Day 28 - A Windy Day

Well the weather for the sky dive seemed to be a lot better today as the sun was shinning and the clouds had all gone some where else for the day. Unfortunately the people at the sky dive centre decided that the wind was too high so it's been rescheduled yet again, this time for Sunday!



Fingers crossed for Sunday everyone.

Day 27 - Milford Sound

We'd booked up late last night to go on a day trip to Milford Sound rather then wait for another let down on the sky diving. We had been told that Milford Sound was a must visit as this fjord (For Jo: Lake supplied by the sea! Help from Bev after explanation to her!) was set in some great scenery.

The coach picked us up early and wet set of on the 4 hour journey to get to Milford where the boat was waiting for us. The weather stayed good for the journey round to the first set of mountains that needed to be crossed. We had stopped off at a few photo points on the way there so that we could stretch our legs.

One of the stops that we where let off the coach for was for a 15 minute walk though the woods to an extremely picturesque waterfall that had carved it's way though the rock in very strange way. We where lucky that it had been raining hard the previous day as this and many other waterfalls along the way where running well as they depended on rain water for there existence. As you can see from the pictures the forest in this area was made up mainly from beech trees and ferns all covered by moss. Some of the trees here where as old as 600 years.

We also encountered the Kea parrot which is a very friendly and funny bird that seemed to inhabit all the tourist stop off points. These birds are very inquisitive to the point of coming right up to you and nibbling your camera (Good job mine is parrot proof!) Bev found it very amusing that they have a knack of side stepping with a hop like a cross between a penguin and a crab!

Once we had crossed through Homer tunnel under one of the mountains for the final run into Milford the cloud descended to a low level and the rain started to drizzle. We reached the boat wharf and set off on our pleasure cruise though the sunny picturesque scenery, except the cloud was low and the rain was getting worse so we could just make out the mountains on one side!!!!

The trip was very wet but entertaining as we got to try out our special Peruvian hats. We did see lots of waterfalls although to be honest we'd seen a lot of water falls by this point!!

We did have one small treat on the return journey which was a small penguin that was spotted on the shore line. You can play spot the penguin in the picture below:

After the boat trip we all jumped back on the coach and had a long 4 hour trip back to Queenstown where the weather had been nice all day!! Once back, and as we had been driving past fields and fields of new born lambs (or new born sheep as Adrian calls them!!) we decided that tonight was the night to sample the lamb shank :) (It was very tasty)

We then fell asleep and hoped that the weather would be nice in the morning for our sky dive !! (wishful thinking)

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Day 26 - A really chilled day

The weather here today has been awful, we awoke to torrential rain and strong winds so needless to say the skydive has been cancelled for a second time. We have rescheduled it for Friday at midday so fingers crossed that it is a nice clear day with little wind.




The rest of the day was spent relaxing and sorting out some arrangements ready for Australia.

Day 25 - Chilling Around Queenstown

We awoke this morning to a lot of rain and wind which wasn’t a good thing considering we due to be doing a sky dive midday! As it was early we decided to wait and see if the weather improved. Eventually the rain stopped and the sun came out so we headed into town to go and do our sky dive. Unfortunately due to strong winds the skydive had been cancelled so we had to reschedule for the following morning (weather dependant).



So we headed off for a walk in the botanic gardens instead. This was a nice short walk through some nice gardens with lots of flowers and small wooded areas. We managed to track down the bouldering rock which Adrian enjoyed a climb on. Otherwise it’s generally been a chilled out day sampling further restaurants and local beer (doing what we do best!).





We’ll keep our fingers crossed that the weather is nice in the morning for the sky dive.

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Day 24 - Shotover Canyon

This was our second day in Queenstown and we thought we’d keep going on the adrenalin buzz that seems to be the natural state of the town. We had booked up a combo deal of a ride in a boat and a go on a swing.

The boat was the first event. Now being Queenstown this wasn’t a normal boat trip but the Shootover Jet boat. This is an 80Kph jet boat that skims very very close to the side of the canyon and the shallow river bed. The ride was a great as it really got the adrenalin going as you passed the rocks by at very close range. It was also quite a wet trip as the boat would do a 180 degree spin spraying cold water all over us. We both ended up with very numb faces from the wet and cold winds but was a really good laugh.



Our second event was a swing in a canyon. Now this isn’t what you’d picture as a normal swing. It’s a 109m drop to the canyon floor and the swing has a 200m arc after a 60m free fall! (As expected from this part of the world!) We where both fairly nervous about doing this as it is the biggest swing in the world and defiantly the biggest drop either of us has ever done.



