Queenstown

The next stop on our trip was Queenstown. Although we'd been warned about all the amazing experiences that were available there, looking back I think we were still suprised. Queenstown calls itself the adventure and extreme sports capital of the world and it sure lives up to its name. A beautiful little city of about 15,000 siting next to a large lake under "The Remarkables" mountain range(as seen in the second Lord of the Rings film). Queenstown reminded us of Banff on steroids. However, before arriving in Queenstown, our bus stopped at the first ever commercial bungy site, a bridge overlooking the Kawarau river. Although neither Jordan nor I were planning on jumping that day, it took only 15 minutes and a little arm twisting and we were both on the platform, looking down at the river below. In quick succession Jordan flung himself off the bridge, followed by myself. It was truly an amazing rush, one definetly worth repeating.

Following our jumps we made our way into Queenstown and checked into our hostel. The nightlife in Queenstown is legendary and we were looking forward to getting a taste. Queenstown also marked the end of the line for our now tightly knit group of 40 or so, after a group photo and some dinner curtesy of Fergburger (I have seriously never seen bigger burgers in my life), it was off for a great night out on the town.

While we were busy getting the night started, Jordan was busy flinging himself off another bungy platform, referred to as "The Ledge". Earlier that day, Jordan had decided that one bungy was simply not enough and therefore signed up for "The Thrilogy" which combines "The Bridge", "The Ledge" and "The Nevis" (this being one of the largest bungy's in the world at 134m or 8 seconds of freefall). Overlooking the town at dusk, Jordan threw himself flipping off the ledge into the night. Who does that?

Upon Jordan's return to civilization, out the group went for one last blissful night together. The night was fantastic, as were many of the following nights hitting the streets of the town. Must send our love to Sion and Heather, Lee (from Scotland), Emily, Chloe, the Swedes (WHAT?), Q, James, Da Boys, a truly great succession of nights.

When we were not out partying, we were busy doing many of the activities which Queenstown has become famous for. Jordan awoke the morning after our first night just in time to fall into a canyon, Rich and Tanner decided to jump off the ledge, Rob went paragliding, we went frolfing (a combination of frisbee and golf) and the group went lugeing down the top of a mountain overlooking Queenstown. I can only describe that as a "ripping good time", racing down a track with your mates, laughing, bumping into each other and falling all over the place.
On the fifth or sixth day in our resort paradise I met my destiny by doing my canyon swing. The canyon swing is unique to Queenstown, it's a swing that combines a 60m freefall with a 200m arc at 150kph, very INTENSE. I had won a free swing by having the worst taste in our "bad taste" party. I must say I was a little nervous, but I ended up liking it so much that I did it twice. Once in what is described as the pindrop position or straight down and once in "gimp boy" or hanging upside down. As a bonus Jack Osbourne, son of Ozzy himself, was there filming an adventure series, we had a quick conversation and photo, nice guy.

Our week in Queenstown was truly amazing, a highlight in a trip full of highlights. Following a week there Jordan and I came to the conclusion that were not ready to leave NZ and therefore decided to extend our trip by 3 weeks, allowing us to keep the Touché Experience together and see the North Island. So up we went through Christchurch and Kaikoura again, then off to Picton to catch a ferry to Wellington. Beautiful scenary along the way, saw pods of dolphins and lots of water. All hail the South Island, but the call of the North Island was too much to ignore. Stay tuned...