Day Eight – Action Packed, Adrenaline Pumping, Adventurous Friday in Queenstown

Disclaimer: I’m sorry Mom for what you’re about to read, but both feet are safely back on the ground, so no need to worry 🙂

Bungy jumping took root as a commercial enterprise here in Queenstown pioneered by Kiwi entrepreneur, AJ Hackett.  So knowing this, obviously I wanted to try it.  However, with a sister who is going to be a doctor, I was warned about the permanent damage that can be done to the neck and back and the responsible part of me promised her I wouldn’t participate in this Queenstown novelty.

So I jumped off a cliff on the Canyon Swing instead!!!  The world’s highest cliff jump from 109m over the Shotover River with a 60m vertical freefall!!  But unlike the bungy, you swing 200m instead of being yanked back up.  I thought I was crazy for doing this once, but I knew I had reached insanity when I was talked into a second jump, the second time going backwards… you only live once, so why not, right?!??  It was pretty badass and fulfilled my desire to get the adrenaline pumping.

As if that wasn’t enough adventure for the day, I jumped off another cliff… this time with a parachute and strapped to a professional paragliding pilot.  So not AS crazy, but still an awesome experience and a great aerial view of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

My pilot was from France and had just moved to Queenstown a month ago.  We grabbed a beer after we were back on the ground.  He lives in a tiny village in the French Alps working as a Paragliding instructor/tandem and as a ski/snowboard instructor and had come to New Zealand for the year to improve his English.  I took notes on all the best mountains to hit around the world and mentally started planning my next vacation.  He showed me pictures from his recent trip to the Tasman Glacier where he was dropped out of a helicopter to ski for a few days… So just as I’m crossing a few things off my bucket list, there’s another whole list of things that were just added.  I’m going to need more than one lifetime to accomplish all of this…

After beers, we headed to Fergburger, a Queenstown institution.  If you come to Queenstown and don’t have a Fergburger, then you haven’t really been to Queenstown.  The line is wrapped around the block at all times of day… but it was worth the wait.  That was the best burger I’ve ever had!!

After three days in Queenstown, my wallet’s been emptied… but “when in Rome.”  I’m sad my South Island adventures have come to an end, but off to Auckland tomorrow where I enjoy my last few days here in New Zealand exploring the North Island.

This blog entry was originally posted on www.KmayerAdventures.blogspot.com