After enjoying a nice week in the blazing heat in Fiji, winter was very apparent when i got back to Queenstown and it only got colder and colder until there was SNOW!!!
So with the snow brought Skiing! I have managed to get up the slopes 3 times and each time was pretty awesome, two times were during the day and then one was when me and Wesley took on night skiing, which, was pretty damn awesome!
Before i give you the deets on the Ski days i just have to tell you that we moved out of the hostel and i now have my own room in our amazing 4 bed house that has a balcony with an amazing view overlooking the Remarks! its not too shabby! Now on to business...
(Residents with guests)
(View from the balcony)So me and Scotty hit the slopes on Coronet peak and it was literally the most fun i have had in ages! I was a bit nervous before getting back in some Skis because the last time i went was about four years ago so i was worried about not being able to remember how to do it. However, that was not the case and as soon as i hit my first slope it was like i had just stopped yesterday, which was awesome because it meant i was able to go at speed and even get a few jumps in :) I tried my best to give Scotty some basic skiing pointers as he had only ever been once before without any teacher at all, and to my surprise he picked it up pretty easily and, although it was a bit disastrous, i managed to get him on a blue slope (intermediate) by the afternoon :) So a very successful day indeed.
The second time i adventured up onto the mountain was, again, at Coronet Peak, but this time it was for NIGHT SKIING!, which is something i never really thought i would be doing! It was a memorable experience as it was quite weird to be skiing whilst it was pitch black (obviously they had lights on the slopes). We managed to get a pretty decent amount of runs in before the snow turned icy and it got stupidly cold as the slopes and chairlifts were pretty vacant (see what i did there) the whole evening!
The third time ties in with another event that has occurred since my last update, and that was my 21st birthday! :D So i was debating what i would do for my birthday for a while as i knew it had to be special as i would never get another 21st, let alone getting to spend it during the winter in august in New Zealand! In the end i decided an action packed day/night was required in order to make it a birthday i would never forget! I decided a half day skiing would suffice as A) i didn't want to get up too early and B) to save money (i am a backpacker after all), so i headed up to the Remarkables ski field to meet Wesley, Jason and Pete for some fun on the slopes! The weather turned out to be a bit shit and it was pretty much a whiteout so we didn't get to hit the bigger slopes cause you basically couldn't see anything in front of you apart from white. Nevertheless i still had heaps of fun and i get to say it snowed on my birthday, another thing i never thought would happen! After coming down from the Mountain we headed home for a quick shower, a cheeky drink and a moment to chill, then we headed to town for some Yummy Mexican food at Sombreros, it is there we met up with Pete, Grant, Sarah, Scotty, Claire and Jo! When the plates had been cleared and the bill had been settled we headed straight to town for an awesome night of partying joined by Sir Jason of course! Scotty even shelled out 170 buck on some champagne, which was awesome! best yet, they played teenage kicks in Zephyr! :) all in all a pretty awesome way to spend your 21st.
(Jason, Wesley and Pete up the Remarks)With birthdays comes presents. Well i basically got the best gifts i could have asked for. My folks sent me a new Ipod touch, which has proven to be a godsend with my long walks to and from work as i was really beginning to miss my ipod! Damn you Fiji, Damn you! From various members of my family i managed to gather an amazing 350 dollars all together which i went and spent on FINALLY doing the NEVIS BUNGY!
The Nevis Bungy
On the 12th august, whilst walking home from work an errant thought popped into my head, i had all this money from my birthday so what could i do with it? Saving it seemed like the logical thing to do, but if i was logical i wouldn't have left home to go to the other side of the world, so another idea popped into my head... Why don't i do the Nevis bungy, i mean, it is about time and i have wanted to do it ever since i got here, yes, i decided, this is what I'm going to buy myself for my birthday... and what a great decision it was.
On Thursday the 16th August i took myself and my money into the station building where the booking office was for AJ Hackett Bungy was and did it, i booked my bungy for Sunday the 19th August, no turning back now!
Sunday rolled around pretty quickly and i woke up that day very excited and ready for my jump. At 12pm i boarded the bus for the 40 minuet journey to the sight of the Nevis bungy, once there we were hastily fitted into our harnesses and sent to check in for a final weigh in before boarding the tiny cable car that took us to the jump station over hanging the canyon.
For those of you who are not aware, the Nevis Bungy is Australasia's biggest bungy, coming in at a whopping 134m free fall drop which amounts to an impressive 8.5 second free fall, pretty scary huh? well apparently not for me because after being fitted with everything for my jump and guided over to the ledge where i would take the dive from, not even a hint of nerves, which is actually quite an unnatural thing to be feeling at this stage i guess.
In the jump pod they have music blasting out, and I'm not really sure why but i expected to be able to hear this all the way down, which obviously, wasn't the case. After the leap... silence..., all you could hear is wind, it actually felt like you were a bird swooping down to catch its prey, not something you get to feel everyday. No sooner than i jumped was it all over! 8.5 seconds may seen a long time before you jump, but once you go, its not long enough! It was such an amazing experience and the adrenaline rush was epic! i would not hesitate to make this jump again, if only funds allowed! i would recommend everyone who visits Queenstown to give this a go as the feeling you experience afterwards is like nothing on this earth. So what are you waiting for??? 3...2...1... BUNGY!!!!!!
( sorry the photos are the wrong way, i couldn't get them to turn around :(... )
So that's all for this episode folks! Pretty exciting update don't you think?!
Traveling is the best!
Peace out! xxxxx
'And i don't wanna get over you,
It doesn't matter what you do,
i just can't get over you,
Over you!'
'Oh, I could look for inspiration,
find it in the job of an English nation,
now wouldn't that be cheap and ill-informed.
And I could bet that you don't believe me,
if I said it came from deep within me,
But I promise you, I'm telling you the truth.'
Side Project
One sentence will say it all.
How epic was batman!
oh and also how great did Team GB do in the Olympics... something to be proud of perhaps? :D
Well done to all the athletes you are amazing!
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