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'Every day's a Sunday' - Tales of a one-way
traveller..
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'Booked it, packed it..'
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'The Chair'
Think back to those boring school days when leaning backwards on your chair was the most exciting thing on your mind. Well we'll sit you on our chair then position you backwards on the edge. It's now up to you to play with gravity, find that balance point and slowly pass the point of no return where you will be sent somersaulting through the canyon. Seatbelt provided.'
I read this shortly after we arrived. It was on a brochure for the ever popular 'Canyon Swing' - the worlds highest swing. It was lying on a table amongst piles of other brochures detailing stupid adrenaline activities. I am of course finally in Queenstown, the adrenaline sports capital of the world.
Within an hour of arriving, four of us had booked two of the most insane activities available, one of which was of course, the Canyon Swing. We left Wanaka yesterday after lunch and had started discussing some of the 'lunatic options' on the bus that we had heard about from fellow travellers. It was just like getting excited on a journey to your favourite theme park knowing that they've built 'the best yet' since your last visit. Thing is, what I've learned to understand is that this isn't pretend adventure like Alton Towers or Blackpool Pleasure Beach. This is real adventure and real excitement borne out of a very real adrenaline rush. Adrenaline activities in New Zealand are the Real McCoy, the 'Don' of all rides. New Zealand is THE PLACE for adrenaline junkies. Here, they don't say 'you wanna try our new rollercoaster?', they say 'there you go bro, take this small polystyrene board and ride down that grade five river. See how that grabs yer!'
So like the people I was discussing the options with on the bus, I had read a little about Queenstown and knew that these activities were serious and often stupid. So making these on-the-spot decisions about who was up for what was a serious issue, especially as there was the odd element of 'I'll do it if you will' coupled with a nervous giggle or two. Within ten minutes it was agreed. Igno, Chicken, Daz and I were doing the 'Nevis' tomorrow morning - New Zealands highest bungy jump. 'Daz the brave' was pointing out that we all need to do 'something mad' together and if you're going to do something, you've got to do it properly. Though very nervous as she hasn't jumped before, Chicken was in agreement with Daz, though like me wanted to do the 'Thrillogy' (three of the Queenstown bungys that included the Nevis) as it was only slightly more expensive to do all three. Igno was actually silent the whole time knowing full well that in a few minutes he would be agreeing to do something that would make him shit himself. He really, really did not want to do it. Unfortunately for him, we kindly pointed out that as much as he didn't want to do it, we were sure that he also didn't want to have any regrets later on.
So as I said, moments after arriving in Queenstown, the four of us had booked it. Personally, I'd have preferred to have done the smaller jumps first and built up a bit of a crescendo for the Nevis at a later date, but I also wanted to share the experience with these fine people, particularly Igno, who's face at 134 metres I wouldn't have missed for the world!
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