Queenstown is a very small town surrounded by unbelievable beautiful scenery. It has mountains at either side of it and curves around the edge of lake Wakatipu. As you may already know, Lord of The Rings was filmed in various parts of New Zealand and parts of Lake Wakatipu as well as a place called Glenorchy, which is a 40 minute drive North-West of Queenstown also featured in the film. The scenery in this area is so amazing that there is even a place called paradise just north of Glenorchy!
Queenstown attracts people from all over the world and of all different ages (unlike Oz which seemed to be full of Germans!) So far we have heard many British, French, German, Brazilian, Argentian, American, Canadian, Austrian, Scandanivan and even Maltese accents!
We arrived here on Thursday and began trying to plan what activities we would undertake. As you all know we have been looking forward to here since our skydive in Australia 6 months ago. Skydiving was therefore a definite. The idea of bungy jumping didn't really appeal to either of us as we felt it would be over instantly and weren't too keen on the fact that we would have to take the step over the edge! That being said there are so many different activities to do. One in particular is similar to a bungy and it's called the Nevis Arc Swing. This involves getting harnessed up then getting dangled from an edge, followed by a down towards the ground. Where it differs from a bungy is instead of bouncing up and down it swings back and forth across the valey. One company we seen was AJ Hackett which did the swing as a tandem (meaning for 2) which was the world's largest swing, so this activity appealed to both of us! We also were interested in doing white water rafting again as we had heard that it was supposed to be even better here. One of the other activities that caught our eye was, horse riding but not just any horse riding. The location was the most interesting part as it's in Glenorchy where scenes of Lord of the Rings was filmed and it was called a Ride of the Rings!
We decided that we both wanted to do these 4 activities so we began booking them on Friday through our hostel. The guy in the hostel was very helpful and we informed him what activities we wanted to book and he suggested we try and do a skydive that afternoon as the weather was good that day and was due to change. He tried to book a skydive over Glenorchy as that is supposed to be the skydive with the best scenery and we were informed that they no longer do the 15,000ft skydive. He then tried Skydive Queenstown and got us on a skydive for that afternoon. Along with the world's highest swing for Saturday morning, followed by white water rafting in the afternoon. Then to relax a Ride of the Rings on the Sunday afternoon. This was to be an amazing action packed weekend.
Skydive 1st Attempt:
When we set off for our last minute 15,000ft afternoon skydive we had paid, signed away our lives, had the jump suits on, good to go. We were the next group on the plane when the plane that had just went up landed again with the people still in it as the winds had picked up and it had to be called off for the day. We were all psyched up to go and left devasted. Fortunately since we had left Sunday morning free for a long lie, we were able to reschedule it for then, keeping our fingers crossed for the weather.
Nevis Arc Swing(World's highest Swing):
We weren't dissapointed for long as we had Saturday to look forward to with our tandem Nevis Arc Swing followed by an afternoon of grade 4/5 white water rapids on the Shotover River. We were both woke up early on Saturday morning by the torrential rain, both instantly regretting booking rafting for the afternoon. We reluctantly got up at 6.30am to get ready and left for our Nevis Arc Swing. We arrived to discover the swing wasn't ready for us yet so we got to go out to the 134m high bungy jump platform and watch the morning bungy jumpers, which was insane.
Finally the swing was ready and we were asked who wanted to go first out our group. Me & Colin instantly replied 'us' before anyone else could get the chance. We then had to decide what way we wanted to do it from the options of sitting forwards, backwards or facing forwards dangling upside down. We decided to go with sitting facing forwards so we could see what was coming. We were harnessed up and then had to step off the edge of the 143m platform. We were sitting in a harness dangling in mid air. Next we were asked if we wanted to tell him when to press the button that would release us plummenting to the ground at speeds at 120kph, or if we wanted him to surprise us. Obviously we didn't answer quickly enough because as I was about to answer 'you choose when to press the button' we were falling towards the ground and I realised it was over after what felt like 1 second. Both of us were left disappointed as it was over before it even began. When we were hauled back to the top we were asked how it was and I replied 'alright' which shocked them but I explained it was too quick. They told us to try a bungy jump but we both thought we had spent more than enough money. You can watch a video of this swing by clicking here.
