Canyon Swing Number 2 - Gimp Boy Goes to Hollywood!

Canyon Swing Number 1! Backwards

No Adrenaline left!

Day 2 in Queenstown and it was once again time to get up early as we had a Thrill Combo to do today, namely:

• Canyon Swinging;
• Shotover Jetting; and
• White Water Rafting!

First on this list was the Canyon Swing, basically a massive swing that allows you to drop into a canyon at about one million miles an hour!

After I went first yesterday on the Bungee, Amanda was up first and I'm pleased she was as it meant I didn't have to deal with the guys straight up, who were very, very scary basically on the wind up!

This first photo shows the hut you drop from and the Canyon you swing into:

The Canyon Swing

There are various different poses you can pull too, with Amanda choosing Forwards and the Chair, with myself taking backwards and then Hollywood does Gimp Boy. It's all properly safe as the safety harness show here, but it's still horribly scary!

Amanda in Canyon Swing Safety Gear

I'm being safe too!

Well after all these thrills, it was back to Queenstown for lunch and a wee rest before taking on the other activities, so we decided to bed down in the sun down by the river, and it was lovely!

Amanda enjoying our lunch spot

Then, it was back in a van up to the Shotover river where we would be spending our afternoon mixing being on, it and in it!

First up the Shotover Jet! The Jet boat was designed in New Zealand and allows a boat to navigate quickly and precisely on very dry rivers. The first picture shows it in action:

The Shotover Jet

And we decided to slightly break the rules by taking photos of each other in the boat:

Neil in the Shotover Jet

Amanda in the Shotover Jet

It was an absolute blast. As was the White Water Rafting, but sadly no photos for you as the camera would of course got very wet. The best bit was saved for the end though when after rafting through a long tunnel, approximately 200m in length, we had to up our speed to get over a massive rapid where there was a whole bunch of danger from flipping over!

Luckily we didn't flip!

After all this, it was back to Queenstown to pick up the van, then head back on the road for a new place to spend the night. We decided Wanaka was our best bet a slowly growing Queenstown about an hours drive. We took the scenic route up near the ski areas and some old gold mines.

We made it just in time for the sunset over the lake and then headed into town for another big New Zealand pub meal!

Sunset over the Lake at Wanaka

Sheep Shearing

Turns out I missed the photo of the Sheep Shearing at the Walter Peak Farm. I'm hoping this video link will allow you to see it ok though!

A 19th Century day...to 21st Century in a few easy steps!

So we woke really early today for what could really be considered our first 'real' day of proper exploring, and headed down to the shores of Lake Wanaka for a cruise across the lake aboardthe TSS Earnslaw. This is an old steam boat, that I actually went on with my Family back in around 1989-90. It's a beautiful little steamer as the photos below show and chugged us over to the Walter Peak Farm for a tour of the farm and some morning tea.

Amanda and Neil on the Lake Shore Waiting for the TSS Earnslaw

On Board the Earnslaw

The TSS Earnslaw at Walter Peak Farm

Once at the Farm, we were welcomed by a farmer who then showed us about the farming in the Walter Peak area, including Sheep Dogs, Sheep Shearing and a chance to feed all the animals:

Amanda with a Feisty Friend

Amanda giving some Milk to the Wee One

Sadly too soon, after a nice morning tea, it was time to head back to Queenstown as the boat picked us back up!

The TSS Earnslaw on it's way to pick us up!

On the way back to Queenstown

The trip back was made more enjoyable however by the sing-song of old ditties with the old people on the main deck with piano accompaniment.

Back in Queenstown it was Bungee time. I went first and it was absolutely brilliant, although unfortunately I didn't make it into the water!

Neil About to Jump

Neil in mid Jump

Then it was the turn of Amanda who was less excited by the prospect of having her head in the river:

Amanda Waiting to Jump

Amanda Mid-Jump

It was a brilliant experience, and you know it must be a good event, when you get a 'free' t-shirt out of it!

Back at Base with free T-Shirts

So we headed wearily back to Queenstown for dinner and we decided we would have the World Famous Fergberger, a massive Burger with everything on it!

Fergberger

Fergberger and Steinlager, is there anything better for dinner than that? I don't think so!

After an incredible day, it was time for bed! One more crazy day to go!

Into the Mountains

Well, our first night in Bones proved to be a massive success, both Amanda and I sleeping well, plus the facilities in the campsite in Omaru were really good, so we woke up feeling pretty good all in!

Just as well too, as we had a lovely if not long drive from Omaru to Queenstown, our base for the next few days of adrenaline fun!

Upon leaving Omaru, we firstly drove ourselves through Rural Agricultural land, however, this soon disappeared and we headed into the mountains, with proper Lord of the Rings style scenery, as this first photo shows:

Our first 'Lord of the Rings' Photo

We continued our long old drive up into the mountains, occasionally stopping where the mood took us, or in the case of Bones and it's petrol sucking ability, wherever he wanted us to stop! Gift Shops, Rivers, Lakes, Waterfalls, you name it we stopped there...even getting photos of how far we had to go, about an hour of driving up here if I'm not mistaken:

Antone know how far to Queenstown?

On our approach, along with a vast number and length of road works, we stumbled upon AJ Hacket Bungee Jumping at Karawau Bridge...the original Tourist jump and where we stayed only briefly, as we were to return soon!

Amanda and Neil at the Bungee Experience

So we felt a bit sick knowing what we were going to be doing, then headed onwards into Queenstown, and what a place by the way! A beautiful little town on the shores of a lake, with the Remarkables rising out of the water up into the sky. It's quite difficult to explain how amazing it really is, I'm hoping these photos may do it for me:

The Remarkables & The Lake

The Remarkables

We managed to find the campsite, a rather large number but one that had room for us for the two nights we planned to stay there, and decided to explore the town, and start the gifts / souvenir shopping. A lot of it was really chintzy, but it was fun all the same!

We finished the day with a lovely meal in a pub downtown. Oh and a few beers to get us to sleep with all the excitement and adrenaline to come!

Supping a pre-bedtime pint in Queenstown!

The Lovely Bones - And more Penguins than a fat man could eat!

The second full day in New Zealand and still more bad wind news...Ballooning was cancelled again! Bad Times!

Still trying to keep a brave face on things we departed Hotel So, as we headed for the Wicked Campers Head Office in Christchurch to get a hold of our new travelling companion, our Camper van, which fingers crossed will get us all the way around New Zealand and will be dropped off in Auckland in 2 weeks. As is customary in these occasions, we decided to name our van, and despite Wicked calling it 'Skulls' we decided on Bones!. Hopefully as the photo here shows, Bones is not a bad description.

Anyhow, first up was Petrol, then food and other important items, before hitting State Highway Number 1, down the East Coast through Timaru to Omaru, our stop-off for the night!

Now let me tell you something about Omaru, it is Penguin central, as the monument and the Road sign here hopefully show!

To give you a brief Biology lesson, there are two types of penguins that nest in Omaru, that is the Blue-eyed, and the Yellow-eyed penguins.

In general, the Yellow-eyed penguins are more elusive, as there are fewer numbers and they are also much more shy than their Blue-eyed cousins. The photo to the left is a yellow-eyed number, from high on a cliff.

Later on, we went to the specially made Penguin 'Runway' which was basically a specifically built 'stadium' where the little fellas came ashore in large numbers before heading up the hill to go to their nests. Sadly, no photos were allowed, as the over officious guide constantly banged on about, but it was great to see them anyway. More impressive and humorous, was the number of penguins in the car park that we had to avoid in Bones as we headed to the Campsite for the night!