This is a repeat for some of you...but skip down to the World Horizontal Bungy Competition part where Team America ("Fuck Ya") shines.
So--the Kiwi Adventure began in Auckland when AP and Schaiman woke us up from our daily nap. Let me put this into perspective: before we met up with them, we would hit 3 -5 cities in 1 month. Because they had time limitations (12 days), we embarked on the Team America (F-- ya!!!) Whirlwind Tour of NZ. There were to be no more naps in New Zealand--except for Phong who has a supernatural ability to sleep for hours in cars or any other mode of transportation for that matter (even local buses on unsealed flooded roads).
Auckland is a small city of 1 million but the NZ only has 3 million people. Mike being himself calls a friend of a friend of a friend to recruit her as our tour guide for the evening. He recruits a young pretty girl (of course!), Melody, to show us around town. We enjoyed the waterfront, won some Kiwi bucks at the Sky Casino, and started our research on New Zealand wines.
The next day we went to Rotorua--- hiking, mountain biking and hot springs. Lisa mountain biking down hill while using only her front brake equals facial trauma (they reverse their brakes here down under). In one day, we drove to Waitomo to spelunk with cave gnat larva shit (glow worms) and then to Taupo where we hiked up Mount Doom (MORDOR) of Lord of the Rings. The next day we drove to Wellington--as AP and Schaiman moved on a bit faster to Picton to fish. We needed to slow down the pace! Thankfully, we had "business" in Wellington (no really, we did have to get our visa for India).
Wellington is a much cooler town with lovely outside cafes and bars. In less than a week, we drove from the northern part of the south island down to the south. We hiked along the beach at Abel Tasman. We "crushed" the NZ roads to get to Greymouth to go rafting and play with giant eels with Josh of Eco-Adventure (one of the best storytellers in NZ--Josh and his Uncle Wally are some crazy folk--we definitely need to dedicate an article to Uncle Wally and Josh).
After celebrating Hanukah in Greymouth, we "crushed" the NZ roads again--stopping only to let Mike and Phong walk to the edge of the Fox Glacier (AP and I stayed safely behind the ropes marked danger and took fotos). We rushed to get some wine tasting before landing in Queenstown--home of the bungy and crazy ass Kiwis--where the extreme part of our trip begins.
The World Horizontal Bungy Championship BY PHONG:
Now let me start off by saying that I think bungy jumping is probably the stupidest thing a person can do. Basically you are attaching a rubber band to your legs and then jumping off an object. At anytime this so-called bungy cord can break and you will plummet to your death. I am also deathly scared of heights (Lisa is just scared of falling to her death). That being said--Schaiman was adamant about canyon jumping in NZ. This consists of bungying off a cliff 104 meters and then swinging towards a cliff face. For the entire time we travelled, the rest of us all said we would never ever do such a stupid thing. We had no desire to confront death--we were happy sane people.
So, the first night we are in Queenstown, home of the dumbest man on earth~ AJ Hackett, founder of bungy, we go out to a bar. What do you know--they are having a contest and the winner gets a trip on the NEVIS. The NEVIS you ask? Well, it’s a bungy jump. The contest starts after the first happy hour and at midnight during the second happy hour. It’s called the World Horizontal Bungy Championship. It entails the contestant running the length of the bar with a bungy cord strapped to their ass. Once you reach the end of the bar, you grab a yard of beer and get slung back to the other end. Then, you have to pound the yard of beer and the timer stops. Mike and Lisa both sign up for the contest. To be honest, we were slightly buzzed at this point and I nudged Lisa to sign up. She claims she was unaware of the prize. Because for 2 months before NZ she said repeatedly “No way in hell will I ever bungy or sky dive!!!” Well, to cut a long story short. They called Lisa out, the crowd booed her because she was from USA, and then she broke the world record at the horizontal bungy contest by 7 seconds. Now, after winning, we find out the Nevis is not just any bungy jump. It’s the world largest bungy at 134 meters. It includes a gondola trip to a platform hanging over a canyon, suspended by wires.
We tried to give the prize away to Schaiman or downgrade to a smaller jump, but there were absolutely no transfers or exchanges. You had to do the jump you won. So, Mike somehow gets AP to agree to do the Canyon Swing with him. We went along as "observers" (it is easy to watch other people plummet). Then, on Christmas Eve, we jumped and said hi to the "8 pounds 6 ounces beautiful bouncing baby Jesus". We also went to Midnight Mass to thank the Big Man for blessing the bungy cord. Like they say in New Zealand.
Embrace the Fear” “Feel the Fear, Do it anyway” “Even my shit was scared”
After all of that we finished off our trip with some kayaking at Milford Sound (spectacular!!!), winetasting in the Central Otago region (and later in the Marlborough region)--you have to be able to compare your international wines (:, and finally we went helirafting (1st time in a helicopter--scarier than rafting) down some class 4 rapids (the cherry on our trip!)