Shotover River White Water Rafting:
Next it was onto our afternoon activity of white water rafting on the Shotover River. Fortunately the rain had stopped in the morning and the afternoon had brightened up. We were informed the river was full of melted snow water so it would be nice and cold for us. Thankfully we were provided with full length wetsuits, wetsuit jackets, waterproof jackets and waterproof shoes. We were then given out lifejackets and helmets followed by a paddle and put into a group of 6, then allocated an instructor.
We were all asked if we had done rafting before, turns out me & Colin were the only ones out of our group so we were put at the front of the raft with everyone to keep in time with our rowing. The river seemed never ending and it seemed like a lifetime before we reached the first rapids. They didn't last for long and again it was back to nice and calm waters waiting another life time for the next set of rapids. As I mentioned earlier it was raining that night and that morning. As a result of that the river was a lot fuller than normal. The morning rafting session had enjoyed a few capsized rafts due to this. One of the first really big rapids we hit was like a tidal wave of ice cold water hitting the front of the raft, filling our comparment with water and covering our face, and worst of all it managed to work its way down my wetsuit to my stomache. 'How refreshing'. I think we acted as shields blocking the cold water from everyone else on the raft. Even better for us, the cold wind had picked up instantly making us feel as if we were rafting in some river in Scotland! Luckily for us the rowing kept us from freezing to death!
The last part of the river was the best by far as it incorporated 3 rapids in a row. The first of the 3 soaked all of us then before we could recover we had reached the second rapid, 'The Tunnel'. Here he told us to get into position so everyone except me and the instructor sat in the middle. The instructor was at the back left rowing and I had to sit at the front of the raft rowing in time with the instructor until we were through the tunnel. Then we had just enough time to resume the normal position and row for a second before we were told to get down and hold on as we were about to reach the third and final rapid of the day which was called the cascade. This is basically a dip in the river with a hole at the bottom so once coming out the tunnel was a slope then we were sucked down the hole, meaning the entire raft got sucked under the water and popped back up further down the river. This was a fantastic finish to the rafting with one big last rapid which completely freezed us, so all we wanted to do was get out of these wetsuits and get warm. As you can imagine it was fantastic to get the wetsuit off and get in a warm shower followed by some dry clothes.
Overall the white water rafting was fun but wasn't as good as we had expected mainly because the rapids were so spread out. There was too much leisurely calm water and not enough constant hanging on for life over the rapids. At times it felt more like a gondola down the Venice rivers! We felt the last bit was the best as it had 3 rapids one after the other, each one getting more exciting and challenging than the one before, which I had hoped the whole river would be like.
As a result of this, one of the most exciting parts of the rafting was the drive to the river as it was over a canyon road. The road was insane as it was designated a National highway with a 100km speed limit even though it was a single lane gravel road for 2 way traffic with steep 60ft drops with no crash barrier. As a result this it is one of only 3 roads in New Zealand that rental cars are not insured on. As well as that buses and trailers are not allowed on it but here we are driving along the cliff edge in a bus trailing a trailor full of rafts. Various parts of this road involved tight corners with even narrower roads so to get around corners the buses front right tyre was often over the edge of the cliff, the only safe parts of the road was where there was a bit of broken off rock from the hill which acted like a roofless tunnel. That was the only bit of the road that felt safe as you knew the bus couldn't tumble at this point. However we made it safely in the end obviously as we are now able to tell the story.
Skydive 2nd Attempt:
Finally it was Sunday morning, the moment we had both been waiting for since our 1st experience of skydiving 6 months ago - another opportunity to jump out a perfectly good plane! Thankfully on this morning we were able to get a step further than our attempt on Friday. This time we got past the wearing jumpsuit stage onto getting allocated a tandem master who issued us with goggles, gloves and a leather cap that a pilot would wear in an old fashioned plane! Our tandem master then got us both harnassed up and briefed us on how to jump. This was the same as last time, "the big banana" meaning getting over to the door, dangling our legs down under the plane, hands up at shoulders on harnass straps, back arched, head back and lean forward and jump!
