Queenstown is quite a remarkable place. I can't think of anywhere in the world where it seems that one town solely exists to provide a mind boggling array of activites to the adventure junkie. Of course, it wasn't always like that. The district was first settled in 1860, when pioneer run holder and William Gilbert Rees set up a farm and homestead on the shores of what is known as Queenstown Bay. Pastoral peace and tranquility was broken when sheep shearers Thomas Arthur and Harry Redfern discovered gold in the Shotover River in 1862, which led to thousands of people converging on the settlement to begin the search for gold.
The Shotover River is the second highest gold bearing river in history (yielding 12oz of gold per yard of gravel), second only to the Klondike River in Northwest Canada. The river was so lucrative that it yielded a record-breaking 57.6kg of gold in just one day. The Government bought the wild frontier town in 1863 and pronouncing it "fit for a Queen", christened it Queenstown. After the goldrush, agriculture was the mainstay of the economu and the improvement in raod and air access in the early 1950s made Queenstown a popular holiday spot for southern South Islanders. International tourism boomed in the early 1970s with more direct flights and cheaper fares. There are also over eighty vineyards in Central Otago (with the pinot noir grape receiving international attention).
Queenstown lies on Lake Wakatipu and is nestled in the Remarkables range of mountains. Lake Wakatipu is New Zealand's longest lake (84km) and the third largest (291 sq km). It is 378m deep, which puts the lake floor below sea level. It rises and falls up to 12cm every 5 minutes. Lake Wakatipu, a contraction of waka-tipua-wai-maori is literally "the freshwater trough where the giant demon lies" or commonly, "the hollow of the sleeping giant". According to Maori myth, the wicked giant demon, Matua, captured Manata, the beautiful daughter of a Maori chief and fled with her to the mountains. On the way, he went to sleep. Matakauri, a young warrier who needed to prove he was worthy of a chief's daughter. While the giant slept, Matakauri rescued Manata and then set fire to Matua. As the giant burned, he melted and after a while, all that was left of him was his beating heart. The hollow where he lay filled with water and became Lake Wakatipu - his head at Glenorchy and his feet at Kingston. Presumably Manata and Matakauri lived happily ever after but the legend tells us that the heart still beats beneath the water, causing the constant rise and fall of the lake. The scientific explanation for this, known as a seiche, is caused by variations in atmospheric pressure. I like the sound of the Maori legend better!
The Lord of the Rings and countless Bollywood movies were filmed around the Remarkables and you can do various LOTR tours in the area. At 2343m high, they are one of only two mountain ranges in the world which run truly North-South (the other is the Rockies). OK, so now that the general knowledge is out of the way, more importantly, what gut wrenching activities did I put myself through?
On Saturday 5th January, the early start continued when I was told to meet at the Queenstown Information Centre at 7.30am to sign in for the start of my "Shotover Freefall Combo". After registration, there was a 10 minute bus journey to the Shotover River to do the Shotover Jet, which was founded in 1965 and is the only boat licensed to operate the Shotover River Canyons. You speed in mere centimetres of water along the Shotover River and into the canyons, The jet does full 360 degree spins but the ride only lasted about 25 minutes and I did find it a bit too tame for my liking. I was at the front of the boat and managed to stay drier than those at the side but I am not sure if there would have been a bit more momentum at the back. Still, it was only the first activity of the day, and therefore, merely a warm up!
After that was whitewater rafting on the Shotover River. Whilst the Shotover Jet was quite chilled out, the rafting was run like a military operation and we felt like sheep being herded along a conveyor belt to collect wetsuit and lifejackets. There must have been 10 boats with 7 people in them (not including one rafting guide). Before the rafting started, I took a 10 minute helicopter ride to the start of the rafting, which was spectacular. I was lucky to sit at the front, so had widescreen views, as the pilot hugged the twists and turns of the mountain. The trip took 2 hours and we travelled a good 16km. Simon (from Preston in England) was our guide and he definitely made it fun, getting us into various positions - "get down', "hold on", "go left", "go right". He also knew a lot about the history of the area and on numerous occasions pointed out old rusty remnants of equipment from the gold panning days. A couple of times Simon let us jump into the water for a swim down the river and the second time, we were submerged into mini rapids (gulping a mouthful of water). I was with a family of 6 Danish people, who had been rafting before, so it was good to know what they were doing and none of us fell out. Mind you, the highest grade of the rapids was 3 (5 being the highest) but it has definitely given me the taste of doing some more challenging stuff. The Zambezi River is supposed to be great, so Africa here we come!
