If everyone else jumped off a bridge ... would you?
NEW ZEALAND | Tuesday, 23 March 2010 | Views [1080]
3/23/2010 2:43 PM
I’m getting quite lazy at making these journal updates now --- it’s been three and a half days since the last one --- but I think that’s mainly because not a whole lot has happened in the past few days.
On the 20th (our first full day in Christchurch), we had planned on swimming with some tiny dolphins. All was well and good with that (bookings, etc.) but we ended up deciding against it the morning of. First, it was a little pricey, and we would have to drive ourselves 90-120 minutes to get there. The longer the day rolled on, the more choppy the waves were going to get, the water was cold … meh … lots of little excuses just adding up. We can swim with the dolphins anywhere, it was really a matter of seeing these tiny NZ dolphins, but then we also read that they were “some of the smallest” dolphins in the world; not necessarily THE smallest dolphins in the world. So, come 9am when we got up, we decided to have a more relaxing day, slow the pace up a bit, save a bit of money, and just tramp around the city for the day.
Our first order of business for the day was to get some groceries and make our own dinner that night. Last night’s dinner wasn’t too expensive (just split a medium pizza, which was amazingly delicious btw – need to remember the ingredients to make later on…?), but it was time to cut back a bit on meals. So, off to the Pak’n Save for groceries, and then we swung by Denny’s for a cheap breakfast. And it actually was really cheap; probably our cheapest meal of the trip. $11 for two reasonably sized breakfasts (eggs, toast, hash browns, etc.) and two coffees. Wicked deal. After that we headed for the downtown to do a bit of shopping. I was on a mission to get some plastic Havaianna sandals, and Jess was on a mission to just do any sort of shopping. :)
The city was, well, just another city. The drive towards the downtown reminded me a lot of London, Ontario. Probably a mix of the tall trees, older architecture, big parks, etc. But the downtown area itself was much like what we had experienced elsewhere. Lots of shops, shopping, cafes, etc. After wandering around for a few blocks, we stumbled across a neat marketplace. It was a big cement square with dozens of tents set up with a mix of hippies and foreigners selling cheap stuff. We looked around there for a bit, but didn’t really find anything worth while. However, we did successfully get a delicious bratwurst with onions and mustard. Daaaang that was good. Kinda made us feel a bit nauseous later on, but totally worth it, ha. Then we managed to find my sandals, wander around a bit more, and then headed back to the hostel.
We really didn’t do much for the rest of the day. Played around on the net for a bit, made our dinner (I think we’ve found a cheap and delicious way of making Indian food --- jars of the premade sauce, with rice and chicken, amazing). Then we Jess watched the Eclipse trailer once or twice a few times (haha). After that, we did a bit more research on Australia (thinking of doing a hop-on/hop-off bus deal), and then made it an early night.
The next day (Sunday the 21st) we were off to Dunedin (pronounced “duh nee din” but we say “dune din” --- ha, it’s become a funny inside joke with us … for no other reason that to just pronounce it wrong on purpose). The drive down there was quick, and perhaps that explains why we got a speeding ticket. Doh! Now, I don’t really think it was warranted. There have been many times driving when I would have deserved a speeding ticket, but that wasn’t one of them. We had been driving 100km/h for a couple hours, then got into a town where it went down to 80 km/h, and then a small stretch where it was 50 km/h, and that’s where I got nabbed doing 82 km/h. First of all, there’s no reason to be doing 50 km/h … the difference between 50 and 80 on that stretch of road was nil. It was wide, lots of space, great road condition, straight, blah blah blah. It was just 50 for no other reason that the city wanted to catch speeders (or so I like to think). In fact, right after that stretch of road, it went right back up to 80 km/h. Stupid. Anyway, the cop was nice enough. Asking me if there’s any reason I was speeding. I suppose I could’ve made something up, but I don’t really think he would’ve cared --- he looked like the kind of person that became a cop b/c they were bullied in high school and like to have authority. He did the routine breathalyzer (standard procedure for NZ police stops) and then he wrote us a ticket. When he found out I was a foreigner, I think he picked up on the fact that I wasn’t going to pay it, and pretty much said I didn’t have to, “Now, just write the authorities about the situation, and they’ll contact you if you need to pay anything. You can’t pay oversees with a credit card; you need to do it in person with cash. If you don’t pay it, it’s not like we’re going to come knocking at your door in California, but, you may have troubles if you ever try to come back into this country again.” Ha. Ok, so basically I don’t have to pay it. Sweet.
