We found ourselves back at Cafe Vudu for breakfast again this morning. Nothing else looked as good as the other options we knew were on their menu. Afterwards we checked out the Jade Factory across the street for possible souvenirs. Jade is everywhere in New Zealand and much of it is carved into traditional Maori designs. Jeremy bought me a beautiful crossover pendant which represents two lives coming together.
Shotover Jet Boat
Since the weather was good we decided to try and squeeze in some "extreme" tourist activities before catching our flight to Auckland in the afternoon. For whatever reason I had become obsessed with the river jet boats that race crazily through narrow river canyons and get shockingly close to the walls and then stop on a dime to execute a 360 degree turn. We made a reservation, grabbed our belongings from the lodge and headed to the Shotover River which was about ten minutes outside of town. It was sooooo fun!! We had a blast. The trip lasts about 30 hair raising minutes. And even though you KNOW the driver is a trained professional and he won't hit the canyon walls that are mere inches away you can't help but wonder...what if. The 360 degrees, while fun, meant that we would get drenched. The driver would start to turn and then flip back the opposite direction so the boat would hit the water and splash everyone. It was silly fun.
Bungy Jumping
After that, Jeremy decided he had to bungy jump before we left. We'd been tossing around the idea of doing the Canyon Swing where you drop off a cliff and swing out over a canyon because they supposedly allow tandem jumping. I figured I could muster up enough guts to jump WITH Jeremy, but not alone. We knew the canyon jump was somewhere near the Shotover River so we drove around looking for it, but struck out. We did, however, drive up to Coronet Peak which afforded us some spectacular views. At that point the only chance we had for last-minute jumping was the Kawarau Bridge; home of the world's first bungy jump.
Luckily it wasn't crowded at all. Jeremy had 2 people ahead of him. I walked him out on the bridge, took a peek over the edge, wished him luck, and then escaped to the observation deck. The jump was a piece of cake and Jeremy says he wasn't nervous at all. Of course, he had done it before when he was a teenager.
Auckland
After the jump we headed to the Queenstown airport just in time to make our flight to Auckland. It was sad to say goodbye to the beautiful South Island, but we were ready to start the second leg of our honeymoon. We arrived in Auckland with barely enough time to pick up our campervan. It was 6pm by the time we drove off in our new home for a week. It was also the Sunday before New Zealand's national holiday, Labour Day, so we were a little worried about our ability to quickly and easily get someplace good to camp that still had space for us. Instead we called Jeremy's old friend Anakke and met up with her for beer and green lipped mussels at a pub in the Ponsonby district of Auckland. She invited us to stay at her parent's house that night since she was house sitting. We decided that was our best option.
Shotover Jet Boat
Since the weather was good we decided to try and squeeze in some "extreme" tourist activities before catching our flight to Auckland in the afternoon. For whatever reason I had become obsessed with the river jet boats that race crazily through narrow river canyons and get shockingly close to the walls and then stop on a dime to execute a 360 degree turn. We made a reservation, grabbed our belongings from the lodge and headed to the Shotover River which was about ten minutes outside of town. It was sooooo fun!! We had a blast. The trip lasts about 30 hair raising minutes. And even though you KNOW the driver is a trained professional and he won't hit the canyon walls that are mere inches away you can't help but wonder...what if. The 360 degrees, while fun, meant that we would get drenched. The driver would start to turn and then flip back the opposite direction so the boat would hit the water and splash everyone. It was silly fun.
Bungy Jumping
After that, Jeremy decided he had to bungy jump before we left. We'd been tossing around the idea of doing the Canyon Swing where you drop off a cliff and swing out over a canyon because they supposedly allow tandem jumping. I figured I could muster up enough guts to jump WITH Jeremy, but not alone. We knew the canyon jump was somewhere near the Shotover River so we drove around looking for it, but struck out. We did, however, drive up to Coronet Peak which afforded us some spectacular views. At that point the only chance we had for last-minute jumping was the Kawarau Bridge; home of the world's first bungy jump.
Luckily it wasn't crowded at all. Jeremy had 2 people ahead of him. I walked him out on the bridge, took a peek over the edge, wished him luck, and then escaped to the observation deck. The jump was a piece of cake and Jeremy says he wasn't nervous at all. Of course, he had done it before when he was a teenager.
Auckland
After the jump we headed to the Queenstown airport just in time to make our flight to Auckland. It was sad to say goodbye to the beautiful South Island, but we were ready to start the second leg of our honeymoon. We arrived in Auckland with barely enough time to pick up our campervan. It was 6pm by the time we drove off in our new home for a week. It was also the Sunday before New Zealand's national holiday, Labour Day, so we were a little worried about our ability to quickly and easily get someplace good to camp that still had space for us. Instead we called Jeremy's old friend Anakke and met up with her for beer and green lipped mussels at a pub in the Ponsonby district of Auckland. She invited us to stay at her parent's house that night since she was house sitting. We decided that was our best option.
No comments:
Post a Comment