There was a group of 4 including me and Colin and each of our instructors going up on the plane. The 2 girls from our group were doing the 12,000ft skydive so they would be going first as we were doing the 15,000ft skydive. One of the girls looked very nervous as well as her tandem master as we had overheard a conversation that it was his second day on the job. Luckily the girl hadn't heard this as it would have made her even more nervous. Finally the plane had landed and we were able to get on. It was tiny, even smaller than the one we had skydived from before! The plane floor had a plastic mattress on it, no benches this time, and the plane was only a
person and a half wide inside so we had to sit single file with our knees up at our chest, practically on top of each other to fit the eight of us on. We had to wait on the 8th member, the nervous girl who was outside being sick. I thought it was just last minute nerves, however the plane took off and started a steep ascent into the air and about 5 minutes in, nervous girl started being sick on this small confined plane. Thankfully this tiny plane had small circular windows on it that could be opened up to suck the smell of sick out! I was glad to be the furthest away from her so as I couldn't smell it but a couple of the instructors had their neckwarmers over their noses to block the smell. The plane did a few sharp turns that upset my stomache, but not enough to be sick.
Suddenly one of the instructors announced that the planes GPS wasn't working. They let the new instructor decide if we would go ahead with the jump if he was comfortable enough to be aware of his own position without relying on GPS. If he had said he wasn't comfortable then we would have had to abort and go back down in the plane! We were dreading hearing his decison, luckily he said he would give it a try. The plane was now at 12,000ft and the 2 girls and their instructors jumped out leaving a nice bag of sick behind for us to smell. Colin's instructor then announced that if it wasn't clear enough for him to see then he wasn't jumping so I was dreading the outcome. Thankfully we reached 15,000ft and it was good visibilty so he would still do it.
The jump was actually 16,200ft above sea level, due to Queenstown being at a sligtly high altitude so we were informed that we were supposed to get an oxygen mask on briefly before jumping but for some unknown reason we didn't. Colin and his instructor were first to go and he got to go out forwards this time. Then it was my turn, I did the "banana position" and out we went into the coldest temperature I have ever felt and had to endure through the 60 second freefall which kind of reduced the amazing feeling I felt the first time as the air was so cold it froze your cheeks and the air was cold enough to take your breath away. I was surprised to say I was glad when the parachute was deployed and the freefall had ended as the temperature had increased dramatically and the wind was no longer hitting off my face at the terminal velocity 220km/hr speeds we were freefalling. I told my instructor I couldn't believe how cold it was and he said when we first jumped out it was -30C then while paragliding it was -15C which felt warm compared to the freefall. I couldn't believe that this was the temperature while doing it in the summer. I asked if they still jump in the winter and he said that they do, I don't think I could have handled that! Due to the temperature I preferred the paragliding to the freefall because the temperature was more bearable. The scenery didn't seem as nice as Australia, although it is hard to compare as they are so different. In Australia it was bright and sunny with no clouds and had views of the sea, beach and rainforest. Landing on your feet on the beach was amazing. Here it was grey, cloudy and cold. Don't get me wrong, the scenery was still spectacular as we were surrounded by mountains and green scenery with Lake Wakatipu in between 2 big mountain ranges, one of which was The Remarkables, one of the settings of Lord of the Rings. I think it would have been so much nicer if had been a bit brighter and far more enjoyable if it was warmer.
One of the most interesting parts was the landing as here they land you on your bum. So when coming into land I had to lift my legs up and slide right across the grass field on my bum, which seems so weird as we must have still been going fairly fast to skid this far along it. It was strange to see the ground coming closer towards you and then slide quickly across it compared to Oz, where everyone all lands in almost the exact same space so there was no need to run or slide to land.
Over all I still enjoyed it and don't think I am finished with it yet, as I would most definitely do it again but it would have to be somewhere warm or at least I would be more prepared for next time and wear lots of layers. I think Colin is finished with it as a few of the movements on the paragliding made him feel very sick and he had to be given a sick bag in the air as a precaution but didn't fill it and managed to land on his bum without being a lightweight and being sick. This is lucky for him as I would have slagged him the rest of the trip. I think Colin was the opposite of me and enjoyed the freefall better this time because he felt so sick on the paragliding part. We both agree that we didn't get the same insane buzz that we got the first time around. I would definitely still recommend it to anyone and will most likely do it again in the future.
