26th September 2012
Running like a hairy goat (to move at speed) for the bus, I shouldn’t need to worry about missing the bus, we were nay going down the road in Wanaka after a hangover fuelled day travelling to the place.
Yes, we were going to a theme park! It’s called Puzzling World! Full of mazes, illusion rooms, brain bending exercises, this park is now a major tourist draw for travellers in the South Island.
Relishing this opportunity to test whether my brain was still in working order, I decided to take a dump. And I was pleasantly surprised with the toilets.
But after trying to figure out some exercises and then throwing them across the room in frustration, I checked out the illusion rooms. There was a room full of 3D holograms that moved with you. Pretty creepy indeed. Then another room just full of faces that looked at you all the time. It certainly felt like I wasn’t alone in the room and I yelped as a fellow Kiwi tapped me on the shoulder. Another room was quite brain boggling, you were tall at one end and then a hobbit at the other end. Check it out.
Then I headed into the maze with some peeps. Of course, I was going to easily crack this….one hour later… Ok, I might be wrong. Jumping up and down to find the way out, I was very aware that the bus was due to leave in 15 mins. Should I pretend to have a heart attack to get carried out? But Lo and behold, as I dashed round the maze like a rat scurrying for freedom, the exit appeared. I suspected this exit was like the door to the Room of Requirement (Harry Potter geek out), it only appears when it is the most top priority in my mind. What was I thinking about beforehand? Not a clue.
All puzzled out, we climbed back on the bus and skirted round Lake Dunstan (there’s so many beautiful lakes here, it’s so unbelievable) towards the Kawarau Gorge. Now, that name has me worried. Worried about my mental well being. You see, I failed to mention to people that I am thinking of doing an activity that will have all my aunties and possibly my mum (she’s used to me doing stupid things) berating me. Guys, as the bridge came, I am thinking of doing a Bungee Jump. It’s definitely what I wanted to do as its kinda my ‘last fear’ of testing my limits. Of course I’ve done a Skydive…twice actually… That’s way higher than the bungee jump but on the bungee…you’re doing it ALONE and you have one rubber strap to stop you hurling down the sky and end up like a pancake on the ground. I mean, did you hear about the girl in Victoria Falls whose rubber strap snapped and she plunged into CROCODILE infested waters?
We arrived at the Kawarau Bridge Bungee and we watched a video about all the Bungee options available. I certainly didn’t want to do the Bridge Jump as its a measly 42m but if I’m going to do the Bungee properly then it’s definitely the biggest fall they would offer. The Nevis Bungee of 134m! Thrice the size of this bridge jump. Definitely psyched up, I was ready to drop off the edge until the presenter said it would take 8.9 seconds to fall from the top. I started counting and I freaked. Why the hell did he have to say that! I was expecting it to be at most 2 seconds and thus have done it without even realising due to the shock! Having said, previously, to my fellow kiwis that I am without a doubt doing the Nevis Bungy, I couldn’t back down so I parted with my money and with some dismay I couldn’t do the jump that day. I had to wait 2 days. Feck. So for 2 days I will have the knowledge of doing a bungee. Ouch.
Now, I had a further worry. My Cochlear Implant. Accelerated forces such as whiplash is considered high risk by the National Cochlear Implant Programme as it will cause the implant to move inside your head thus disabling your hearing. I really wanted to do this. Talking with the staff there, they said as long you fall head first rather than feet first, I should be ok. If you fall feet first then your body will flip over…hard.. At the point of bounce. This was definitely demonstrated to me when some fellow kiwis decided to go the bridge jump that day. One was so scared and you could see her shaking at the edge from our viewpoint. Shouting out encouragements, she finally jumped…feet first. I gasped as she fell and grimaced as she flipped round violently enough to give her a daze. That was not I wanna do.
After a good couple of hours in the scorching sun of watching frightened jumpers, we climbed back on the bus and drove into Queenstown. The adventure party capital of New Zealand.
Nestled on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, facing the Remarkables Mountain Range, everyone has gravitated to this magical and beautiful place that is fun filled and action packed.
Taking in the beautiful lake where we stopped for a break and marvel at this gorgeous lake…see the pics, you know what I’m talking about! The water was so clear and so shiny, it’s like the goddesses of water!
Finally pulling in to the hostel, we grabbed some dinner and I went for a walk through the botanical gardens on the side of the lake. and got snap happy at this magical place.
Getting back, both Henning and I decided to go to the local Irish Bar to celebrate Guinness’ 200th birthday! Chin up!
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