Off to the North Island
| Still In Christchurch |
|
Off to the North Island |
We are alive : 12 November 2003
|
|
We haven't fallen off the face of the planet, though we came close. 440 feet, to be exact. We have just returned from the highest bungy jump in New Zealand, the Nevis Highwire Bungy. You sit there on this gondola, suspended by cables 440 feet over this very rocky river gorge, and then you just jump out. It's insane, really. We both did it, but I had to go first, because it went in order of weight from heaviest to lightest. There's a video of me screaming obsenities as I plumet to near certain death, with only 3 inches of bungy cable connecting me to this little car. We had to take, literally, a 2 x 3 sized shopping cart looking thing out to a wire suspended little Gondola where we get harnessed in, guided to the edge then told to dive out. At first, mentally Andrea was fine, by the time she got to that edge, she was seriously questioning her sanity and her knees where wobbling, nevermind that the freezing wind was gusting in our faces...three, two ..one...dive out....wow, it was smooth and exilerating, you feel like a bird, off course you heading straight to the ground, but anyway..we survived. It was absolutely frightening, and absolutely wonderful, and we both would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone, should they get the chance. The downside is that our two attempts for the 15,000 foot fall from an airplane have both been canceled. The weather here is simply too unpredictable. It actually snowed last night up on the mountains around town. So we'll just have to wait for another opportunity (we hope on the North Island) to try killing ourselves once again. So we're on this Contiki tour... an experience we would definitely not recommend, unless you have a desire to spend your week vacation getting as drunk as you can every night, and being as absolutely obnoxious as you possibly can without regard for anyone else, either on the trip or in the places you visit. OK, so maybe it's not that bad, but it's close. There are a few people we've actually bonded with quite well, who are entirely reasonable. And it's not like we haven't cut loose a little and drank our share of New Zealand beer. And certainly there have been some wonderful moments. The first night, we stayed at this ski lodge resort on this lake in the middle of nowhere. The view was amazing, watching the sun set on Mount Cook (the tallest peak in the country). The next night was spent on a boat in the Milford Sound, an absolutely amazing place, filled with thousands of temporary waterfalls as the rain poured down on us. Glaciers and snow and ice on the rugged peaks surround us, and we went kayaking on the sound looking for penguins (who very cleverly ducked under the water and swam away from the tourists). The hotel we're staying at here in Queenstown is, once again, a lovely vacation lodge, with a nice shower and a beautiful view of the lake and the Remarkable Mountains. Yes, that's what they're called. No, really. What makes it uniquely Contiki, however, is the other people. On a package like this, we had only these two days in Queenstown, so everyone tried to book as many activities as they could. This is the "Adventure Capital" of New Zealand, so to speak, the birthplace of bungy, and home for just about anything, including river rafting, jet boating, skydiving, boarding down the rapids, and of course, all the winter sports unavailable at the moment. Only on a Contiki tour, however, do you have half the crew miss their activities from sleeping off their hangovers, just to wake up in time to hit the happy hour at the bar. Then come up to you and say, "When are you going to cut loose?" after you just jumped off a bridge. Go figure. I guess we're just too polite to ask "When are you going to sober up and realize what you're missing?" Another fun Contiki perk is the music they blast in the bus. It starts every day with the same song, allegedly to get everyone amped up. This, of course, seems a little silly as the rear half of the bus is sleeping off their hangovers. But it doesn't stop there. The music is loud and continuous. The worst part is that, Andrea and I both having iPods, we can't give them some good music to blast. It wouldn't be so bad with a little Justin Warfield.... The first night in Queenstown, we did go to this amazing dinner up this gondola overlooking the whole town. It wasn't the food, so much, though that was good. It was the view up there. You could see the whole lake, the mountains, the town, and watch the sun set. And it was before the bad weather blew in, so you could see everything. Not that the weather has been that bad. It's been a bit cold here, with this freezing wind that picks up (thus the lack of skydiving). Of course, all the locals are walking around in shorts and tee shirts because, after all, it's almost summer. I think the biggest adventure sport around town is braving the cold to make the tourists feel wimpy. We do have some more exciting activities planned. We're "heli-hiking" on Fox glacier tomorrow, if the weather is decent. They take you up the glacier in this helicopter, and find some cool spot to drop you down and explore, looking for ice-caves and giant crevases. The good thing is, if the weather does suck, at least we can still hike the glacier from the bottom. And unlike all the Austrialians on our tour, here for their one week holiday, we're actually prepared for stuff like this, with super-duper quick drying clothes, and custom fitted ultra-macho hiking boots and woolie socks. It's funny to see what people that are only going on a tour for a week or two bring that fills a larger suitcase than we have for a whole year. We do have some pictures that we'll be putting up sooner or later. And the video of our bungy jump will be making its way back to the states soon as well. It seemed a little silly to carry it around for a year, when it's NTSC and can't eve be played over here. Well that's it for now. We hope everyone is well, and hope to hear from you all soon. |
Replies: 4 comments
|
Um, hello? Did you purposefully just skip over me, here, in Micronesia??? I may not be able to offer you glaciers, or remarkably Remarkable Mountains, or bungee jumping, or, well, a host of other things that you'd surely rather be doing, but hey! We're both way out here in the Pacific! Posted by Monica @ 11/16/2003 06:12 PM PST |
|
No, we didn't skip you on purpose at all! Actually, we had these two tours already pre-arranged and haven't had any "explore" time for ourselves yet. But, we're planning to hit a couple highlights of the South Pacific from Australia. So, rest assured, we're going to try to make it to Micronesia at some point, either from Syndey, or a bit later from Singapore. We'll be sure to let you know when we get close! Posted by Robin @ 11/18/2003 07:00 PM PST |
|
I went to a homecoming dance and football game and mock trial tournaments and practices and have a cold. Enjoy! Miss you xoxooxoxo Posted by Chris @ 11/21/2003 05:15 PM PST |
|
That's OK. Life in New Zealand entails nothing but a cold. It's freezing, it's hot, it's feezing, it's hot, and you're always doing stupid things like jumping off bridges and out of airplanes (it's usually freezing at those times, of course). Is it a cold? Or is it just losing your voice from screaming? One will never know... Posted by Andrea & Robin @ 11/25/2003 07:34 PM PST |
