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Shelby Landeck: From Queenstown to Fiordland
Posted by Shelby Landeck in Oceania on March 24, 2009With an exciting adventure to look forward to every weekend the time is really starting to fly by here in Dunedin. It seems like I just got back from my trip to Queenstown, and I am about to head out to Fiordland for a weekend of tramping and camping.
Queenstown, ‘the adrenaline capital of the world,’ lived up to its name. Fortunately, we begun the trip on a relaxing note with a wine tasting at the Wooing Tree Vineyard. The winery pulls its name from the tree in the middle of the vineyard that many locals claim to have been conceived under. We nervously tasted several different wines (with the knowledge that we would soon be jumping off a bridge in the back of our mind). My favorite of the lot was “Beetle Juice,” a 2007 wine that placed in the top 10 of New Zealand Pinot Niors.
From there it was off to the birth place of bungy jumping, Aj Hackett’s Kawarau Bridge Bungy. I watched the first 15 or so people from our group take the plunge with excitement. It wasn’t until I sat at the edge, while they wrapped a strap and a towel around my legs (that’s it!! just one strap looped around my ankles a few times, a towel around that, one extra strap to keep it all in place, and a harness around my waist) that the terror set in. Waddling, ankles bound, to the edge of the platform, I asked if this was such a good idea… the technician assured me it was, told me to smile and wave at the camera and my friends, and with a gentle but firm palm placed on my back began to count down from three. Not wanting to jump, but liking the idea of being pushed even less I took the plunge. Before I began screaming and my stomach was lodged in my throat, all I remember thinking is how beautifully blue the water below me was.
The weekend continued with jet boating on the Shotover river the following morning, a hike up Queenstown Hill (which from the top gave an incredible view of the Remarkables mountain range). A few days in Queenstown is not enough, and I look forward to going back! Hopefully this weekend in Fiordland will be just as exciting.
