 15 seconds less freefall. I guess it’s no big deal although I would have preferred to jump from 15,000 feet. We get called through to get kitted out - by jumpmaster is going to be Alex from Brazil. He takes me and the two other people who will be jumping at the same time through what is going to happen and what to do and now all that’s left to do is watch the group ahead of us float down to earth. As they land there is a lot of commotion and consultation among the jumpmasters. After discussion amongst themselves they tell us that they are calling off the rest of the jumps for the afternoon due to the windy conditions which are making the landing too dangerous. So close, yet so far. Fourth time lucky maybe?? The weather conditions were a bit overcast and I’d rather do it on a perfect sunny day and from 15,000 feet so it’s not the end of the world. On arrival back in Queenstown I rebook for tomorrow but the weather forecast is for rain so I’m not getting my hopes up, especially after the last three days!

The evening is a quiet affair. I was going to stop in to give my liver a rest after last night, but after bumping into a couple of the Manchester lads in the afternoon I agree to meet up with them for a couple of cheeky beers on the night as its their last night. I don’t manage to stay out too long as I’m still shattered after last night.

Day 174: Saturday 20th December - “If swings were this good when I was little I’d never have left the playground”

I could do with a lie in, all these high intensity activities are taking it out of me. Instead, I have to get along the road to register for my canyon swing for 11am. The canyon swing is similar to a bungy jump, it’s a 60 metre freefall and then instead of falling vertically you swing across the canyon in an arc at 150km an hour. The swing is high too, not quite as high as the Nevis highwire, but still a respectable 109 metres above the canyon floor. The weather is shocking as we drive up, it’s raining heavily which means my chances of skydiving later this afternoon are somewhere between slim and non-existent. For some reason - and I blame yesterday’s ordeal on the bungy jump - I’m not looking forward to this as much as I should. I’m no way as nervous as I was before my bungy jump but I’m still a little apprehensive.

The swing turns out to be so much fun. You can choose between different jump styles for your swing. I’m first in our group to go and choose ‘The Chair’. This involves being strapped to a garden chair which is then placed on the edge of the ledge. You then rock it back and forth until you reach the point of no return whereupon you fall below into the canyon. I do this and I am just about to fall off the edge when the two guys operating the swing mess with my head and hold me back telling me that they weren’t ready. I repeat the rocking motion again before being held back for the second time. All this rocking back and forth on a chair without doing anything makes me feel like they portray mental health patients in the movies!! Just as I’m getting a bit tired with the guys’ antics after stopping me twice and prolonging the agony they end up releasing the rope just when I don’t expect it. I fall down backwards into the canyon below, with a garden chair strapped to my backside, doing a few somersaults in the process. I must look ridiculous to any passers-by!! The adrenaline rush is awesome and the swinging motion after the freefall is much more pleasurable than a bungy jump. The guys running the thing also make it more fun by messing about with you.

The swing’s so good and with my chances of skydiving later looking remote I ask to do another swing once the rest of the group has done their canyon swing. With ‘the chair’ being rated only as a 3 out of 5 scary rating I’m going to go the whole hog and go for a 5 out of 5 jump. I also want a comedy factor to the jump, just like my last one, so I opt to do the ‘Bin Laden’. This jump isn’t advertised, it’s one of their specials but our Kiwi bus driver Steve has told us all about it. The jump involves placing a rubbish bin over your head which has a drawing of Osama’s face on the front for comedy value. I put the bin over my head and then inch along the platform to the edge of the ledge. I can’t see anything bar my feet so it doesn’t help when the guys running the show tell me that I’m about to fall off the ledge as I’m too close to it! They further mess with your head by telling you that you’re not harnessed in yet and other rubbish like that. By the time you’re stood with your back to the canyon on the ledge, you’re in no mood to follow their instruction to place one foot under the ledge. Just when you don’t expect it they push you off backwards and not being able to see where you’re going does make it all the more scary, but it’s still a lot of fun. I preferred ‘The Chair’ jump, it was more fun but the ‘Bin Laden’ jump definitely lived up to its scary rating and was well worth the extra dollars I paid for it. I end up getting the videos of both jumps, so if you want a laugh and see what I’m rambling on about then have a look on my facebook page. I agree with one customer’s comment in the promotional material for the canyon swing.....”If swings were this much fun when I was little I’d never have left the playground”.

I get back into Queenstown at around 1pm and with it still raining I go to the skydiving office to get confirmation that the skydive is cancelled. They tell me to come back in an hour when the next weather check is going to be done. In the meantime I follow my usual afternoon routine of getting a Fergburger - I’m going to miss these burgers when I move on from Queenstown tomorrow. An hour later and the skydive is predictably cancelled for the fourth day in a row, It’ll have to wait until 2009 and Australia. The rest of the afternoon I spend on the internet and hanging about doing not a great deal as its still raining outside. I’d like to have explored the beautiful scenery around Queenstown but in heavy rain, no thanks!!

Most of my kiwi experience bus is taking part in pub golf this evening. This involves dressing up in golf gear and drinking 9 different drinks in 9 bars in the least number of ‘gulps’ possible. The drinks range from wine to beer to Guinness to shots and even a teapot of cocktail in the world bar. It’s going to be messy and as I have a bus early tomorrow morning and can do without the expense of getting some golf gear I opt to watch from the sidelines, drinking at a more leisurely pace. This is the plan, but on the way down to the hostel bar which is ‘Hole one’ I bump into Jo who invites me on a pub crawl. She and six friends can go at the discounted rate of $20Z (8 pounds), getting free drinks in six different bars. Sounds fun and when I get down to the bar, Meghan and Ran an Israeli guy I did the Franz Josef glacier hike with are also there so I know 3 people out of the Stray bus crowd already. So much for a quiet night though, that’s the ‘Queenstown effect’ for you. Most of the free drinks end up being shots which everyone downs in one so you end up having to buy drinks in most bars, so the $20 isn’t the steal it appears to be. The night is a lot of fun, its good catching up with Jo, Meghan and Ran. Although they’re not on my Kiwi bus I’m as good friends with them as anyone on the Kiwi bus as we’ve run into each other that many times coming down South Island. Having a last teapot in the World Bar is a must as is having a Volcano cocktail in one of the other bars. I call it a night reluctantly in the early hours. I’ve still got my sensible head on (just!!), and with my bus departing in less than 7 hours bed it is. It’s a shame in a way because Queenstown’s nightlife lives up to its billing as being the best in New Zealand.

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