White water rafting, kiwi's and fergburgers

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SO, i survived the higest bungy jump in NZ. Its called Nevis, and is a 134 m plummit. I arrived at the spot in a small van full of people, at probably 10am. Lucky me, i got to 'test it out' to make sure it was 'safe for everyone else.' Aka, i got to go first. Which i was totally fine with until i got onto the friggin small platform, looked over the edge and saw just how high i was. The difference between this and skydiving is that when skydiving, you know your falling but nothing gets a lot closer as quickly. its more like falling through molasis compared to water.

And as things would have it, as i was working up my courage to go plummting, the guy working there gave me a bit of a nudge, which sent me going over the edge. i gave a half hearted jump (trying to salvage it, and failing), and pretty much screamed the whole way down. the best bit was, i was screaming at the guy who pushed me, and not actually because i was plummting down 134m in 7sec. What a duche eh ? I was planning on also going to nevis arc, the highest swing in the world, if i could get someone to tandum with me. Unfortunatly, no one really wanted to do it after doing bungy, so i missed out on that 😞

Less then 40mins after being dropped back off at station, i was next door waiting for my white water rafting to get a move on. While that was happening, i popped off across the street and curcumb to the leggings trend. Because it really is cold here, they fit under pretty much anything, and they were on sale. It turns out that we needed to take a helicopter ride from the rafting lodge (7 people all dressed in fullbody wetsuits probably smells pretty bad in a heli) to get to where we were going to start our rafting. The idea was that we would end up at the lodge at the very end. I was the only peson not in a couple or a large group, but i was soon adopted by a younger couple and a pair of honey-mooners. so it worked well. we had our own little raft with our guide Grant, which looked an aweful lot like the lead singer from nickleback. We were the last boat, and not to brag or anything, but we were the ones with the most power. Probably because we could paddle in sync (i wish i was kidding, but we did a lot less paddling then all the other boats, and you could see them whacking their paddles against one another as they tried to row). We were also the boat who would be most likely to rescue people we were told. In one of the boats, another honey-mooning couple fell out, and had to be dragged back onto their rafts. When we heared that someone had fallen out, the young couple (who were british) immediatly said it was probably some of the american girls who fell out (there were about 7 americans in their own raft). i thought that was pretty funny. that, and the fact that i was the only one without a proper name in the raft. i was known as canada. Woot!

Turns out that the americans were a girl scout troops, heading around the island for 3 weeks. and then heading home. i was talking to one of the leaders in the sauna, and she was surprised that i was doing the whole thing by myself (i had told her i was a gg when we first started talking). It was odd, as she was a lot more fearful about things then i was. and had thought about stuff i had never considered. Like stuff being taken in sucha way, being gang raped, etc. I told her i was here adventuring, and that stuff didnt fit into my definition.

On monday, i went to the kiwi and birdlife reserve in Queenstown. I got to see a ton of local birds and plant life, learn about them, and even see a real live kiwi! And man, are they HUGE! Think the size of a rugby ball people. About 1/3 of their weight is in their legs, which are pretty big, and their feathers looks more like fine hair which someone took the time to electricute. They have very long beaks (the female has a slightly larger one) which they probe into the soil looking for insects and earthworms. they have nostrols right on the end, which allows them to smell underground. The keeper said that their also aggressive, with powerful kicks (esp considering they have sharp talons, thats right, TALONS) and body slams, which they use to defend their territory. they might be thought to be helpless little things, but they have quite a temper. the female (because the male was on their egg) chased the keeper out of the encloser before she would have any of the food. it was pretty wild.

I had a fergburger that day. also well known by any in NZ, and i was told that i absolutely had to go there. The place was popular, with a 10 min wait for a fresh burger, and its own clothing line. and when anything has its own underwear and bathrobe, you know that its reached stardone. i will admit, the burger was pretty good, but it made me miss alberta beef, because it just wasnt the same...

I was origionally planning on going to Milford Sound (apparently one of the most beautiful places in NZ) today, and i woke up early for my bus. Turns out that the bus was not going to be taking anyone to milford that day, as there was snow covering the road, and the bull dozers (yes, bull dozers not snow blowers) were having a hard time removing the snow. so we should try for tomorrow. which is exactly what i'm doing. i went and got some errands done today, have started to read my bill bryson novel (i exchanged shakespeare for it, having given up without a teacher to help me muddle through it). dont know what else there is to do that i havent done that doesnt cost an arm and a leg here. it IS tuesday, which means cheap movie tuesday at cinemas...maybe i'll see a movie or something.

Ps. if people want to send me their snail mail addies, i will do my best to make sure that everyone gets a little something from my trip. i think some people already know what i'm talking about, and a few more should too in the next few days....MAH HA HA HA HA

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