Wanaka to Queenstown

We departed Wanaka and headed for Queenstown reasonably early, with almost everyone nusing a hangover of some sort! So, you can guess how we were all feeling when we were told that we'd be stopping at 'Puzzle World' for about an hour, before continuing our drive to Queenstown?! Not what one wants when already feeling queasy; rooms filled with mind tricks and illusions, not to mention a maze that completely had me stumped - it took me about 10 minutes just to get in let alone find the four corners!! We grabbed something to eat before heading around the edge of Lake Dunstan towards teh Kawarau Gorge.

One at the Kawarau Gorge (Kar-wa-rau) you could notice the scenery changing into rugged rocky terrain and the steep, narrow and unsealed Nevis road (which branches off the main road). It is the road that leads to the highest bungy in the country, at 134m high (the Nevis Hire Wire). However, I was definately not going to do this.

I had put my name down for the Shotover Canyon Swing - which consists of a 60m/200ft pure freefall down the cliff face before the ropes smoothly pendulum you into the canyon at 150kph through a giant swing arc of 200m/650ft! The freefall/swing journey was so smooth that I barely noticed when I had finished freefalling and had begun my swing. After a number of swings across the canyon I was winched swiftly back up to the platform.

I chose to do 'The Cutaway' which was supposedly the easiest launch they offered but I have to disagree! Basically I was suspended out over the canyon in a sitting position which I remained in for the whole of my swing. The guys then asked me some questions on New Zealand, and basically when I got one wrong they pulled the pin and released me!

I have never been so scared in my entire life, I was literally crying the the whole time from start to finish - my dvd is quite embaressing yet amusing at the same time. Did I enjoy it? Yes, sort of. I definately will not do a bungy of any sort and preferred sky diving. Was I glad I did it and would I do it again? Yes, definately glad i went through with it and would consider doing it again, especially if I wanted to build myself up to a bungy.

After that morning of madness, my brain and body weren't ready to do anything else and I made a decision that there will be no more adrenalin rushing activities from here back to Auckland (which isn't a bad decision, as there isn't much else to do really).

The following day, I was supposed to go and visit Milford Sound for the day, but the alarm failed to go off at 6am and so we awoke at 8am, having missed the bus by 1.5 hours! Oh well, after getting in at 5am I really wasnt fussed and it was a free trip included in my Kiwi Experience ticket and so I didn't lose out on any money which was the main thing.

The rest of the time in Queenstown was spent bidding farwell to those mates staying on for a bit longer and generally having a look round the town - admiring all the activities on offer for those mad enough to partake!