Day 47 – Queenstown

We were booked on for our canyon swings and were told to turn up at the shop from 10am to check in. Free breakfast (which is actually just some bread and spreads) is served until 9am so we got up and made our way to the kitchen just before then to get some sugar in our bodies before swinging through a canyon.

On check in we were weighed and told the procedure and told just to wait until the bus arrived. Eventually at around 11.15 we were at the Nevis bungy/swing centre. We made our way over the 70m bridge to the (I guess) launch pod where we were harnessed up and put in line, ready to take our swing.

A couple of people went in front of us and then it was my turn! You can go forwards, backwards, upside down etc, so I decided to go backwards to make my experience even crazier than it already is. They make you sit down in your harness before slowly moving you out into the middle of nowhere. He told me to smile at one camera, then another and then at Kirsty who had mine, as I did that he pressed the button and let me go. There was no time to be prepared or do anything but scream. It was amazing! They then bring you back up to the pod and they’re ready for the next person.

Kirsty and Francesca were ready to go and were just being strapped in when the guys got a message to say they needed to go and help out over at the bungy pod. All we needed was about 10minutes and we could have been out of there but no, they made them take their harnesses off and we walked back across the bridge to the centre and were told to wait there. After about 15minutes or so we were told that there was a problem with the cable car that takes the people over to the bungy pod. It was something along the lines of the break was always on so wasn’t pulling properly. They said the guys would be back at the swing in about 15mins after they were done with the bungy. We ended up waiting just over 2 hours?!! For them to do their swing, which by that point we weren’t really pumped for it and more wanted some lunch as it was now 2pm and hadn’t eaten anything since our breakfast at 9am. They still loved every minute of it, it was just disappointing that it took them so long to get it back up and running seeing as the swing had no problems in the first place.

Our plans to go to Arrowtown were now off the cards as we didn’t arrive back to Queenstown until gone 4pm. As I said, the only thing on our minds was food so obviously we walked down the road to Fergburger. This time I decided to go for a sweet chilli chicken burger, which was spicy and so tasty, just the way I like it! We sat at a table that said we needed to move from it by 4.30pm because of an overseas film crew? This crew was 1 guy and a camera from Japan… I wouldn’t exactly call them a film crew.

After here we made our way back to Nomads to shower etc ready for a lot of people’s last night together, a few people are heading south, some are heading north and others are staying there for a few extra days.

Day 45 – Wanaka to Queenstown

9am bus out of Wanaka and as usual we always end up sitting at the back even though we’re never the last on the bus… I’m not quite sure how this ends up. We took a short drive down the road until we arrived at Puzzling world. It had its 40^th birthday last year and they say is one of the most photographed places in New Zealand. It had an illusion room, a maze and other silly things. The best bit was a room where when you look at it from one end the people on the left look massive in a small room and the people on the right are very small in a big room. It kind of makes no sense when you describe it but it was quite funny to look at.

Our next stop on the journey was at a fruit shop in the middle of nowhere, we were recommended to try the real fruit ice cream and oh my god, it was incredible! So good that I couldn’t finish it all as there was way too much. I went for fresh pineapple with vanilla ice cream.

Today was one of the shortest journeys on the south circuit as we arrived just outside Queenstown around midday. Our stop was at the AJ Hackett bungy jump centre as a couple of people were jumping off the Kawarau Bridge which is the oldest bungy jump in New Zealand and is 43metres high. The rest of us watched whilst Gary sorted out payment for everyone else’s bungys and swings. Kirsty and Francesca were 2 of the people jumping today so I was called in as cameraman. They said it was amazing but it still doesn’t really appeal to me… I’m doing a canyon swing instead though, so that’s pretty extreme.

After an hour or so we were ready to leave, meaning we only had 10 minutes or so left on our last bus together and with Gary because of this we had a group photo by the lake in Queenstown. It was kind of a pyramid but just laying on top of each other, it was quite funny, especially everyone trying to get back up again.

We are staying at Nomads and our room is quite nice. There are 6 of us in here but we have a balcony that we can actually use if we want to which is cool, because most balcony’s we’ve had you can’t walk out on.

We wondered around the town and grabbed some lunch in a nearby restaurant. We all thought the weather down here was going to be quite naff but it’s actually been warmer and nicer than the North Island.

Gary had organised us a bus night out so we all met in the Red Rock, then went onto Loco and from there we ended in The Find.