2/15/2007 - 2/17/2007
Today we returned to Queenstown for 3 more days. We got into town around lunchtime after driving from Te Anau, and I didn't do a whole lot today besides relaxing around town and our accommodation. For dinner we went to this gourmet pizza place called Winnie's Pizza, which served some of the best pizza I've ever had in my life. Basically today was a rest day after yesterday's big hiking day. Here are a few pictures I took around the town.
Our second day in Queenstown part 2 was certainly one of the best days of the trip so far. Today was bungy jumping day, and I was scheduled to do the "Thrillogy," which was a series of 3 bungy jumps. The first jump was the Bridge jump, which was the first commercial bungy jump ever in the world. It was incredible. Basically they strapped the bungy cord to my ankles and asked me if I wanted to get wet. I did, so I just leaned forward off the bridge. Before the jump I looked down and definitely felt a bit of nerves, but then I leaned into a dive off the bridge. I wasn't able to breathe as I began free fall, but it was a great feeling. It was just like jumping out of the airplane but without the extended ride. I got dunked in the water to just above my knees! Here are a few pics (that's me with the orange shorts).
After the bridge jump, we were taken to the 134 meter Nevis bungy jump, which is the 2nd highest bungy jump in the world. The Nevis was out in the middle of nowhere. Basically we jumped from a pod hanging above a small river carving out 2 mountains. We had to take a tram to get to the pod. The view of the apparatus was a bit daunting, but I knew it was safe enough (at least that's what I told myself).
Eventually it was my turn. I got set up with a full body harness, and then I jumped out as far as I could. It was a major rush with several seconds of free fall. Such an incredible feeling.
After the Nevis we went back into town for lunch. Then we rode the gondola up to the third jump in the Thrillogy called "The Ledge," which had absolutely spectacular views of Queenstown. The third jump wasn't nearly as big as the Nevis, but you are allowed to run and jump and do all sorts of flips. I did a big gainer off the Ledge, which was cool but in my opinion took away from the free fall feeling the other 2 jumps had. Even though I liked the first 2 jumps the most, the Ledge jump was still amazing. Here are a few pictures.
Here I am flipping over Queenstown.
After the bungy jumping, we went luging down a luge course. It was so much fun. Basically it was set up like a ski slope. We took a ski lift up and then luged down the track. It looked like it was something made for little kids, but it was surely one of the most fun things I've done on this trip. We were able to pick up a ton of speed and make tight turns. I felt like I was going to tip several times, and I did my best to ram the other people in my group off the track.
After luging we savored the Queenstown cityscape a bit and then took the gondola down the mountain before driving back to the accommodation.
Before dinner I was able to play some tennis with Philip and Eli at the tennis court at our lodge. The court was pretty beat up, one of the racquets was badly broken, and the balls were some of the worst I've ever seen. Nevertheless, it was tennis, so I had a good time. It was quite a day.
Our final day in Queenstown was pretty quiet. I spent the morning helping Andy upload pictures at an Internet cafe. Then I checked out the weekend market and did some picture uploading of my own. I was happy to get a little bit of tennis in with Eli before the group went to meet up with 3 other Pacific Challenge groups that happened to be in Queenstown at the same time. We met up with PC1, PC3, and PC4 and played some ultimate frisbee before going out to Winnie's Pizza for dinner. Frisbee was a lot of fun, and it was good to meet some people in the other PC groups.
Today we returned to Queenstown for 3 more days. We got into town around lunchtime after driving from Te Anau, and I didn't do a whole lot today besides relaxing around town and our accommodation. For dinner we went to this gourmet pizza place called Winnie's Pizza, which served some of the best pizza I've ever had in my life. Basically today was a rest day after yesterday's big hiking day. Here are a few pictures I took around the town.
Our second day in Queenstown part 2 was certainly one of the best days of the trip so far. Today was bungy jumping day, and I was scheduled to do the "Thrillogy," which was a series of 3 bungy jumps. The first jump was the Bridge jump, which was the first commercial bungy jump ever in the world. It was incredible. Basically they strapped the bungy cord to my ankles and asked me if I wanted to get wet. I did, so I just leaned forward off the bridge. Before the jump I looked down and definitely felt a bit of nerves, but then I leaned into a dive off the bridge. I wasn't able to breathe as I began free fall, but it was a great feeling. It was just like jumping out of the airplane but without the extended ride. I got dunked in the water to just above my knees! Here are a few pics (that's me with the orange shorts).
After the bridge jump, we were taken to the 134 meter Nevis bungy jump, which is the 2nd highest bungy jump in the world. The Nevis was out in the middle of nowhere. Basically we jumped from a pod hanging above a small river carving out 2 mountains. We had to take a tram to get to the pod. The view of the apparatus was a bit daunting, but I knew it was safe enough (at least that's what I told myself).
Eventually it was my turn. I got set up with a full body harness, and then I jumped out as far as I could. It was a major rush with several seconds of free fall. Such an incredible feeling.
After the Nevis we went back into town for lunch. Then we rode the gondola up to the third jump in the Thrillogy called "The Ledge," which had absolutely spectacular views of Queenstown. The third jump wasn't nearly as big as the Nevis, but you are allowed to run and jump and do all sorts of flips. I did a big gainer off the Ledge, which was cool but in my opinion took away from the free fall feeling the other 2 jumps had. Even though I liked the first 2 jumps the most, the Ledge jump was still amazing. Here are a few pictures.
Here I am flipping over Queenstown.
After the bungy jumping, we went luging down a luge course. It was so much fun. Basically it was set up like a ski slope. We took a ski lift up and then luged down the track. It looked like it was something made for little kids, but it was surely one of the most fun things I've done on this trip. We were able to pick up a ton of speed and make tight turns. I felt like I was going to tip several times, and I did my best to ram the other people in my group off the track.
After luging we savored the Queenstown cityscape a bit and then took the gondola down the mountain before driving back to the accommodation.
Before dinner I was able to play some tennis with Philip and Eli at the tennis court at our lodge. The court was pretty beat up, one of the racquets was badly broken, and the balls were some of the worst I've ever seen. Nevertheless, it was tennis, so I had a good time. It was quite a day.
Our final day in Queenstown was pretty quiet. I spent the morning helping Andy upload pictures at an Internet cafe. Then I checked out the weekend market and did some picture uploading of my own. I was happy to get a little bit of tennis in with Eli before the group went to meet up with 3 other Pacific Challenge groups that happened to be in Queenstown at the same time. We met up with PC1, PC3, and PC4 and played some ultimate frisbee before going out to Winnie's Pizza for dinner. Frisbee was a lot of fun, and it was good to meet some people in the other PC groups.
1 comment:
OMG, Nathan! This is crazy! I remember doing skydiving freshman year without telling my mom. It was quite fun, but I don't know if I'd do bumgy jump. It is kind of scary. You should definitely show these pictures to your kids in the future. :) They're gonna think that their dad is the coolest person ever! hahaha.
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