Before long we made it to Dunedin. It was too late for the Chocolate factory, so we decided to push that to the next day --- that was better anyway because it was Sunday and they do shortened tours on Sundays. We checked into our hostel and immediately regretted booking the place. It was “alright,” but it was very old and very creepy. Tiny corridors, random furniture and decorations, creepy old fireplace and dresser in our room. Ha. It was definitely not one of the nicer places we’ve been. Even the city itself had an old creepy feel to it. It was big enough, but I don’t know, there was something about the place.
With our chocolate factory fail, we decided to do something with the day, and headed for Baldwin Street --- the supposed steepest street in the world. When we got there, we decided not to take our rental car up the street; the street was VERY steep, and our car had enough troubles getting around the mountain inclines. Kinda doubt this guy would’ve been able to chug up that hill without breaking. So, we just did the obligatory walk to the top, snapped a few photos, and then got back in the car and went back to the hostel. Ha. Woohoo --- extreme Dunedin excitement! Come to think of it, while the street was steep, I’m pretty sure some streets in Laguna Beach would give it a run for its money as the “steepest street in the world.”
Back at the hostel, we made our dinner, played a few games of Jumbline and then went to bed.
The next day (yesterday, the 22nd), we were off to Queenstown. However, we made sure to swing by the Cadbury Chocolate Factory for an amazing Cadbury World Chocolate Factory Tour Experience! Jess was thrilled. When we checked in, however, they told us it was some Maori public holiday, and they would be operating shortened tours as a result (no manufacturing stuff), doh!! Ahh well, it ended up being fun anyway. We got a bunch of chocolates, and then watched a 15 minute video on the history of the factory. Then we stepped into the manufacturing building, walked up a silo where they had a chocolate waterfall at that stop, then got to taste some more chocolate, watched a video on how they made some more chocolate, and then got a couple more pieces of chocolate on our way out. The whole time, the tour lady was asking trivia questions about the history of Cadbury and generally chocolate, and handed out chocolate prizes. Oh, and the chocolate waterfall was something like 50 tons of chocolate falling about 10 feet into a vat. Chocolate was spraying everywhere (you’d get it on your clothes if you didn’t step back), and all of the railings were covered in chocolate due to the spray. Hah --- it was quite the chocolatey experience. Jess was quite pleased with it all, especially after finding a Crème Brule Cadbury chocolate bar in the gift shop. Chocolate factory tour = win!
Then we motored our way to Queenstown. It was just a 3 ½ hour drive, and was pretty scenic through farmland, past sheep, etc. Much like the north island driving. Somewhere along the way we brought up the infamous topic of bungee jumping. It was invented in Queenstown, so naturally, would we do it? Before leaving on the trip, we said “of course!” --- it was a bit of a no brainer. But as the trip dragged on, we never really talked about it. We looked into it once, very briefly, but that was the end of it. It had kinda become a dead issue. On our drive to Queenstown, however, we had to talk about it. The first thing Jess said was “Ok, but not today.” “No way! Of course. Maybe tomorrow.” Then somehow that led into typing “Bungy” into the GPS, and before long, TomTom put as smack dab at AJ Hackett’s Bungy, right at the site of the first ever commercial bungee jump, the Kawarau Bridge. I still didn’t believe we were actually going to do it that day --- I mean, we had no idea if they were still doing any more jumps that day (it was 4:30pm when we got there). But sure enough, we walked to the front desk and they said, “Yep! You’d be our last ones of the day!” Haha --- you start thinking, “Last ones, oh no; is it a bad thing to go last? Do the operators get all tired and forget how to tie the ropes? Do they get lazy? Will they remember to adjust the rope for a tandem jump because they’ve been doing singles all day?” We stepped outside and took a look at the bridge, and watched a few people jump. Meh, it didn’t look that bad. It was only 43m high, and you’re over a river. It was a bit windy, but whatever, seemed doable. So we went back inside, bought our tickets, got weighed, got a harness on, and in the span of about 5 minutes, we were all tied up and told, “Ok, now step onto the platform.” Hah … WTF!! I thought we were going to get some debriefing; just 5 minutes ago we hadn’t really decided whether or not we were going to do it, and now we’re all strapped in being told to step to the edge. That’s kinda when the nerves kicked in, but it really wasn’t that bad. We were doing a tandem jump, so we just had to hold onto each other’s belt, and then jump. The ropes did the rest. Pretty simple. When we stepped on the ledge, Jess started saying, “No no no; nope; not doing it.” Haha. The only comforting thing I could think to say was, “Oh come on. It’s not bad.” Then came the countdown, “1, 2, 3 … jump!” To which Jess responded “no no no! I’m not ready yet.” Ha --- the operator then said in a fairly stern voice, “Listen, when I say jump, you have to jump. There’s a bit of debris in the river and so there’s a small window in which you can jump.” Not sure if that was comforting or not, but being “scolded” (not really) just kinda made you think “shit, sorry, we’ll jump this time; promise.” So then again, “1, 2, 3 … jump!” Somehow we managed to jump fairly well in synch. And WOW!!! What a feeling!!! I was looking out at another bridge when we jumped, but your naturally tendency is to look down when you’re jumping. All I remember is the ground rushing towards your face, and this insanely awesome feeling of weightlessness for about 2-3 seconds. So crazy. Then you feel the gentle tug of the rope, slow you down, and then a big rush to your upper body, and then you just bounce around for a bit. Before long, you’re lowered toward the river, where two guys come by in a boat to pull you in. Then … it’s over. You’re lying on the bottom of a boat, staring up at a bridge 43m above you, from where you just jumped. Haha. Suuuuuch an amazing rush!! We wanted to do it again (and for about 1/3 of the price, you could have), but we were literally the last jump of the day, and they wouldn’t let us do it again. Ahh well, the feeling of “I can do anything now” lasted for the rest of the day. Jess and I decided that we’re both becoming adrenaline junkies. On our way to the hostel, we stopped off for a celebratory beer and talked about all the other crazy cool things we need to do (hang gliding, sky diving, shark cage diving, etc.). Hah. So cool.
