Posts tagged Adrenaline
White water rafting in New Zealand
Wow, it really does smell up here. New Zealand is one of the most geothearmically active places in the world, especially in the North Island. It’s beautiful, but it does mean that a lot of sulphur is being released into the air, making a lot of the places around here smell pretty badly of egg. The best pools that I went to was in Taupo.
They’re a fair walk out of the town, but it is a nice one, and when you get there it’s amazing being able to slide into pools that are naturally as hot as a Jacuzzi. Right next to the pools is a river that’s running at a nice and toasty 2ºC, it’s pretty refreshing to dive into the river and run out (as fast as you bloody can) and back into the pools. Bare in mind you’ll have pins and needles for a good few minutes afterwards.
After a very relaxed night in Taupo (hot pools make you very sleepy) I headed out to Rotorua, my last stop in NZ before flying out, so I wanted to do something a little special.
White water rafting works on grades, ranging from zero to five, five being the highest. In Rotorua there is a grade five course, but on a day like the one we had it was closed – apparently three days of rain makes rivers prone to flooding – so I had to settle for a grade four, which I was told that because of the amount of rain we had been having, was pretty much a grade five anyway! Kaitiaki was the company I was rafting with which you can book through STA Travel.
They employ only Kiwi guides because they want to keep it as cultural as possible. They all spoke Maori and so blessed the river before we went on it to make sure we weren’t going to die, which was nice of them.
The ride was amazing. The rapids were crazy and the guide was a good laugh (he actually picked up one of the girls on our boat and threw her in the water! All in good fun of course). By the end of it, if you haven’t fallen in already, you can just flip off the side of the boat. Be warned though, even through the fairly industrial wetsuits they give you, the river is bitingly cold.
It lasted just about the right amount of time, any longer and you would start to get really cold and a little bored. While I did have a great time, I could see that I would start to be experiencing the same thing over and over again.
On the way back to town they can take you to some more hot pools to try and warm up afterwards. Don’t go! They’re cold, they smell REALLY bad and most hostels back in town have artificial hot pools of their own, and they are much more refreshing!
That evening, it was Maori time!
The Maori experience allows you to see what life used to be like for the Maori people. On each bus on the way to the village a chief will be chosen. He will represent the entire group by having to stand in front of the Maori chief and take whatever abuse he is given (which is in the form of a lot of waving sticks and shouting). It was a shame that the weather was so bad because apparently there are a lot of things you can do in the village once you get in, like stick throwing and Maori juggling, but it was all called off as it rained freaking cats and dogs all night.
Despite the weather, you still get a brilliant show and then you are lead into the dinner house. This is worth the money alone! The buffet is incredible. Absolutely incredible. There is so much food, and the pavlova (which I found out is steeped in history as there is a dispute over who invented it, the Ozzies or the Kiwis, random bit of cultural knowledge) is unreal! All the food was cooked in the traditionly Maori way by burying it underground in a pressure cooker style oven which was pretty cool to watch!
Last day in NZ tomorrow, and I’m finding that I really don’t want to leave!
Adrenaline can be addictive
I am an adrenaline junkie. There is no other way to put it. I can’t get enough of the stuff. This is why I loved Queenstown. There is so much to do here to push you body to the edge and come back shaking like a leaf. Before I had even got there, just outside the main city, we pulled into the Kawarau bridge bungy centre…
Adrenaline rush #1:
The Backwards Bungy
The Karawau bridge bungy is 43 metres high, so I figured it wouldn’t be much on Macau (the highest in the world) or the Nevis (at 134 metres). So when I asked what might be the best thing to do to get the best rush, I was told to do the ‘pendulum’ where they would hang me over the edge of the bridge, facing upwards, and release me whenever they felt like it. To them, this meant hang me there for 20 seconds while saying ‘Ok, now…. no…. now….. oh sorry…. now’ and then telling me to give some guy a high five. Half way to his hand, they let me go. Excellent!!
Adrenaline rush #2:
The next morning, it was an early start to get out to the NZone sky diving centre. NZone are among the only people who do skydives at 15 000 feet at both Queenstown and Rotorua. The skydive at Queenstown, however, gives you incredible views over the Remarkables (the mountain range in Queenstown) as you fall out of the plane. The most nerve racking thing about a skydive is the flight up there. I’m not so good on planes as it is, and flying up in a plane smaller than the bedroom I slept in the night before is slightly unnerving. It seems to go on forever, and then very quickly, your legs are hanging over the edge of the door to the plane, and there is nothing in front of you. All the way down I couldn’t close my mouth. Firstly because of the speed at which the air was hitting my face, and secondly because I couldn’t stop screaming like a girl and swearing constantly. Once the parachute opens, you get to drift nicely down to the bottom, enjoying the incredible views over Queenstown and the surrounding mountains. I have to do this again!
