On Friday, we made our way to a lake town called Wanaka. We
stopped for a tiny hike to see waterfalls on the way there and the three of us
were anticipating to go skydiving when we arrived but were left disappointed
despite the nice weather. Apparently, the skydiving people thought that the few
clouds looked worrisome but I thought they looked nice (I put my trust in them
though). We walked around the town for a while and settled in for another long
shabbos. We slept late on Shabbos and then went for a hike to eat lunch. We
didn’t do much after getting back to the room and just hung out for the rest of
the day.
Queenstown, New Zealand is the adventure capital of the
country and it was the final destination of our trip. Our first stop on the way
there was Karawau Bridge, the site where bungee jumping began. After skydiving
about a year and half ago in Upstate New York, Bungee jumping was my next
mountain to climb and I was quick to sign up. I even got the girls to go also
and we all really enjoyed it. The bridge was about 141 feet over a river which
isn’t even the highest bungee jump there but I always wanted to do it off of a
bridge (For those of you who haven’t seen it on facebook, I have the jump on
DVD so ask me to see it when I get back). We walked around most of the day and
just relaxed, and then we went to the bar in the hostel later that night.
The next day’s adventure was to go skydiving. Like I said, I’d
gone by myself in the past so I wasn’t dying to go but I couldn’t let the girls
go by themselves and then have to hear about their jump second-handed. We all
went and the girls were so excited to overcome their fears. I loved it again
and I must say, the scenery there was a lot nicer than upstate New York. We got
back to town later that afternoon and after lunch, we took a gondola ride up a
mountain overlooking the town. The scenery from up there was amazing and there
were tracks for luge/cart rides which we got to go on a bunch of times. After
dinner, I decided to stop resisting the two small casinos within five minutes
of our hostel and I decided to play some Blackjack. I only played a little bit
so that I wouldn’t ruin my vacation by losing more of my father’s money and I
met the girls at a bar and I celebrated my last night.
Now people might think I’m crazy for risking my life three
days in a row but I had one more thing that I really wanted to do. There was
another attraction called CanyonSwing that was really calling my name. It’s
kind of similar to bungee jumping but instead of jumping straight down, your cord
is attached to a rope that’s hanging across the top of a canyon. When you jump,
you essentially free fall which is crazy before the cord swings you across the
canyon. Plus I jumped backwards. (I wasn’t going to go skydiving since it was
very expensive and I had already gone but our driver picked me for best costume
from the Poo Pub party and my prize was a voucher for a free CanyonSwing. So I
got to do both. Thanks Dave! My grandmother really appreciates it). The
CanyonSwing was my just my way to finish off the trip in style.
So my trip came to an end and I was really sad to go. I had
an amazing time in New Zealand and I totally recommend it for any of you world travelers.
Whether you’re into bungee jumping or just want to see the beautiful scenery,
it’s really a great place to go. Although there were some slow points to the
trip and there was especially a lot of rain, I really enjoyed the beauty of the
country and the opportunities that I had to go on all those exciting
adventures. I got to do things like ATV riding and bungee jumping that I had
really wanted to do so I’ll remember the feelings that I had from those things
and I’ll try not to jump off of any ledges or planes anytime soon.
