Queenstown

Hey,

So straight into it...

The last time I blogged, was just before visiting what I thought was called 'Puzzle-land"...It was actually called Puzzling World...not far off.

This place is awesome, basically a building filled with loads of optical illusions, 3D images and topsy-turvy rooms. One room, made one person look tiny, and the other look huge...that was pretty good...but the best, had to be this mental room where everything wasn't as it seemed...water ran upwards...a ball on a pool table ran uphill towards the pocket...and you constantly lost balance as the room was tilted all over the place. Really hard to explain, but there'll be some pics on facebook that will make more sense.

That night was a pool and cards night...as the following day we left for Queenstown, after climbing the little mountain for a view of the lake.

Couple of pretty standard stops on the way to Queenstown, but when we got there it looked beautiful; Surrounded by mountains and lakes. It has a real ski-town feel to it, with brick buildings and cosy lighting. Anyway, booked our bungy jump and a trip to Milford Sound...more on those later.

That night, being a Saturday, there was what is called: "A Big Night Out" Pub crawl. We decided to get on it, as It sounded like laugh. It was shit. Full of knob-heads pretending to be more drunk than what they were...Magaluf came to mind. Besides the douchebags, though we had an all right night...once we managed to get away from them all.

Next day was a write-off, so did the usual recovery of films and food. And, of course, mentally prepare for the Bungy on the following day. While playing a game of Cranium (pretty good board game), 2 Swedish girls came into the room making a load of noise. We didn't mind, but a load of people were watching a film so it was a bit rude. Then, after a minute or so, they decided to play music on their ipod speaker as loud as possible...unbelievable. They even went as far as leaving the room for a smoke, while the ipod remained on the table, still playing.  Craig left a piece of paper with the word "TWAT" on their table for when they returned.  Not sure why I wrote about that, but, I did.

Our jump was booked at 2pm, so plenty of time to get nervous. The bus journey to the jump site was 45 minutes...so even more time to think about what was to come. Finally arrived and got all kitted out for the jump...A little cable-car slowly transports you over to the jump platform...it takes a while, and its freezing...plus you can see right down to the ground below. Once we got into the platform, the nerves just kind of sunk away...music blaring out, and loads of people...so its more of a buzz than nerves. Rob jumped...then it was my turn. He was absolutely buzzing, so I couldn't wait to get up there. Once I was all strapped in, and waddled up to the edge, I felt amazing (also a bit anxious). A quick 3-2-1 from the main man, and I was away...sawing through the air, down 134m towards rocks and rapids....It felt incredible...I mean there's no way of describing the feeling at all. It was over within seconds, and I was pulled back up to the platform upside-down. (the cable that releases your legs so you can sit in a upright position was caught up) And that was it...Then I could watch Chris and Craig jump, while enjoying the buzz.

We were absolutely starving by the time we got home, and wanted nothing more than a Fergburger (a famous burger place in Queenstown) but sadly it was closed for a couple days. We settled for a Devil burger and a beer, then completely crashed. The adrenaline completely gone, replaced by an overwhelming tiredness. So bed time.

Didn't do much the day after the jump, besides watch the videos and talk about how amazing it was.

Wednesday was all about Milford Sound, a World heritage site, about 3 hours away from Queenstown. Its a full day trip, including a 2 hour cruise when you get there.

The scenery is simply stunning, we were all in awe of it. Huge snow topped mountains, ice glaciers, waterfalls, trees, rapids, low lying clouds...all on one stretch of road. No matter where you looked, something incredible was there.  The cruise itself was brilliant, it took you up close to waterfalls, and around the area, until you reach the beginning of the Tasman sea. A pod of Dolphins circled the boat for a while as well. Its a shame there's nowhere to stay at Milford Sound, as it would be amazing to stay there for a few days.

That pretty much brings you up to date...plenty of pics on facebook now of New Zealand so far, plus the video of my Bungy.

We leave for Dunedin on Saturday, so hopefully get a round of Frisbee golf in before then.

Talk soon,

Jay