Christmas in Queenstown... adrenaline time!

Thurs 25th Dec - Christmas Day in Queenstown

We wish you a merry christmas... infact the song I've been singing is..

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero año y Felicidad

(Search it..)

Champagne awaits me at reception to start the day followed by a Christmas breakfast of beans on toast and then Bad Santa in the T.V room. Around 11.30am we head to the lake front beach...my drinking bottle is filled up with gin & lemonade all set for a day of drinking in the sun..I'm also carrying a beach ball that I have been given by the receptionist which provide us with a lot of fun during the following hours...the gin kicks in and I'm running everywhere kicking the ball, the wind making it more fun! 

At 3pm our hostel provides us with a free BBQ.. and some much needed food! I change into my swim wear, top up my drink, and on my return to the lake run into the cold cold water.. later I'm thrown in and soon after I instigate Kai being also thrown in!! My afternoon soon comes to an end when I take myself back to the hostel and for a mid day nap.. now with an empty bottle.

I'm up again at 7pm and the group are heading out to eat.. we past a tasty looking mexican restaurant but it is closing and soon everyone, like sheep, are piling into McDonalds...(bahh bahh bahh) no no no.. I instead head off to find some decent food with two other less known travellers from our bus. We end up at a Thai restaurant... so my Christmas day meals have been a BBQ burger & Phad Thai.. add into the mix the sunny weather... it has been a very odd christmas..

Once I'm back at the hostel we have a few drinks and then head out to a club at midnight (for 24hrs all the bars/clubs have been shut). I leave early to get back to the hostel in order to Skype home and see/speak with a large number of my family at my nans on their xmas morning. After an enjoyable skype I'm off to bed.

Fri 26th Dec - Queenstown 

A nice lie in is followed by a chilled out morning. At midday, as a group (Ellie, Jonathan, Rikard, Kai, Rachel, Yannick, Anna and Miriam) we walk to the gondola that takes us up to the luges and where we see awesome views of Queenstown.. the view looks fake both with my own eyes and in my pictures. We have a fun filled couple of hours here racing down on the luges... with some fiesty competitons around the sharp corners. 

.. I have now booked up the Nevis Bungy (134m).. along with the majority of the group (Kai, Jonathan, Rikard,  Yannick & Anna). As we stand high above Queenstown, looking down below us, Kai is having second thoughts... and for the rest of the day/evening his only words .. with a pale white face.. are 'I'm not doing it..'!! For me.. of course the thought is scary.. but I'm pumped up and fixed on the aftermath and the words 'I did it' (and getting the t-shirt.. haha!).

We chill out then head back down to Queenstown where some of the group head off for some boxing day shopping whilst the rest head back to the hostel. As a present from my family I buy myself a New Zealand Maori Green Stone necklace symbolising strength.

Later in the evening as a group we head out for a dinner to an Italian restaurant by the Waterfront.. it is Ellie's final night before she departs for Sydney. 

Sat 27th Dec - Queenstown... Nevis!

Bungy day is here... 

Having booked my jump online instead of on the kiwi bus it has turn out that I my check in time is 11.30am whilst the rest of the group have theirs at 12pm! I will be in the group ahead of them.. 

I head down to the Station Shop with Rachel, who is coming along to support and watch! I am running a bit late and so as we walk down to the check in destination I receive a call from Sophie & Jack (who are both also doing the jump today).. maybe they think I have chickened out..! 

After being weighed and signing my life away.. me, Jack and Sophie head to the bottle shop for some pre/post jump supplies..(to help calm the nerves and ..hopefully.. celebrate..). Back at the Station Shop we bump into Steph and Aaron who I met in Franz Josef and have seen during nights out in Queenstown, Aaron will also be jumping today. As Kai, Jonathan, Rikard, Yannick and Anna arrive to check in, it is time for me and my group to take the shuttle bus and begin the journey to the jump site.. here we go... 

... this is actually happening..

On route Rachel and Steph are chatting freely, Jack & Sophie are drinking cider.. which is passed around, whilst me and Aaron remain a lot more quiet! The bus takes a turn off the mainroad and onto a dirt/gravel track and soon we are beginning the ascent up the side of the mountain. (Maybe, in fact, the most unsafe part of the day..!)

On arrival to the Nevis site we are pumped up.. my habit of bursting into classic cheese hits has kicked in to cover my nerves as walk outside to the platform and have our first view of the bungy jump! The canon swing has definitely helped me to cope with the height.. in comparison we are only slightly higher..

There are 12 people in our group jumping, we get geared up and then split into 3 groups to take the rickety cable car on a pulley system across to the hanging jump pod. The jumps will go from heaviest to lightest.. me, Jack, Sophie and Rachel are in the final group to head over and on arrival my feet/ankles are straight away being geared up.. and soon after I am into the seat of doom..

Thankfully (?!) my mind is only fixated on the mechanism of releasing your feet which you need to do in order to flip yourself upright to then be pulled back up after the jump is over.. (it is best to do this during the 2nd bounce up whilst you have the feeling of weightlessness... ).. instead of any last minute will I or wont I thoughts..

A nervous shuffle to the platform edge .. (this is actually happening..)..

A wave to the camera.. followed by a 3 2 1 bungy countdown..

I'm so keen to get it over with I'm off on 1 .. no messing about!

WOW... what an insane, crazy experience..


I DID IT!!!.. I am soo pumped after! 

Soon after my jump the rest of the group arrive but with the changes in groups taking place I am soon having to return to the mainland.. so I only see Yannick and Kai jump.. then Jonathan from a distance back at the mountain side viewing point. I order up my video and pictures.. and drink my celebration beer! 

On the shuttle bus back to Queenstown the driver asks who is getting off at the Kawaru Bridge Bungy.. I start to convince Rachel ...& Steph that they should do the bungy.. it is a must in NZ.. the home of the bungy! 

They are soon persuaded, so we all get off the bus.. at the counter they are told that it wont be possible to jump today due to how busy they are.. WHAT!? .. after speaking with supervisor however it is on.. although half the group will have to take the next bus back before they jump due to how busy it is there.. Me,Sophie and Aaron wait to watch. 

Rach and Steph jump in tandem and get dunked into the river!! So proud of Rach..although the silly jokes soon begin regarding the difference in size between the Kawaru Bridge Bungy (43m) and Nevis (134m). But I am happy that we have both experienced the bungy!! 

Back at the hostel we eat, have some pre drinks.. I skype Steve, its great catch up.. the alcohol is kicking in during our conversation whilst due to the time difference Steve is still yet to get up! Me, Kai, Rachel, Yannick and Anna head out to a nearby bar which is packed out, for a fun night on the dancefloor. 

Shuttle Bus Journey... 

Post Bungy!  

Tomorrow me and Rachel will continue on the Kiwi Bus up the East Coast of the South Island, then once again taking the ferry across to Wellington for New Year´s Eve!