Taken at around 12,000 feet above Queenstown!
Adrenaline rush #3:
Bungy at 134 metres
I had about half an hour to wait once I got back into town before I was onto the AJ Hackett bungy bus to head over to the Nevis bungy and Nevis Arc. Once again, it’s the slow journey to the jump that is the most nerve racking part, and as you come over the crest of the hill, you see the enormous gorge you’re about to throw yourself into. This is what I love about bungy jumping. Don’t get me wrong, skydiving was incredible, but until I get to throw myself out of that plane, it isn’t really going to compare!
The Nevis bungy starts from a steel box that is hanging between two cliff faces. The only way to get there is via a tiny cable car, which has a cross hatched bottom to it, so that you can look straight down to the floor, about 200 metres below you. You sit in that box for about 15 minutes watching so many other people throw themselves off the platform. Then you sit in the ‘Dentist Chair’ and get strapped in. It all happens pretty fast after that. All I can tell you is that the Nevis is the best bungee I have ever done. Macau, even though it is the biggest in the world, has nothing on it, as at the Nevis you are actually free falling, at Macau there are stabilisers that slow you down. I was once again, shaking uncontrollably, it felt great!
Adrenaline rush #4:
The biggest swing in the world
The biggest swing in the world is right next to the Nevis bungy. You can opt to sit in the harness in whichever way you want, and you can go either as a tandem or by yourself. I know a couple who went down in the ’69′ position, the video looked brilliant! I decided to go down upside down and backwards, why not. The guys who strap you in hold the remote control for the release, and pretty much all the time they will give you no warning as to when you are going. In fact they will probably ask you a question and let you go as you start to answer. More rush I guess!
Adrenaline rush #5:
For the last part of this ridiculous day, I went up the cable car in Queenstown to The Ledge, which rest at 400 metres over Queenstown. You can get some incredible views as you throw yourself off strapped in not by your feet, but at you waist. This means you can do whatever you want (within reason of course) as you jump off. Personally I went for the run up and front flip. On video it actually looks as though it was pretty painful, but it it was, I was so wired at this point I didn’t notice. It was bloody incredible!!
Another day another dollar!
Hello NZ…
My last few days in Oz were a mash of busses and blurry nights. Having done so much up the East Coast, there was not much time for sitting back and relaxing. Magnetic Island sits just off the coast from Townsville, and if you find yourself in the right place I am told that you are in for a good time, but I ended up on the other side of the island, where there is not much to do. My advice, stay at Base, it’s more of a bar and club than a place to stay!
After this, we headed to the Johnstone River Crocodile Park, which you can get at discounted prices through the Oz Experience. It’s a brilliant few hours! The park is actually a farm, where they farm crocodiles for meat. We were told it’s very similar to farming cows, except that these cows can kill you if they wanted to. The guides feed them chickens with no regard for their own life, and it gets a little dodgy when they tell you that one of the crocs they are feeding tends to go mental every now and again and kills the females. But it’s still a great experience!
After shooting up the remainder of the coast and spending one night in Cairns (which is not enough to experience both the heat and the things to do there. Again I am told that it is amazing place to stay for a few days. Maybe next time) it was time to get to the adrenaline capital of the world; New Zealand.
On landing, once again, I was moving from hot to cold. But this time I was prepared with hoodies and coats. I didn’t get into the hostel until 12.30 am and I had only had an hours sleep in Cairns (the night life is fantastic!) so it was straight to bed.
Christchurch is one of the biggest cities in New Zealand, and yet it is still smaller than most of the places I have visited over the past few months. It is more of a stop over point as you cruise through the South Island, with not much around it in the way of the backpacker lifestyle.
What has to be noted about NZ is that there is a lot of nothing in between towns, but that makes way for the most breathtaking views I have seen so far. One minute you will be looking over massive green fields surrounded by enormous ferns, and the next you are driving through a canyon steeped in mountains. It is incredible!
The next couple of weeks is to be riddled with skiing, bungee jumping, sky diving, the list goes on. It’s going be a heart pumping few weeks!
Matt M
STA UK WTI 2010