Queenstown

29/01/12-01/01/12

My first day in Queenstown was a slow one as I went around town and sorted out what I was going to do during my stay. The first thing I did was get my bungy jump sorted, thinking this was maybe the only time in my life that I do a bungy I decided to do the biggest jump I could which was the Nevis Bungy with AJ Hackett the first people to offer bungy jumping in New Zealand. The jump was a massive 134m over the Nevis River so wasting no time I booked a jump for the next day. In the afternoon I did a series of walks in the mountains that overlooked the town first making my way up the track with leads to the top of the gondola. From here I had planned to climb to the highest peak but on my way along the track I saw another path which branched off that led to another peak which overlooked the town so I decided to follow that one instead. I was richly rewarded which stunning views of the Remarkables on the other side of the bay. Happy with the views I made my way down back to ground level following the Skyline track.

The next day was the big one – my 134m bungy jump. We were picked up from outside the booking office and driven to the jump site. On the way we passed by the bridge where the original jump is still operating from a modest high of 43m. At the jump site the first priority was to make a toilet stop before I was strapped into my harness and weighted for safety reasons (72kg – haven’t lost that much weight then!). The jump was to be from a pod suspended in the middle of a valley, it looked high – very high. Our first test was to just get to it by the way of a small transport cage. As we made our way across the ground quickly disappeared from under us. Once in the safety of the pod we were made to wait for our name to be called out to jump, all the time we waited while others did theirs. This for me was the worst moment, just hanging around waiting to jump, eventually my leg straps where put on and it was my turn. First I had to sit in what can only be described as a dentist’s chair while I was connected to the bungy rope. Once hooked on I was quickly led to the jump point and swiftly the instructor started the countdown – ‘Three, two, one, jump. Go boy!’ As speedy as that I was freefalling towards the earth for 8 seconds in what I can only say passed very peacefully for me, all the nerves and tension left me as say as I departed the pod. I had two bounces before I grab the cord by my leg and pulled to release my legs so I was up-right once more, my head was in a rush. The next thing I heard was the sound of the winch locking on to me and pulling me up to the mouth of the pod again. In the matter of a minute and a half I was once again back soundly on my feet. I was still buzzing by the time I got back to my hostel and proudly put on my jump t-shirt. After my mornings excitement I choose to do a flat walk in the afternoon along by the waterfront to Frankton to chill out.

Waking up to sunny weather once again I jumped on a bus in the morning to head to Arrowtown, an old gold mining town just down the road from Queenstown. It still has an oldie world feel to the place, after a brief visit to the local museum I ventured down to the river to check out the old Chinese settlement where Asian immigrants had settled to try their luck at finding riches in the local river. Here several of the old buildings have been reconstructed to show you the basic conditions they lived in.

On my last full day in Queenstown I took a leisurely stroll up to the summit of Queenstown hill to get some different views of the stunning scenery once again. The rest of the day was mainly spent doing some travel planning as I had purchased an internet pass.

Milford Sound

25/01/12-28/01/12

Time to move on again and electing to wear my sandals for the next few days to let my feet heal I walked into town to jump onto my next bus which was to take me further into the mountains to the natural wonder Milford Sound. I thought I would be on a basic shuttle bus but it turned out that I was to be travelling on one of the many tourist buses which cart people to the many ferries that depart from Milford. This was an added bonus as along the route the bus stopped at several destinations to allow us to take pictures, and what a journey it was, the drive form Te Anau to Milford Sound has to be one of the most stunning driving roads in the world. As the bus steadily made its way along we passed by various lakes and mountains all getting more spectacular the further along we went. During the winter the road is a dangerous place to be as avalanches can happen at any time, several drifts of snow pointed out where last season’s ones had come down. I was booked in to spend 3 nights at Milford lodge only 1km away from the Sound. Ever since I had made the booking I know I had made a mistake in staying so many nights but with a bus ticket already in hand I knew it was going to be a long stay. On arriving I checked in but I jumped on the free shuttle bus down to the Sound to get my first look at what some regard as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. It is a beautiful sight; the valley was carved out by a glacier. Knowing I had plenty of time here I only spent a little time walking round before I headed back.

Well the weather had other ideas, the next day I woke up to rain and strong winds and these continued for the rest of the day right through to when I went to bed that night. I took refuse all day and didn’t even attempt to head out – a boring rain day.
A new day and a change in weather once again as the sun was out shining when I got up. Once again I headed down to the Sound to look at a few things I missed out the last time I was down there including several short walks. With little else to do I headed back to the hostel to avoid the afternoon tourist coaches before returning later in the afternoon to sit out and read in the sun.

Time to move on (finally) to what is considered the extreme capital of New Zealand – Queenstown. My bus wasn’t until the afternoon so by the time I got there it was already evening so I only managed to have a quick walk round that evening.