Ride of the Rings:
The last activity of our action packed weekend was a more calming relaxed activity, a horse ride. This involved a 1 and 1/2 hour horse ride around various parts of the Glenorchy and Paradise area where various scenes of LOTR were filmed.
We were first asked what experience of horse riding we had. I thought Colin would be one of a few people that hadn't ever been on a horse but in fact the majority of people hadn't. I was the only one that had ridden a horse before along with two other people who actually owned horses.
From here we were allocated horses and helped up onto them. The horses then formed a line which most of them did, however my horse had a different idea, his head was down and he was grazing away. After a few attempts at pulling his head up to encourage him to move into the line the instructor suggested to tie a piece of string from the bit to his reins to prevent his head from being able to reach the ground to discourage him from eating every second! This seemed to work as we were then in line and able to start the ride, although this wasn't to be the end of my horses misbehaviour! Along the ride he still managed to eat as the side of the track was full of thistles and when realising he could no longer reach the grass, he began munching the thistles! It was a constant battle to keep him moving but this wasn't too bad though. The worst was when he decided to stop and began walking through a bush, then moving us back and forth through the bush. The girl behind me informed me that he was scratching his ass, the instructor commenting that he does this from time to time. After everyone waiting a few minutes he was finished scratching and we were able to carry on leaving behind a destroyed trampled bush.
Colin was up near the front of the line on one of the biggest horses (must be because of the Fergburgers!) having a pleasant ride although I was informed afterwards that the podgy little horse in front who was the leader of the herd (who the instructor was riding) was a compulsive eater and kept farting in Colin and his horses face! This apparently got even better when we went up steep hills and the instructors joked that this horse was using his farts as a jet pack to get his big belly up the hill. As well as this there was always a pleasant smell from the amount of craps that the horses kept taking along the way!
The scenery was one of the best parts we were shown where various scenes were filmed. Most we were able to recognise however they weren't exactly like the movie as bits had been edited. For instance Isengard was easy to recognise, although we were later taken in the forest where the scene from the end of the Fellowship of the Rings was filmed. This is where Boromir tries to take the ring from Frodo and fails and then is ordered to follow and help Merry and Pippin and results in him being shot with several arrows and dying in the arms of Aragorn.
The forest we were taken through was used for this scene which you recognised instantly but the hill was nowhere near as steep as it was in the film and was edited for the film. As well as ,in the film there is a lake at the bottom of the forest where Sam and Frodo sail away in a boat. This lake isn't actually at the bottom of the hill, it is a lake in Wellington in the North Island. They filmed and merged the two locations together to create the scene they wanted. This was a shock to see how much they had edited the scenery to create the image that Peter Jackson had in his mind. I was about to take a photo as I felt that this was the most recogniseable part of the tour when my horse was bitten in the ass by the horse behind so it was a bit hard to try and take a picture with him fighting with the horse behind. This is one of the last places we were shown and it was a short ride back to where the tour began. We were able to dismount from our horses which was a relief to stretch but also a shock at the pain of my legs as well as the numbness of my bum! Here's some of the pics the instructors took of us on our horses.
Ferg Burger:
This is the famous burger place of New Zealand, the only location being in Queenstown. They have a wide range of burgers from beef to chicken and even breakfast burgers with all different kinds of fillings and sauce. The two we decided to go for was the Fergburger with cheese for me and the Fergburger for Colin. These burgers are £4 to £4.50 each, chicken ones being a bit more, but are more than worth it as one burger is all you need to fill you, as they are this huge! Mcds and Burger King better watch out!
We had been told about them when we were in Oz so on our first day in Queenstown we had tried one and were amazed at how good it tasted and how much it filled you up. So when we realised it was our last night in Queenstown and it being their only location we knew we had to have another to remind ourselves how good it was. Here are some lovely pictures of us stuffing our faces!
View From Hostel Gardens:
Most hostels don't have the best of locations and can be a bit jakey looking and the typical view is onto a back alley or some scaffolding. This is New Zealand however and the hostel we stayed in here must be a contender for one of the world's best views from a hostel. You can't see anything from the rooms and our room window did look out onto the toilets. However when you took a walk out the backdoor you found yourself in a huge garden on top of a hill and were greeted by the amazing views below.
The view was that good that we decided to have a nice romantic Fergburger here on Valentines day!
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