We got into Queenstown around 7pm, just in time to get ready for the night. We had plans to meet up with some friends we made on St. Patty’s day. They were all on different trips around NZ, but were part of this “Magic Bus,” which is basically a hop-on/hop-off bus. Quite the fun bunch; we met them at some college pub type place for a few drinks. We got home somewhere around 2am, at some cheese and crackers, and then passed out. What a fun day. Probably one of our top 5 days yet.
Phew. Finally all caught up to today.
Queenstown itself is quite the neat city. It reminds me a lot of a little ski village. Lots of cool shops, and cafes. It’s right on a huge lake, and it’s surround by big mountains on all sides. Also, everything seems relatively new (or at least, updated frequently). It’s probably the coolest town we’ve been to on the south island. Definitely one of my favorites of the trip. And … being the adrenadline capital of the world, there’s TONS to do here. Unfortunately, the one major activity we wanted to do in NZ (zorbing) cannot be done here. I suppose it’s not much of an adrenaline rush (you’re in a plastic ball and you roll down a hill at about 20 km/h, kinda slow, but kinda fun) … but there also aren’t a lot of places to roll down hills here (just huge mountain sides) … maybe we should roll down mountains instead of hills --- that’d be quite the adrenaline rush!
At any rate, we’ve found plenty to keep ourselves busy over the next 48 hours. This morning we booked a jet boat ride, and a gondola / luge deal. Another fun activity to do here would be a day trip to Milford Sounds. The cheapest one is $145/person, and it’s just a boat ride through the sounds. Not too exhilarating, but supposedly gorgeous. However, the weather in Milford Sounds has been disatorous over the past few days. The people that went on Saturday/Sunday said it was cold, rainy, windy and way too cloudy to really see anything. And the people who went on Monday either got turned around due to flooding / avalanche / trees falling on the road … or the “lucky few” who got there early, ended up being stuck there in huts for the night because no one could get 120 people out of there in time w/all the roads down. Yikes. We actually wouldn’t be able to get there today if we wanted to … so maybe tomorrow … but honestly, we don’t really want to throw away $290 NZ if the weather is going to be miserable. Plus, I really don’t think we can top that Abel Tasman or Bay of Islands experience.
After our bookings, we grabbed some brunch, and then went to the jet boat. It’s basically a feel fast tiny speed boat that sips through 42km of lakes and rivers. The whole ride is 1 hour long, and your whipping through the water like crazy. It was crazy cool. The boat was very fast and maneuverable; felt the like the guy could do pinpoint turns. We did tons of 360s, lots of “near misses” with trees and the shore, and at times we were zipping along 1 foot of water! Insane! The captain said the boat technically can drive in 2-inches of water (needs 1m though to get started), and I believe it. In fact, at times it felt like we were in less than a foot of water. Very cool indeed. The only downside was that it was quite chilly, and the water spray made it feel arctic.
Now we’re back at the hostel, unwinding, and have just pushed our gondola ride to tomorrow. We’re a bit tired from yesterday (well, mainly from last night), so we’ll probably spend the rest of our day just relaxing and getting organized for Australia. I think tonight we’re finally going to get to taste some famous NZ lamb shank; perhaps even some green lipped mussels we’ve been hearing good things about. But for now, a bit of a nap is in order.
