Queenstown- The Adventure Capital of NZ

Auckland, New Zealand


After a day relaxing in the park in Queenstown watching the frisbee golfers, we decided to take it up a notch. We boarded the gondola just outside town and rode up to the little amusement park at the top, courtesy of Rony. (Thanks!) We used the ride as a jumping off point for a tramp up 1700 meter Mount Ben Lomond. Almost the entire hike was above treeline in the tussock. We made the summit in two hours, and enjoyed panoramic views of endless mountains in all directions and a hasty lunch with frozen fingers before heading back down.



When we got back to the top of the tram we made use of part two or Rony's gift and took a couple of runs on the louge. It was great fun, I was surprised at how much liberty they give you to go as fast as you like.



When we got back to the top of the tram we made use of part two or Rony's gift and took a couple of runs on the louge. It was great fun, I was surprised at how much liberty they give you to go as fast as you like.

Queenstown is where bungy jumping was invented, so I figured I pretty much had to try it out. The girl that we bought the bungy jump from told us "It's not like anything else... except maybe dying." Despite this poor salesmanship, I decided to go ahead with it anyhow. The Nevis bungy is the highest in New Zealand at 134m. That's about 40 stories. They couldn't find a bridge high enough to jump off of so they suspended a little room over a canyon on a cable, accessed by gondola. It's really a crazy set-up. They toss 150 people off this thing each day, one after another so they really run an efficient operation. It's good for most people who will be smart enough to reconsider the idea of jumping off a cliff if they think about it for too long, but I wished I had a bit more time to savor the whole thing.

The first feeling when you clear the platform is the usual feeling you get when you jump off of something, greatly intensified of course by your altitude. However, the real thrill comes several seconds later when you are falling really fast, and still accelerating, completely disconnected from anything (as near as you can tell), and getting uncomfortably close to the ground. It's really an exquisite, life-flashes-before-your-eyes type of moment. Once the bungy starts arresting your fall, you feel pretty secure again, but at the top of the bounce, there's a little bit of a 'here we go again' feeling. Then you get the fun of releasing your feet so you fall onto your harness, and they can reel you in right-side up. A couple of girls who went after me couldn't figure that part out and got reeled in upside down. Pretty funny. After the jump, we headed back to the park for sunset. What a great day.