Our second day in Queenstown was centered around the cities claim as “The Adventure Capital of the World”. Kristi and I started out the day with our first bungee jumps ever. They have multiple options for locations to jump, but we decided the bridge over the Karawu River since it is the location of the first recorded bungee jump in the world. If you haven’t done this, I’m not sure that any written description can do it justice. Standing on the edge of a platform with a series of cables tied around your ankles as the operator starts his countdown is an unsettling feeling at best. The thought that ran through my head was simply “It sure seems like a nice bridge, should I really be jumping off of it?”
The countdown begins…“Three, two, one…” and the operator’s instructions take over and we jump off of the platform in to a 140 foot (about half of a football field) freefall. As one approaches the river below, very quickly I might add, the bungee starts to kick in and slow the descent. Not sure what to expect, we were very surprised at how smooth the cables were at halting our descent. Kristi went first and truly enjoyed the experience. I know this from the wide grin that was on her face for an hour or so after she took her plunge.
For my (Mark) jump, I got the added bonus of being christened up to my waist in the river. That’s r
ight, I asked to get very close to the water and ended waist deep in the water before the bungee pulled me back out. If only I wasn’t dressed in a long sleeve shirt with a sweater over it. I weighed an extra 5 pounds and looked like a wet dog by the time they released me from the cords. I spent the next 30 minutes warming up from the dip in the frigid waters.
The pictures are of Kristi just as she jumped off and Mark at his deepest point in the water at the bottom of the plunge.
We got back in to town and grabbed a bite before all of us headed back out for the next adventure. For the afternoon, white water rafting was on the menu. We chose the more high adventure route and had a great time on the rapids. This route had class 3 and 4 rapids and wove through some amazing canyons, some of which were used in the filming of The Lord of the Rings. Since the temperature was pretty cold, we had to wear full wet suits on the trip. It started with a drive to the starting location on a crazy dirt road that wove down along the sides of a canyon. Most of the road was a single lane and there were multiple points at which we were driving along cliffs that were over half of a mile straight down to the canyon floor. Once we got down to the river, we got paired with a group from Canada and a great guide.
From the get go, we knew that this group was going to be a lot of fun. We had the extra rescue gear onboard so we had to pull up the rear for the trip down t
he river. We made the best of it by occasionally chanting our teams cheer and even catching some of the lagging boats and splashing them profusely before backing off. The rapids were great and one of them even resulted in our boat filling with water as a good part of our raft propelled underwater as we plunged from a roaring rock formation! The one major fear was that the cold would be overbearing and unpleasant, but luckily the sun was out and kept us warm for a majority of the trip.
At the end of the rafting, we were treated to warm showers and a sauna before loading in to the vans and heading back in to town. We closed the evening with some casual shopping and then a bite to eat before turning in.
The countdown begins…“Three, two, one…” and the operator’s instructions take over and we jump off of the platform in to a 140 foot (about half of a football field) freefall. As one approaches the river below, very quickly I might add, the bungee starts to kick in and slow the descent. Not sure what to expect, we were very surprised at how smooth the cables were at halting our descent. Kristi went first and truly enjoyed the experience. I know this from the wide grin that was on her face for an hour or so after she took her plunge.
For my (Mark) jump, I got the added bonus of being christened up to my waist in the river. That’s r
ight, I asked to get very close to the water and ended waist deep in the water before the bungee pulled me back out. If only I wasn’t dressed in a long sleeve shirt with a sweater over it. I weighed an extra 5 pounds and looked like a wet dog by the time they released me from the cords. I spent the next 30 minutes warming up from the dip in the frigid waters.The pictures are of Kristi just as she jumped off and Mark at his deepest point in the water at the bottom of the plunge.
We got back in to town and grabbed a bite before all of us headed back out for the next adventure. For the afternoon, white water rafting was on the menu. We chose the more high adventure route and had a great time on the rapids. This route had class 3 and 4 rapids and wove through some amazing canyons, some of which were used in the filming of The Lord of the Rings. Since the temperature was pretty cold, we had to wear full wet suits on the trip. It started with a drive to the starting location on a crazy dirt road that wove down along the sides of a canyon. Most of the road was a single lane and there were multiple points at which we were driving along cliffs that were over half of a mile straight down to the canyon floor. Once we got down to the river, we got paired with a group from Canada and a great guide.
From the get go, we knew that this group was going to be a lot of fun. We had the extra rescue gear onboard so we had to pull up the rear for the trip down t
he river. We made the best of it by occasionally chanting our teams cheer and even catching some of the lagging boats and splashing them profusely before backing off. The rapids were great and one of them even resulted in our boat filling with water as a good part of our raft propelled underwater as we plunged from a roaring rock formation! The one major fear was that the cold would be overbearing and unpleasant, but luckily the sun was out and kept us warm for a majority of the trip.At the end of the rafting, we were treated to warm showers and a sauna before loading in to the vans and heading back in to town. We closed the evening with some casual shopping and then a bite to eat before turning in.
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