It was then back to Queenstown for a lunch break, before I took the bus to a private airfield about 20 minutes' drive outside of Queenstown to do a 15,000 foot skydive with NZone. I was a bit put off by the bungy jumping, as apparently the jerk you get from the bungy cord can be unpleasant, where injuries such as whiplash and ruptured retinas not being uncommon. The fact that you would do the skydive in tandem with an experienced jumpmaster was quite appealing. I would be in the plane with two other Chinese girls, who were only going to jump from 9,000 feet and whilst their instructors were helping them to kit up, along comes Bill (from Pennsylvania), my instructor trying to look really smooth with his aviator sunglasses, as if he had just come from the set of Top Gun (Tom Cruise he was unfortunately not! All the skydive instructors are men, so they must have a great time spending their days being strapped to female customers. Not so fun if you are a 20 stone fatso). Bill has been skydiving for 8 years and working for NZone for 4 years. Not a bad day at the office if you ask me!
The training we were given was very brief - ie how to jump out whilst strapped to your instructor and how to land. Then we headed out into the plane - all three of us decided that we would have a cameraman film our jump so, there were 9 of us in the plane and it was a very tight squeeze. Once the girls had jumped out, I was in the plane with Bill and Dom (my cameraman) and the scenery was spectacular, surrounded by the Remarkables, bright sunshine and no cloud in the sky. I didn't actually feel that nervous and at 15,010 feet, Bill showed me his altimeter and said it was time to go. We inched forward to the door, which slided open, then Dom stepped outside, hanging onto the door so he could film us. I adopted the banana position (ie head back, legs bent outside the plane - plus smile for the camera) and after the count of three, we were off. I was thinking that once we jumped out of the plane I would suddenly have an amazing view but the next thing I know I am upside down (Bill has decided to do a forward somersault outside the plane!). The feeling you get on a rollercoaster or on bad turbulence when you feel as if your stomach is in your mouth only lasts for about a couple of seconds. You then start to freefall for 60 seconds at 200km per hour, but strangely, because there is so much upward pressure, you don't feel as if you are falling, more as if you are flying. All this time Dom is filming and taking pictures, holds your hand, then spins away upside down. You really get carried away with the moment, then Bill pulls the parachute at 4,000 feet and you spend a leisurely few minutes drifting towards the landing pad, with spectacular mountains all around you (I think the skies around Queenstown offer some of the most panoramic views anywhere in the world - other than the Everest region, of course). Bill also kept turning the parachute 180 degrees in different directions, but not for long as it really made me feel dizzy.
My landing was quite smooth (Nick in our group who did the skydive in the morning had quite an unsmooth one, with the instructor sliding on his backside for a good 10 metres). All of a sudden it was over but the massive headrush you get with all that adrenalin pumping around you lasts for ages afterwards. I just wanted to go and do it all over again. The only disappointment was that Dom told me that his stills camera had not worked in the day (there is a wire from the camera which they stick in their teeth and they bite on it when they want to take photos). Apparently it had broken earlier in the day and he had changed it but it had been temperamental ever since. A shame really, as some of the shots in the air would have been great but the DVD looks really good. I also picked up a leaflet to learn how to solo dive anywhere in the world, which is rather tempting (and also much cheaper than doing it in the UK)!
Unfortunately we had only one spare day in Queenstown, but I could definitely spend a week there doing all the activities. There is so much to do, including hiking and mountain biking. Some of you probably think I am a bit mad for doing it but I would definitely do it again (only to get some decent shots in the air) and I am glad I didn't opt for the bungy, as I think it would probably be a bit of a let down! This was definitely the highlight of my trip.
