Chocks Away!

Well we did it! Finally we got to jump out of a plane at 12000 feet and what a buzz!! We were very fortunate to end up jumping as the group after us got winded off and the weather was set to be grim for the next week! What luck and what fun it was!






Its difficult really to write too much about it as its just a mind blowing experience, thrilling from start to finish obviously, with 45 seconds of free fall and a superb drift back over the mountains and lakes of Glenorchy.

Dipi even cried when she landed!! Very emotional!

A town fit for Queens

And we don't mean the variety that you get around Brighton! Queenstown was our next port of call and this place has a global reputation of being THE place where you can do anything that requires taking your brain out for the day!

Hmmmm, what to do? The list of activities is endless with pretty much anything you can think of on offer. We both wanted to do slightly different things to a certain extent, so we saw a tour operator at the camp site we are staying at in the middle of Queenstown to explore the possibilties.... As we couldn't decide what to choose between we came to the decision that we would do EVERYTHING on the list instead!

Firstly, the jet boat ride which envolved roaring up and down the shotover river onboard a powerfull jet boat doing 360's and crazy twists and turns very close to rocks in as little as 10cm depth of water. On reflection (no river pun intended) it was a little tame and could have got away without doing it, but unless you try you dont know! So we are glad we did it first......



Secondly. the Bungy Jump. Not just any old Bungy, the highest one in New Zealand! Here is a little blurb from their webs site regarding the mighty Nevis Highwire Bungy with photos inserted.....

"With the Nevis Highwire Bungy, getting there is half the fun! The experience kicks off with a rugged 35 minute back-blocks 4x4 drive before you get harnessed up and board a shuttle which ferries you to the the Bungy Pod.

After arriving at the Bungy Pod you'll have time to come to grips with what you're about to do...Bungy 134 metres over the Nevis Valley.


Once off the edge it's simply a matter of basking in the glory of what you have achieved, as well as coming to grips with the 8 ½ seconds of freefall!"




Also....
"An expletive is the most common first comment made upon arrival"

"The Bungy is named in USA extreme-sport magazine 'Headrush' as the 2nd most out-there extreme activity in the world"

Matt reeling with adrenalin after his jump!

Thirdly the Canyon Swing. Which is the highest swing in the world.

Here is some blurb from their site to save us explaining:
"Upon departing from the platform you'll have a pure freefall of 60m/200ft into the canyon before the ropes smoothly pendulum you to a giant swing arc of 200m/650ft at 150kph. The freefall/swing journey is so smooth you'll barely notice when you've finished freefalling and begun your swing. After a number of swings across the canyon we'll winch you swiftly back up to the platform."

Wow, what fun this is! More fun than the terrifying bungy but scary none the less! The lads there really try and play with your head and mess you around right on the edge. They really tortured Dipi on her first fall by pretending to let go of her about 6 or 7 times before just dropping her off the edge! Bloody hilarious! We both did two jumps with varying launch methods!


She went off backwards on her first jump as you can see. We got some great video footage where you can hear Dipi screaming and wimpering! Ha ha.
It then came to my turn to do the backward drop.... they were a little kinder to me I think!


And now for the second jump and it was my turn first.... so what do i do? Well i did want to do a drop called "gimp boy goes to hollywood" which involves being suspended upside down and released head first, but then the fella suggested i try a hand stand instead! Could hardly say no eh?!
So I got on my hands and knees looking over the edge, the two guys lifted my legs and I pushed off head first down into the canyon! What a rush!!!! (I was the only one to do this by the way, get in!)


And then Dipi did her last fall and she opted for the gimp boy number, which was very brave! Although she said going backwards was worse for her...

This was so much fun its untrue, we would both do it again and again if we could!!! Grin factor 10+!!! As Paul Whitehouse would say.... Brilliaaaant!

We have got one more thing we want to do before we leave Queenstown which is the sky dive over the mountains. We have booked a 12000feet jump but its been cancelled today as the weather has turned a little. We need to see what tomorrow brings and fingers crossed we will be jumping from a plane at great height tomorrow! More to follow....... we hope!

