We arranged to do some more couch surfing in Queenstown in an attempt to get local insight into the area whilst saving a few pennies and as it turned out we ended up living with a couple of Scots. This was actually quite fitting as Queenstown is a Mecca for foreign workers and long stay travellers. Morgan works in a bar and his lifestyle along with hundreds of other workers in the two hundred plus venues generally involves sleeping through the day and working until the early hours whereupon he begins his own drinking! Morgan had accepted our Couchsurfing request and let us in on a full hangover. Needless to say a bacon and eggs sandwich in bed was the least we could do for him as we had an entire room to ourselves.
We made our way into town to see what was going on and look into the dreaded bungee jump. The main event is a bungee by A.J. Hackett which was a 134 meter plummet into a canyon. Whilst this was more expensive than the bridge bungees we didn’t want to compromise or be beaten by anyone who had done the bigger one so we opted for this, the biggest one in Australasia. We nearly ended up doing the jump that day but it turned out that we just missed it. It was hit or miss for a while and there were some serious jitters going on! We were kind of relieved when they said we couldn’t do it that day but we decided that we would try again tomorrow and having to wait was really tough. That night was spent enjoying a few beers with Morgan and his flatmates and watching a bit of telly which we hadn’t done in a long time.
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| Nice views en route to Queenstown |
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| Yet more beautiful views along the road, getting boring now isn't it? |
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| The view from Morgan's balcony in Queenstown |
The following day was the dreaded bungee day. We headed into town and slapped down the two hundred and fifty Kiwi dollars (about one hundred and twenty five quid) each for the pleasure of this terrifying experience. The bus collected just the two of us and took us to the point where it finally dawned on us that this was really happening. The drive up the slope was scary enough as the bus precariously crawled up a private dirt road overlooking a steep drop. There was an electric cable car to take us to the wire-suspended cabin from where we would jump which was into the gorge. I had volunteered to go first which I didn’t mind as I wanted to get it out the way as soon as possible! The guys in there really knew what they were doing and aside from the odd windup were pretty supportive.
It was then time to take the big plunge. The scariest bit was leaving the comfort and safety of the chair where they attached the rope and hobbling to the edge of the platform and seeing the rocks at the bottom of the canyon. A brief countdown and slight push and that was that. The next thing I remember seeing was the Earth approaching at an alarming rate as I gathered speed with the wind rushing against my face and just as quickly the bungee cord took the slack and I began to quickly slow down. I think this was the point that I began enjoying it. It was such a thrill to be bouncing up and down in the canyon shouting and screaming out of joy, or was it sheer relief?
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| In the open air cable car to the suspended jump house |
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| See ya! |
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| Kate on her way down |
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| Suitably relieved, I believe drinks are in order! |
We headed out on the town that night and only bumped into a couple of folk from Jersey, small world after all! Joe and Jonsey were sitting next to us in one of the bars and we ended up on the town together including a quirky little bar where you could drink cocktails from teapots which was pretty bizarre, the crux was that you had to roll a dice to beat the barman in order to get it free which we managed to achieve two times out of the three. We finally grabbed a taxi back to the house having had a great night, sod the expense.
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| Chomping on the notorious Queenstown 'Fergburger' |
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| Teapot cocktail time |
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| Joe showing Jonsey his affection in the only way he knows how |
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