We jumped out of a perfectly good airplane yesterday morning at 9000ft above Lake Wanaka (10,000 ft above sea-level). We weren't really nervous at all up till the point when they opened the door of the teeny plane we were on and the guy i was attached to behind me said, 'alright, let's go!'. i got out of the plane, with legs curled back, basically hanging outside the plane in the cold wind, and then the expert skydiver i was attached to jumped (thank goodness i didn't actually have to jump myself...). We fell at a speed of 200kph (~120mph)! After a few seconds of screaming and yelling, I looked underneath and around me. The feeling was amazing! Exhilirating, to be more accurate. It almost felt like you're floating in mid-air. In fact, it had an unexpectedly calming feeling. Whoo hoo, yeah! I was flying!
The freefall lasted for a total of 30 seconds, after that, a 5 minute ride under the parachute, I even took some shorts videos and photos of the beautiful mountain ranges and lakes below me. I looked up, and Charlie was just above me. The landing was smooth and within seconds we were sitting back on the bench under the sun like we hadn't really just dropped from the blue sky above us. Photos taken just before we jumped should be here for the next week!
Well, we've decided lately to splurge on all kinds of adventure tour packages, that advertise big thrills and expert guides for nominal prices. Although damaging to the typical backpackers budget, it seems that most touring in New Zealand can contrive some sort of excuse to splurge on a high speed, short lasting, jolt of Kiwi fun, and once you start its hard to quit.
Recently we went Kayaking and spotted white herons, went ice climbing on the Fox glacier. Yesterday we found ourselves river sledging, which is an optimistic term for going down white water rapids with no boat, basically hanging onto a floating piece of plastic. That charged us up so much we signed up for sky diving, including a 30 second free fall. We're waiting for the weather to clear for that though, and if it doesn't by tomorrow we may have to skip it. Bungee jumping and swimming with the dolphins may be on the agenda if we can arrange it too. New Zealand has a great climate for these adventure sports, including restrictions on law suits, and a high danger tolerance by nature. Fun fun.
We've camped in the tent for 3 days to try to balance expenditures, including a stunning camping spot by lake Wanaka, on the side of crystal clear river, cotton wood trees already with yellow leaves, and so much shivering that we've given it up and moved into a semi expensive hostel - The Purple Cow.
We finished a 3 day tramping trip in the Nelson Lakes region. It was quite stunning, with most of the hiking above the tree line and alpine lakes. Last night we stayed on the beach, and today Kayaked in a White Heron reserve, making it about 7 days in a row we have been Kayaking or Camping. Tonight - steak in salad, pitched a tent behind the Chateu Franz, a huge hostel, and glacier climbing tomorrow. In between depressing pieces of propaganda we recieve about the war in Iraq, we're squeezing out a pretty good time.
We had a fantastic 3 days in Abel Tasman National Park, probably the most visited park in New Zealand but we still managed to find some remote areas. We did a 2 day Kayak/ 1 day hike combo trip. We kayaked along the coast, saw some fur seals and camped at sea-access only campsites on the beach, and hiked back on the coastal track through beech and fern forest. Had fanstastic weather as well and Charlie would tell you that it's his favourite outing so far because he caught a nice fish on the kayak!! I think it's called a kawa, a local fish here. We cooked it up at the campsite last night, it was pretty yummy!
We are really getting into the outdoors now and are going to head out for another 3 day trek tomorrow! Possibly to one of the Lord of The Rings sites!
We had a fantastic couple of days in Wellington, swaddled in suburban bliss courtesy of Suze - a friend of Karen Dos's whom we previously hadn't known. In typical Kiwi fashion we were treated to heaps of hospitality, wild parties, a few walks, downtown cafe's, and fish n' chips on the beach with a simultaneous sunset and moon rise.
Today we're headed across the Inter Island ferry to the South Island of NZ - where kayaking the Abel Tasman national park is the first planned activity.
We ventured out on our first Great Walk in New Zealand this past Monday. There are 8 treks which they have named the Great Walks in New Zealand and Lake Waikaremoana in the eastern part of North Island is one of them.
We did the 46km trail over 4 days, 2 of which was done in pouring rain (we did find out when we got there that it is in fact, a rainforest!). We were glad to have our rain gear with us but they didn't do much good after a couple of hours in the rain. So we ended a very long second day sopping wet with muddy feet. It was quite miserable, especially when you have to put back on the same sopping wet clothes and socks and shoes to head out the next day! Fortunately there Department of Conservation, known as DOC , have these Huts all along the trail that you book before heading off into the wildnerness. They consist of a big room with bunk beds and a kitchen area which gas heaters that never seemd to work. But we were able to get dry and relatively warm each day and didn't have to set up tents each afternoon. It was as luxurious as backpacking goes!
In spite of the wetness, we had a good time with others in the huts, drinking tea and comiserating about the foul weather. Luckily, the weather cleared up some the last day and we were blessed with a rainless walk and bits of lakeviews from up above which made the trip worthwhile but I am not sure if I will be up for another tramp in the rainforest!
We had a nice trip around the East Cape in New Zealand. It has a strong Mauri population, lots of sheep and empty space. Its considered "real New Zealand" by many Kiwi's. Camped one night, for free, and stayed in a hostel another night. Yesterday and today we were in Gisborne, where I surfed. Waves wern't that good though, and it was freezing without a wetsuit. Gisborne also included a massive ice-cream stop, a movie, and chineese food.
Tomorrow we're planning to start a 4 day trek around lake waikaroi (or something, all these mauri names run together after awhile). If it rains we might cancel out though.
We had a eventful day... Rolled out of "Just the Ducks Nuts backpacker" hostel this morning. The name obviously is what sucked us in. Hicked Mount Maunganui, went surfing (several waves caught!!), went to hot springs, had lunch, now we're heade for tourist central, Rotorua, for some camping and white water rafting.
Our first stop outside of Auckland was Thames, a small to mid-size town at the foot of the Coromandel Penninsula. There is nothing much there except a second cousin that I have never met before. Michael is my aunt's cousin whose family moved to New Zealand in the 60s. He doesn't speak any Cantonese anymore and he's a priest, a traveling priest. He lives in a house with another priest and we were treated with great hospitality and felt very welcomed. We caught up on family gossip, drank wine and watched rugby on TV. I have to say we had a really great time hanging out with the priests! Oh, and apparently I am part Irish, not Scottish.
With the advice we got from the priests and other local Kiwis, we headed up and around the beautiful Coromandel coast, enjoyed some suberb camping on the beach and tramping (trying to get into the lingo here...) along the coast. And yes, we have seen more sheeps and cows than people! We have been doing a hike a day so far, hopefully we will be able to keep that up! Tonight we are staying at a backpacker's called Just the Ducks Nuts...go figure.