The sun has finally come out to warm us up! We awoke on Tuesday morning to find our bedrooms toasty hot and had our breakfast sat in the sun by the lake!
We drove over to the airport to take the van into the Jucy office, as advised, to get the faults fixed. While we were waiting we took a look around the show vehicles and jealously looked at the larger condo version with all the space and facilities! Out of interest, Sally asked how much more it would cost and apparently at the minute it is the same as our smaller version because they have a surplus of condo vehicles stuck in the one location. So, we have decided to trade in our broken down model for the upgraded version. The beds are all in the van so no more climbing up wobbly ladders to a wet roof box tent! Due to vehicle turn arounds, we can't swap until Wednesday, so are spending one last night in our smaller Grande model.
Internet is hard to come by in the van, so we stopped off at a McDonalds for a cuppa and to utilise the free wifi for a while.
By the time we were done here it was well into the afternoon and we popped into Queenstown centre for a look around. I had decided I wanted to do a bungy jump here so went to book that, I thought for the next day. But, on arrival at the office I was told there was a bus going in 20 minutes! I thought it was just best to get on with it. Ruth kindly came out with me to hold my hand!
The bus took around 30 minutes to drive through the mountains, then up a huge steep hill to the bungy site. Both of us had to get harnessed up to take a cable car across the valley to the bungy pod suspended in the middle. The Nevis bungy is the highest in New Zealand with a jump of 134 metres and I think you freefall for about 8 seconds. The bungy pod has some glass flooring sections so you can watch people go all the way to the bottom. They just seemed to keep going and going! I was the last jumper of the day until another girl came up after she had done the big canyon swing. First one member of staff puts your leg straps on and then you are left to sit there a bit longer, until you are called up to sit in the Sweeney Todd styled chair where they attach you to the bungy cord and check your harness. After a quick panicked photo you are up and waddling to the edge of the jump platform. The guy told me to just look up, shut my eyes and he would tell me when to stop because he had hold of the back of my harness. As I was stood on the edge and they dropped the cord over the ledge, it is honestly the most scared I have ever been in my life as you look down to the depths of the valley. I was counted down to my jump, and on '2' I didn't think I was going to be able to do it, but then came '1...bungy!' and I just threw myself off, I don't even really remember doing it and I think I more just 'plopped' off. Because of the height if the jump you have to dive and go head first as you could get injured going feet first. The first part of the fall was so strange, as unlike the skydive, you really get the feeling you are falling, then you sort of get used to it and enjoy it, and then you start to slow down as you reach the end of the cord and are pinged back up. I think the second rebound fall was worse as I had slowed down and fell more sideways. After this bounce I could detach my feet from the bungy and be flipped back upright to more of a sitting position. The second fall you do is higher than the original bungee jump that is here in New zealand at the Kawarau bridge. I bobbed up and down a bit more while the cord settled and now I could really take in the view. I was sat alone in midair amongst the mountains with a river gushing around the mountainside and meandering below my feet. An unnerving, but expected loud bang then sounded as you are winched back up to the pod. It maybe seemed higher going up this way but maybe it was because I had my eyes open! They pull you back in and it was all smiles now. The guy who harnessed me in commented that I looked a lot less serious now! Relieved, but so happy, we took the cable car back to solid ground and relived it by looking at the video and pictures! I think that I may keep my feet well and truly on the earth now for a while and take a break from throwing myself into the air at heights! Although this isn't to say I wouldn't do either bungee jumping or skydiving again...
A bus took us back to town and Ruth and I had a look around until we met up with Sally and Jade. Queenstown is a really nice little place with a variety of shops and touristy things to do from scenic walks to adrenaline busting activities.
That evening we camped at 12 Mile delta again at the base of the mountains. It rained again during the night so Sally and I got wet in our bed again! We were so glad we were trading in the van that day!
That day was Sally's 24th birthday, so we got up, gave her her presents and set off for a drive out to a place called Paradise. Here you could admire the scenery and go for a walk. However, we didn't really make it to the place! We drove along a really bumpy gravel road for about an hour bopping along at about 20km/h! We then reached some small rivers and fords we had to cross which we managed. As it had rained, I think they were quite deep. The further we went, the ground started to really test the camper vans capabilities! The fords got deeper and it really took it out of the rear bumper! Eventually we admitted defeat at the longest and deepest river when the bumper was hanging off! We sent Jade through it first barefoot to check the depth, so she had a little refreshing wash! We then had to do a really awkward turn around and go back across all the terrain we had just come from. Paradise wasn't what we expected, the scenery was beautiful, but I think it may have looked better if it was sunnier. A lot of The Lord Of the Rings was filmed in this area, but to be honest, pretty much everywhere in New Zealand looks like a LOTR set! We returns to the nearest small town Glenorchy and went for a walk along the lakes and lagoons here.
We retuned to Queenstown airport to swap to our new and improved condo campervan and it is amazing!
As it was Sally's birthday, we decided to pay more for a camp site with electrical hook ups and a shower so we had a proper wash for the first time in a few days! Even though we've pretty much just worn the same clothes, we also did some laundry and felt much better! We headed into town and it was freezing! So we ran for the nearest restaurant that seemed nice. The food looked great and we decided what we were going to eat, when the waitress told us the chef had decided to shut the kitchen as it had been a quiet night and they could ony cook us pizzas. We decided to try somewhere else and settled on this quaint little restaraunt that basically cooked anything you wanted! It had the set main meals on the menu but you just mixed up what you wanted. We also craved onion rings and the waitress said she didn't know if the chef could do it as they don't really have batter, but she would ask. And he made them. The food and wine was so good, we had to have desserts too! Satisfied, we left and took Sally to the largest ice bar in the Southern hemisphere, Below Zero. We paid for her entry and a cocktail and they gave her a free shot. We put our coats, boots and gloves on and went in the bar. It was smaller than we expected but we were the only ones in there so we had enough space! It was really good! Extra freezing, we stood it as long as we could before getting back to the camp site, making and getting into our new beds. Sally and I were up the top above the drivers cab. It reminded us a little bit of the Whitsundays boat, as it was very claustrophobic and when we lie on our backs our noses are literally touching the roof, but we have so much space laterally! After a little rearranging we were sorted and had a good sleep!
On our last morning in Queenstown we had a bit of a lie in and properly sorted the camper van out before eating our breakfast outside in the sun. It still pretty cold but when you sit in the sun it's so nice!
We went into town to use the Internet, tourist information and get some new hooded jumpers! We have designed our own and they look so good, even if I do say so myself!
This afternoon we are driving over to Wanaka, about 45 minutes away from here. It is smaller than Queenstown, but equally pretty and has a large lake. It really is a beautiful country here.
Amy. x