As we where harnessed up and walked out on the platform the staff where extremely helpful about settling our nerves with comments like ‘It’s the fastest way to die.’, ‘The other people have a much better safety record’ and ‘Hope cord isn’t too frayed!’ and the best of all ‘You’ll jump how we want you to jump!’. This swing has a list of different styles that you can jump with pant ratings to give you an idea of how scary they are. Bev was first up (still not sure if that was completely of her choice!) and was trying to go the easy way by being suspended and let loose by the jump master. He had a different idea and convinced her that if she stepped out over the ledge she would hang in the harness until ready to go. So she stepped out over 109m and fell with the shock of her life. This is the forward style although I’m sure that it’s normally supposed to be done voluntarily!




After the rest of the 4 people in our group had gone and my nerves where starting to show it was finally my turn. Having seen everyone else go in a normal style I thought that the look of the garden chair was a curious alternative. This involved me sat with my back to the 109m drop secured to a garden chair and all I needed to do was rock backwards. I’ll admit that, for some reason, I thought this would be an easy way to go but proved to be a bit more mentally challenging then thought. Having plucked up the courage to push back beyond the point of return the helpful jump master decided to catch me mid tilt and pull me back in for no more reason than to see me go through that again. The Git!! The second push was a little less interrupted and I plummeted down sat on a garden chair and had an amazing buzz.




We both enjoyed our first drops so much (or we were still high on adrenalin from the first go) that we went for a second jump! Bev was first up and after a bit of indecision she opted to jump/fall backwards off the ledge. She had to stand with her heels on the ledge and her hands behind her head and fall backwards constantly looking at the people on the ledge as she fell 60m. Without hesitation (and no pushing involved) she fell straight off on que and loved every minute of it.




As all the others had chickened out from doing a second jump it was my turn up. Being a little unsure of what style to do the jump master made the decision for me. For this jump I was to be Gimp Boy. This involved hanging upside down above the 109m drop with my legs wrapped around the rope above me and then let loose. This was an amazing way to go looking face first down the canyon. Look out for the gimp teddy bear in the video, strapped to my bum which was very amusing to watch according to Bev!




The canyon swing is probably one of the best things we’ve done so far it was such a rush it would be easy to get hooked to it. I think it’s also helped my confidence in doing the Nevis bungee as what’s another 30m when jumping off a ledge!

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Day 23 - Welcome to Queenstown

Today was our first day in Queenstown, New Zealand. We awoke to a bright sunny day with a fabulous view of the snow topped mountains and the lake below the town.



We decided to get up and have a wander into town so we could grab some breakfast and sample the New Zealand cooking (not that foods always the first things on our minds!) We went to a cafe that over looked the lake and ordered a fry-up which was entitled ‘The Big Daddy’. We were both really hungry, which was a good job as the ‘large’ plate was completely stuffed with food.
After breakfast we decided to catch the gondola/cable cart up to the top of the mountain it was situated on. The views from the top were spectacular and over looked the whole of Queenstown. We went and had a look around and stopped off at the various viewing points to take some pictures of the scenery.



On the way to the top whilst in the gondola we passed a bungee platform called ‘The Ledge’. Out of curiosity we went and had a look at a few people jumping. There was also a bungee swing available to do which looked very fun. On investigation we found out that this is a 47 metre drop/swing overlooking Queenstown 400 metres below. It looked strangely appealing and Adrian needed to get some practice in before doing the Nevis* bungee (And for Bev doing the Canyon Swing). After debating and putting it off for a good few hours and a G&T, we decided to go for the plunge.



These were great fun but the best way to describe them is by watching the video’s for your selves.


Bev doing the swing.


Adrian stumbling off the Bungee platform. (Listen out for extra humiliation!)

*The Nevis bungee is a 134 metre drop being the biggest in New Zealand. Gulp!

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Day 20 to 22 - Travel to New Zeland

This was the part of our travels that we neither of us had been looking forward to. In the diary the three flights that we had to do covered a three day period. Our actual travel time was around 38 hours and crossing three different time zones.

After a 2am get up we caught our first flight from Lima to Santiago were we had to wait ten hours until our next flight. The flight had some good scenery of the Andes.



The flight from Santiago to Auckland passed by quicker than we thought but was still long and tiring. The final flight was from Auckland to Queenstown. Once again we saw some really good scenery of the southern alps. The landing into Queenstown was pretty interesting as the approach comes through a valley with mountain ranges on either side of the wings.



Our apartment in Queenstown was better than expected with fabulous views of the surroundings and a five minute walk into town. We fell asleep at 3pm that day which was supposed to be for only an hour but turned into a solid 15 hour sleep! We awoke the following day at 6am.




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