Sounding Off

After a brief stop at the very south end of the south island (Bluff - where we had some the most delicious tender Bluff oysters) we headed towards the fiords on the west coast so that we could get in some action on one of the famous sounds. The choices were Doubtful sound or the smaller and more popular Milford sound north of Doubtful (these are one of the most precious and spectacular places on earth and since 1984 have been recognised as a World Heritage Area!). After a little research we came to the conclusion that we would go on a day trip on the quieter, larger and less touristy Doubtful sounds (we have also heard from many people since that this is the best one to go on anyway).

Well, it's a case of water water everywhere and most of it you can drink! (Well the stuff without salt in it of course!) The sounds are areas of water that sit in the areas now vacated by the massive glaciers that carved through the moutain rock in the ice age. The lake we went across to get to the sound was 449m deep, which gives you some idea of the scale and depth of the glaciers back then. After the lake we took a 30 minute bus ride to Deep Cove where we got on the cruise boat. The bus trip was really where we started to get the flavour of what was lying ahead as we drive down through the cool temperate rain forest.....



Once on the boat we spent a good three hours travelling around the sound, in which time we saw seals, bottle nose dolphins and the most amazing display of waterfalls we think we will ever encounter! (The average yearly rainfall for Doubtful sound is 8m!!!)




You really couldnt count them! The skipper even steered the cruise boat under a waterfall so that we could all get a cup and catch some fresh water from one of the falls! It tasted great! (we of course got soaked in the process).

On the way back we visited the Manapouri power station (the construction of which is considered to be one of New Zealand's greatest ever engineering achievements) which is fuelled by the lakes water. This was down a 2km tunnel 200m under the ground!


What a great day out that was.

We also wanted to visit "Milford Deep" underwater observatory, so we then made our way north to the Milford sound. The sounds are unique in that there is so much rainfall each year that there is a permanent layer of fresh water on top of the sea water below. This water is stained from tannins giving it the colour of weak tea. This cuts out the light below and creats a deep water environment in shallow water. You therefore get deep water species that normally live below 40m thriving in these shallow areas and the observatory enables you to have a look. The observatory is a floating platform with a 10m deep shaft that you can go down and look out of through the windows into the moveable coral gardens (they move them up and down depending on the amount of rain and the depth of the fresh water layer, if the fresh water gets to the rare and precious black coral it dies) Aaaaanyway, we arrived expecting to get a shuttle boat across as advertised in the brochure that we picked up, only to find out that the brochure was 18 months old and they only do Milford Deep as part of the expensive day tour around the sounds!! So Dipi stuck out the bottom lip and we managed to get chaperoned across on our own cruiser!! Result!



So in the end we got to visit the Milford Deep observatory which was really cool!

The rare black coral that looks white due to the organisms that live on it.

Another picture through the looking glass..

High and Mighty!

Next on the hit list was a visit to the Southern Alps and NZ's highest peak, Mount Cook. The original intention was just to drive up, have a look around and take a few snaps. After a wonderful scenic drive up to the area along the shores of Lake Tekapo and Pukaki......



.......we arrived at the information centre for Mount Cook.
Then we saw helicopters landing and taking off and my eyes lit up!! Not sure about it in the first place, Dipi eventually came round after we talked turkey on the money front. We decided to treat ourselves to the top of the range helicopter flight (of course!) around the mountains and glaciers and it was money very well spent!!
Think a few of these snaps tell the story......


Just coming through some clouds on the way up....


.....wow!



...we even landed on one of the mountains and got out to play in the snow!


After our landing we then took off once more to go over the peaks and look out over the glaciers and out to the west coast of New Zealand......



And here are a couple of our view on the way back to the landing pad...


AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!! (jumping up and down)

The rest of the east coast was fairly tame and uneventful in comparison! We did spot some penguins (yellow eyed penguins, the rarest in the world!). Dipi managed to get some good shots of a juvenile one morning, not before surprising and getting chased by a very angry seal on the beach though! (wish I'd been there to see that one!)