"Oh poo! Where did the floor go?"
Queenstown, 4th & 5th December 2001.
 30 minutes later, I headed for the Gondola, to get to the top of the
mountain for my final bungee jump. Unfortunately, I arrived to find
a long queue of Japanese tourists & senior citizens. Fretting a
little, I luckily managed to get to the top in time. At the top of
the Gondola, I met Steve & Dan and we headed off to be weighed for
our final jump.
Again, this jump was amazing. It's slightly different because (1)
although you only fall 47m, you're actually 400m above Queenstown;
and (2) you have a body harness instead of an ankle strap, so you
can take a running jump off the platform! This adds an extra
dimension to the jump.
 After strapping myself in and receiving the briefing, I wandered
forward to the edge of the platform to look at the town 400m below.
I gulped, then backed off. He gave the count down, 3...2...1, then I
sprinted towards the edge, full pelt. Oh c**p, where did the floor
go? Suddenly my feet were flailing in mid air, then I was going
downwards again...after a short, but still very scary, fall, the
bungee rope pulled on me and slowed my descent. I was left bouncing
erratically in mid-air watching the people of Queenstown far, far
below. After I was pulled back up, I had a few minutes to rest while
the other two guys did their jumps. Dan fell wildly, much like me,
but flailed around even more crazily. Steve, on the other hand,
being a ski instructor did an amazing forward flip and bounced
gracefully.
 Back on terra firma, I met the others back at the hostel. We decided
to pop down to a local pub where the hostel owner was taking part in
the final of a Karaoke competition. Apparently, the pub is empty
every night except for Tuesdays, when it’s packed. With a $1000
prize on the line, I'm not surprised!
The pub really was packed to breaking point. After a while the acts
began. We watched a few, some were really good, some
were...interesting. As I was feeling a bit dehydrated, but didn't
fancy a pint tonight, I went to the bar and ordered a coke. When I
did, two big guys at the bar either side of me gave me a funny look.
I added "It's for the lady", and they mumbled and nodded
approvingly. Phew!
As we didn't know anyone singing (the hostel owner couldn't be seen
anywhere) and we didn't recognise this strange New Zealand music, we
left after a few numbers. Em decided to stay until the end because
she was enjoying herself, (everyone's different!). So Nat & I went
for a walk around town, which was still buzzing at this time of
night, before heading back for the night.
The next day, there wasn't much going on so we decided to see the
new 'Harry Potter' movie. It's a good film and definitely worth
seeing (but I'm looking forward to the Lord Of The Rings more). We
all really liked Robby Coltrane (playing Hagrid). He had us in
stitches! I recommend reading the book as well, though. I read the
book in 2 days before seeing the film and they do miss out quite a
lot in the film.
In the evening, Nat & I went to see a traditional Maori show. It was
really interesting and great fun. They did traditional dancing &
singing and it was a great performance. I like learning about other
cultures (one of the main reasons I am travelling) so it was
definitely a worthwhile experience. It was also very interactive, I
ended up making a fool of myself trying to do the Haka with the
other men in the room (The traditional Maori dance that the New
Zealand Rugby team do to intimidate their opponents). Nat fared a
little better when all the women did a version of the 'Hokey Cokey'
called the 'Hopi Hopi'.
Apart from that, our last day in Queenstown was quite laid back. We
just looked around the town one more time & chilled in the sun.
Tomorrow, we're heading back round to Christchurch!
Next Diary Entry >>
|
