Welcome back to part 2 of my blog on Queenstown
It contains one of the most terrifying things I've ever done so it's a big deal, to me at least.
There's plenty of extreme activities to do around Queenstown including not 1 but 3 bunjee jumps! Yes three!
The one I wanted to do was the Nevis Bungy. The highest in New Zealand at 134 meters! It's also the most talked about. You've probably seen a promotion video on facebook at somepoint.
The highest bungy in the world by the way is Macau Tower in China at 233m high! 🤢 Erm, no thanks!
However someone I was living with had booked me into a different one. I guess they just went for the cheapest option? Not that Bungy jumping is cheap of course.
The Ledge Bungy
Skip back a couple of months and I had alreadty done 3 Bunjee jumps in Cairns - Australia. All of which were different styles and all were about 50-55 meters high (because I jumped off the roof) so as a result I thought this would be easy in comparison.
Hell no! This was trully terrifying!
A nervous smile
You see, the bunjee at Cairns had water at the bottom so if something did go wrong at least I could spear through the water surface. But here? Nope. How about sharp jagged rocks instead which will split you in half or impale you instead.
Oh and another thing, despite the bunjee being 50 meters. The actual height of the platform is 400 meters high so trust me when you're hooked up and looking over the edge it makes things alot scarier; even though you know it's a 50 meter bungy.
See what I mean?
But that's not all, what happens when you've done the jump in Cairns, they lower you down a couple of meters onto a dingy and you simply hop a shore. But here, at The Ledge you're left dangling untill a red saftey rope is lowered towards you. You then have to clip it on yourself (to the right clip) and then they pull you back up slowly. It's terrifying, the rope slips as it twists so every now and then you fall sligtly when the lines unwrap themselves.
There's one other thing. This particular bungy is a full body harness. This means you're strapped in kind of like a baby so when the jumps finished and you've stopped bouncing 🤢 you end up in a sitting position rather than dangling head first.
It also means your legs are free to do as you please be it, karate flying kicks, flips, swan dives, whatever. As long as the instructor is ok with it, you can do it. Me? I was going to do a flying sidekick.
I used to do Tae Kwon Do you see; and that was one of my favourate kicks to do. But I realised that by doing so there would be a high chance of my leg getting caught in the rope. :-s
You have to hold the bunjee rope yourself and throw it to the side as you leap. So instead, I did a running jump. I fully committed and dived out as far out as I could, not knowing whether this was my last action I'd ever take.
Weeee
If you are suffering from depression and think you've got no emotions or fear left as I did, I DARE you to do this. Trust me, you'll get them back very quickly!
After you've done this leap of faith, you get a free hat and T shirt too!
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As if bunjee jumping wasn't insane enough, I also did "The Swing" on the same day one after another!
weeeeee!
In a way this was scarier. You wouldn't think so would you but the the drop at the start is terrifying. You would think diving out head first would be more scary...nope.
Let me quickly explain.
You're hoisted in position, hanging on the harness kind of sitting as if your absailing. There's a very small pin with a red tab in front of you. Don't ask me how but this tiny pin is what's holding you in place. It's up to you to pull it out.
The scary thing is it took barely any force to pull. You could easily do it it with thumb and pinky even.
Once you pull that pin it feels like the world just falls below you. You don't "swing" straight away like you expect. Instead you drop. So you can imagine my horror when I pulled that pin.
Once you've survived the drop only then will you swing, which is more fun than terrifying.
weeeeee
This was the last "extreme" activity I've done in my life and by far certainly one of the scariest. Will I do it again? Who know's. I've Bungyed 4 times now so basically danced with death. I don't wanna push my luck.
But what I will say if you haven't already and you come across a safe oppertunity with AJ Hacket bungy in particular, do it! You won't regret it.
The Luge
Now onto something a bit less scary.
A long time ago I posted about the Luge ride in Rotorua which is located in the middle of the North Island. Well, here it is again but this time with a view!
Can you spot me? 😂
It's basically mario kart for grown ups. (Even though I'm surrounded by children in the picture lol) but it's really fun to do and you can get some really good speed if you dare not to break.
As for the course itself, it's quite short and compared to the one in Rotorua the course is no where near as fun. But if you've never been on a Luge before, it's certainly worth having a go.
Where is it?
In case you haven't guessed already, it's situated right next to the bungee! With a truly stunning view of the lake and surrounding mountains.
Well, that's it for me and Queenstown. I spent Christmas and new years here and what an end to an incredible year of travelling.
It felt like the end of a long journey, but little did I know. There was more to come.
As always, thank you thank you for reading and supporting my blogs. Without the support, I don't think I'd take the time to write them, so thank you.