Queenstown
Ben, February 20, 2013
(This is written by Pam for everyone following)
The morning after our night in Te Anau, we hopped an early bus back to Queenstown. We thought we would catch up on some sleep, but the scenery was so beautiful we just stared out the window. Upon arrival, we dropped our bags and headed to Fergburger for lunch. Fergburger has these huge, delicious burgers that are the antithesis of hiking the Milford Track. Ironically, when there, we ran into Dave, one of the Kiwi guys who did the hike with us. We all downed the burgers and reminisced about the previous days.
Afterwards we had some hours to spare before heading to bungy jumping, so we wandered around the shops and the craft fair along the waterfront. Then, at 2 pm we headed to Kawarau Bridge (43 meters high) for our jumps. I was starting to freak out, but Ben was calm and excited. When we got there, they weighed us and said we could go up to jump whenever we felt ready. Since the line for Ben was much shorter than mine, he went first so I could take pictures. He stepped right up and jumped!!!!! He said that the first fall was the most surreal feeling he's ever experienced.
Then, it was my turn. I actually was not that nervous until they brought me down into the \"prep\" area. As soon as they brought me onto the platform I started to freak out and change my mind. It was really quite terrifying for me since I'm somewhat afraid of heights and bridges. I will not go into detail since we got the video of my jump (which is mortifyingly embarrassing) that will likely be on Facebook. In the end, I was hesitating so much that the watching crowd started cheering and some kayakers in the river below started a count down. The bungy guy walked me through to the edge and I finally just did it!!!! I agree with Ben that it was the most surreal feeling I've ever had -your stomach doesn't even drop! However, when they took me off the line I was still shaking with the remnant fear from the ledge. Ben was rather proud...until he saw the video of me freaking out like a baby before the jump.
We returned to Queenstown very proud of ourselves and ready for some food, so we ate along the waterfront and tried out a brewhouse called Speight's, a popular brand of beer in NZ. We chugged some down, grabbed an ice cream cookie sandwich (num num), and called it a night. The next day we slept in to make up for lost sleep. We moved slowly through the day, starting with breakfast and coffee under the morning sun.
Following breakfast, we took a gondola ride up one of the peaks overlooking Queenstown and got some awesome pictures. During our lazy day we figured out that Queenstown has a population of only 14-16,000. That must be why it feels like such a quaint little ski town. Following a short hike around the peak, we headed down for some ice cream. We grabbed it at a shop called Patagonia that I highly recommend to anyone who visits Queenstown. It was delish!!!! Following several more hours of lazy wandering and people watching, we hopped the plane to Auckland. Saying goodbye to the south island was sad, but plenty more awaited us in the north (notably a rental car and backwards roads)!
The morning after our night in Te Anau, we hopped an early bus back to Queenstown. We thought we would catch up on some sleep, but the scenery was so beautiful we just stared out the window. Upon arrival, we dropped our bags and headed to Fergburger for lunch. Fergburger has these huge, delicious burgers that are the antithesis of hiking the Milford Track. Ironically, when there, we ran into Dave, one of the Kiwi guys who did the hike with us. We all downed the burgers and reminisced about the previous days.
Afterwards we had some hours to spare before heading to bungy jumping, so we wandered around the shops and the craft fair along the waterfront. Then, at 2 pm we headed to Kawarau Bridge (43 meters high) for our jumps. I was starting to freak out, but Ben was calm and excited. When we got there, they weighed us and said we could go up to jump whenever we felt ready. Since the line for Ben was much shorter than mine, he went first so I could take pictures. He stepped right up and jumped!!!!! He said that the first fall was the most surreal feeling he's ever experienced.
Then, it was my turn. I actually was not that nervous until they brought me down into the \"prep\" area. As soon as they brought me onto the platform I started to freak out and change my mind. It was really quite terrifying for me since I'm somewhat afraid of heights and bridges. I will not go into detail since we got the video of my jump (which is mortifyingly embarrassing) that will likely be on Facebook. In the end, I was hesitating so much that the watching crowd started cheering and some kayakers in the river below started a count down. The bungy guy walked me through to the edge and I finally just did it!!!! I agree with Ben that it was the most surreal feeling I've ever had -your stomach doesn't even drop! However, when they took me off the line I was still shaking with the remnant fear from the ledge. Ben was rather proud...until he saw the video of me freaking out like a baby before the jump.
We returned to Queenstown very proud of ourselves and ready for some food, so we ate along the waterfront and tried out a brewhouse called Speight's, a popular brand of beer in NZ. We chugged some down, grabbed an ice cream cookie sandwich (num num), and called it a night. The next day we slept in to make up for lost sleep. We moved slowly through the day, starting with breakfast and coffee under the morning sun.
Following breakfast, we took a gondola ride up one of the peaks overlooking Queenstown and got some awesome pictures. During our lazy day we figured out that Queenstown has a population of only 14-16,000. That must be why it feels like such a quaint little ski town. Following a short hike around the peak, we headed down for some ice cream. We grabbed it at a shop called Patagonia that I highly recommend to anyone who visits Queenstown. It was delish!!!! Following several more hours of lazy wandering and people watching, we hopped the plane to Auckland. Saying goodbye to the south island was sad, but plenty more awaited us in the north (notably a rental car and backwards roads)!