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Published: January 16th 2010
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Boo hoo, no skydiving in Wanaka due to bad weather but I have happily spent a good part of the last 5 days throwing myself off of whatever ledge, bridge, cliff or waterfall happened to be there. For an adrenaline junkie like me, its been my kind of fun and a week I could relive a million times over and over.
Next stop since my last blog... Wanaka, a small chill ski town reminding me of McCall, Idaho set on a beautiful lake. We got a pretty nice day upon arrival.. just a few clouds that kept me from jumping out of a plane. Was planning to stay for a couple of days, but since I’d been traveling with the same group for over a week and made some great friends, I decided to go on with the group after just one night. The night was awesome though, as my new friend, Sheron from Ireland & I were the last two people to get a seat in Cinema Paradiso to see Avatar. Wow! That movie rocks... I can’t wait to see it again. Plus, the cinema was recommended by Monty who came here 5 years ago and wants to own one
just like it someday. Comfy old couches fill the place with room for about 75. Plus, a VW bug sits in the corner with room for 4 movie goers looking for the “drive-in” feel. The best part was intermission when everyone races for their spot in line for the biggest & best hot homemade cookies you’ve ever tasted! Yum. I’m in babe, lets open a cinema!
On to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. If you can think of any and all ways to get your blood pumping faster or scare the shit out of you, you can find those activities in Queenstown. Plus, the wicked nightlife will have you jumping from bar to bar with your mates taking advantage of the cheap drink specials and sharing bungy, skydive & canyon swing stories. Its drinks & dancing by night... then scare the hangover away by day. That’s pretty much how it goes. The town reminds me of Whistler in the summer, only cooler 😊. Immediately upon arriving, the bus stopped at the AJ Hackett Bungy at Kawarau Bridge, the first bungy in the world. I couldn’t help myself, so I signed up and threw myself off a bridge. Wow,
the rush was amazing... but man, it was over quick. I wanted to jump again right away and get dunked in the river, so I ran straight up the steep hill, past my mates who were cheering me on and asked about it, but the 2nd jump is almost as much as the 1st, so I declined. Bucket List: check.
Over the next 4 days, it was easy to stay busy in Queenstown.. shopping, eating, hanging in the sweet hostel, Nomads, with huge comfy red leather couches and fireplaces. The weather was crap for a couple of days, but hey, we are used to this by now. I didn’t know I needed my scarves, gloves and down jackets for summer in NZ, but with this unusual cold front & weather in the 40s (F), they would have come in handy. Especially for the day, Timo and I went canyoning... for those of you who don’t know what canyoning is... basically you hike to the top of a canyon and work your way down in the river by tramping & swimming through rapids, jumping off cliffs, zooming down waterfall slides, abseiling and ziplining. With recent snow in the mts., the water
Canyon Swing, Queenstown... the best heart-pumping fun ever!!!
...this jump was for monty's 30th... i love him so much i threw myself off a canyon wall... sweet as :) was a bone-chilling 4 degrees C (about 38 F I think), so we renamed the activity ice-canyoning. Even the guides were complaining as the water is at least 10 degrees warmer on most days. It was the coldest 2 hours of my life... even with a thick 7/6 wetsuit, I couldn’t feel my hands at all and trying to talk had me slurring, as my lips were frozen solid. It really was fantastic fun, but I’m pretty sure I’m younger now because I was literally frozen in time.
Next day, Canyon Swing.... weeeeeeeeeaaaahhhhhhhhoooooohhhhhhhhhssshiit. Most of you have seen the videos, so I won’t go too much into detail about this. It was absolutely perfect crazy wicked insane fun and I could do it all day every day if I had the chance! 106 meter canyon, 60 meter freefall, then 200 meter swing at 150km per hour. times 2! 😊 Plus, there was about 5 of my mates on the ledge, also doing the swing... we cheered each other on and picked different ways to jump... it was super good fun indeed! My heart is still pumping from the rush!
A beautiful hike to the top of the Gondola with Maria
and Sheron topped off a wonderful time in Queenstown. Wooh, I’m ready for some downtime. Off to Mt. Cook...
A little Kiwi, a little English, a little Irish...
FUN NEW LINGO... MEANING
mate... friend
brilliant... excellent
wicked... f*#%ing excellent
sweet as=... fine by me
as good as gold... the best
wanker... idiot
muppet... brainless idiot
ah, bless you... good on you/ my sympathies are with you
fancy... like
heaps... loads
fuddy pucket... toilet
rubbish bin... garbage can
bloody... to intensify (slightly less offensive than f*#%ing)
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