February 3rd, 2006
Overview of my New Zealand trip - Page 2
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New Zealand is "action country", so I tried to do as much as I could while there.
Zorbing is when they put you inside a giant ball, and roll you down a hill! There are two ways to do it. First, Hydro Zorbing where between 1 and 3 people crawl in and they add a few inches of water. You try to stand up, but as the ball starts rolling you slip and slide and fall all over the place! The second way, they strap you firmly (ankles, waist, shoulders, wrists) inside the center of the ball, so as it rolls you roll with it!
Whitewater rafting on the Rangitata river. We did class 3,4, and 5 rapids. At the end we got to swim with the current (the water was freezing, it comes from a glacier) and jump of a 10m cliff.
As for the Great Walks, I went hiking on the Kepler Track near Te Anau on the South Island. We also were scheduled to do the Tongariro Crossing on the North Island, but the wind and rain were to harsh for us to go.
Well, no bungy jumping for me! I wanted to try something different... Canyon Swinging! See that platform sticking out over the side of the cliff, 109m above the ground?
Well I walked out to the edge of it...
and jumped off! You free fall for 60m before the ropes kick on an swing you out into a 200m arc across the canyon!
Shotever Jetboating, speeding along inches away from the canyon walls, and whipping around in 360 degree turns.
I took my first ever helicopter ride over Queenstown
Skyline Street luging down the 800m track at the top of the Queenstown gondola
Hiking the Fox Glacier on the west coast of the South Island. The interesting thing about the glacier, is that it ends in a rain forest!
And now for something completely different... I flew in, and flew, an open-air two seater Pitt's Special stunt plane! That's right, we actually got to fly it!
You take off and the pilot flies around for about 5 minutes of site seeing at 5000ft, banking left and right so I could look down at the ground. He than asked "Are you ready to do barrel rolls?" To which I foolishly answered "sure". He then instructed me to take the stick, and when I was ready "push as hard as I can to the right"! Bam! The horizon rotates around with a feeling that can only be described as "Do it again, do it again". So we then did a barrel roll to the left, and again my heart was racing. You then let go of the stick, and the pilot takes over again, spending the next 5 minutes doing a series of acrobatics. We did backward loops, cuban 8's, reverse cuban 8's, stalls, stall turns, stall spins, spiral dives, and step turns. I think we said we did about 4 positive g's, and about 2 negative g's. All I can say is this was 1000 times better than any roller coaster!
After taking to the air, it was time to tackle the sea, kayaking in Abel Tasman near Nelson. The day started off ok with just a little bit of rain, and we had a wonderful lunch at a beach on an island. The trip home started off fine, but then the weather turned! We had terrible winds and rain, and the waves were pounding us back out to sea. It was a long, tiring, and sometimes scary fight to get back to land. Pour Mandy had to put up with listening to my whine the entire time! ;-)
Enough of the water, get me back into the air! Time to try sky diving over the Bay of Islands. See that little plane below... I jumped out of it!
We jumped from 12,000 ft, and for extra fun we did 5 front flips out of the plane! Ground, sky, ground, sky, ground, sky, ground, sky, ground, sky! As an added bonus we fell through a thick layer of clouds. I'd always looked out the window of airplanes and wondered what clouds are like up close, now I know. The tandem master opened the chute just below 5000 ft, so we had about 60s of free fall. We also did a ton of "death spirals" on the way down, so there were points were I was sideways!
Being crazy New Zealand, there seem to be no rules or regulations! We had no training class, and didn't even wear jump suits! It was basically: You give us your credit card, sign this release, we strap you in and jump out of a plane! Thumbs up, me in just my shorts and t-shirt!
Time to get back to the ground, underground that is. Next up was the Waitomo Caves on the North Island. Caving is an odd experience. You put on a full wetsuit, strap a helmet with a light onto your head, put an innertube around your waist, and away you go exploring deep caves and freezing cold underground rivers. We also saw amazing Glowworm caverns. They look similar to staring up at the night sky and seeing stars, but instead you are looking at the roof of a cave with thousands of glowing worms trying to attract food!
It was cold in the caves, so time to get back outside into the sun.ccWe travelled to Opononi, where there are huge sand dunes to climb up, and sand-board down!
The hike up was tiring, but the reward was that the dunes ended in a lake!
Time to dry off, and relax from all the excitement. We went to see a performance at The Treaty House in Waitangi, where in 1840 the Maori Chiefs and British Royals signed the agreement that formed New Zealand as it is known today. There is a great deal of controversy around the treaty, stemming from a difference in interpretation between the English and Maori translations. It was a great experience to hear the Maori side of the story. I was chosen as our groups' representative to be greeted by the Maori. I had to stand in front of one of their warriors, not breaking eye contact or backing away as he tried to scare. After earning his respect, I was presented a gift of leaves. I then "touched noses" with the tribe's elders. This is how they great each other, and it is thought of as a much closer bond than a handshake.
Along the tour we also took some really fun tours, such as the Speight's Brewery
and Cadbury World, both in Dunedin.
I finished my tour in Aukland. Most of the group flew home or continued their travels, leaving only a few of us to explore the city. One night we ventured out for a few adult beverages, and found this creative bartender who was more than happy to keep us "entertained" for the evening.
For New Year's Eve six of us (Andy from the UK, Mandy from Germany, David and Annelie from Sweden, my roommate Kris, and myself) watched over Auckland from a hillside acorss the harbour in Davenport. We were all alone at this gorgeous spot and could not figure out why, until the security guards found us around 10pm and told us the gates were locked at 7pm and we were not allowed to be there! They ended up letting us stay, and after the midnight fireworks they walked us down to the bottom of the mountain and let us out.
We returned by ferry to Aukland to find the city partying hard. It was one of the best starts to a new year that I can remember, and just the perfect way to finish my time in New Zealand.
So now it was time for me to move on to Australia for phase two of my trip.
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