The Shotover River is the second highest gold bearing river in history (yielding 12oz of gold per yard of gravel), second only to the Klondike River in Northwest Canada. The river was so lucrative that it yielded a record-breaking 57.6kg of gold in just one day. The Government bought the wild frontier town in 1863 and pronouncing it "fit for a Queen", christened it Queenstown. After the goldrush, agriculture was the mainstay of the economu and the improvement in raod and air access in the early 1950s made Queenstown a popular holiday spot for southern South Islanders. International tourism boomed in the early 1970s with more direct flights and cheaper fares. There are also over eighty vineyards in Central Otago (with the pinot noir grape receiving international attention).
Queenstown lies on Lake Wakatipu and is nestled in the Remarkables range of mountains. Lake Wakatipu is New Zealand's longest lake (84km) and the third largest (291 sq km). It is 378m deep, which puts the lake floor below sea level. It rises and falls up to 12cm every 5 minutes. Lake Wakatipu, a contraction of waka-tipua-wai-maori is literally "the freshwater trough where the giant demon lies" or commonly, "the hollow of the sleeping giant". According to Maori myth, the wicked giant demon, Matua, captured Manata, the beautiful daughter of a Maori chief and fled with her to the mountains. On the way, he went to sleep. Matakauri, a young warrier who needed to prove he was worthy of a chief's daughter. While the giant slept, Matakauri rescued Manata and then set fire to Matua. As the giant burned, he melted and after a while, all that was left of him was his beating heart. The hollow where he lay filled with water and became Lake Wakatipu - his head at Glenorchy and his feet at Kingston. Presumably Manata and Matakauri lived happily ever after but the legend tells us that the heart still beats beneath the water, causing the constant rise and fall of the lake. The scientific explanation for this, known as a seiche, is caused by variations in atmospheric pressure. I like the sound of the Maori legend better!
The Lord of the Rings and countless Bollywood movies were filmed around the Remarkables and you can do various LOTR tours in the area. At 2343m high, they are one of only two mountain ranges in the world which run truly North-South (the other is the Rockies). OK, so now that the general knowledge is out of the way, more importantly, what gut wrenching activities did I put myself through?
On Saturday 5th January, the early start continued when I was told to meet at the Queenstown Information Centre at 7.30am to sign in for the start of my "Shotover Freefall Combo". After registration, there was a 10 minute bus journey to the Shotover River to do the Shotover Jet, which was founded in 1965 and is the only boat licensed to operate the Shotover River Canyons. You speed in mere centimetres of water along the Shotover River and into the canyons, The jet does full 360 degree spins but the ride only lasted about 25 minutes and I did find it a bit too tame for my liking. I was at the front of the boat and managed to stay drier than those at the side but I am not sure if there would have been a bit more momentum at the back. Still, it was only the first activity of the day, and therefore, merely a warm up!
After that was whitewater rafting on the Shotover River. Whilst the Shotover Jet was quite chilled out, the rafting was run like a military operation and we felt like sheep being herded along a conveyor belt to collect wetsuit and lifejackets. There must have been 10 boats with 7 people in them (not including one rafting guide). Before the rafting started, I took a 10 minute helicopter ride to the start of the rafting, which was spectacular. I was lucky to sit at the front, so had widescreen views, as the pilot hugged the twists and turns of the mountain. The trip took 2 hours and we travelled a good 16km. Simon (from Preston in England) was our guide and he definitely made it fun, getting us into various positions - "get down', "hold on", "go left", "go right". He also knew a lot about the history of the area and on numerous occasions pointed out old rusty remnants of equipment from the gold panning days. A couple of times Simon let us jump into the water for a swim down the river and the second time, we were submerged into mini rapids (gulping a mouthful of water). I was with a family of 6 Danish people, who had been rafting before, so it was good to know what they were doing and none of us fell out. Mind you, the highest grade of the rapids was 3 (5 being the highest) but it has definitely given me the taste of doing some more challenging stuff. The Zambezi River is supposed to be great, so Africa here we come!
It was then back to Queenstown for a lunch break, before I took the bus to a private airfield about 20 minutes' drive outside of Queenstown to do a 15,000 foot skydive with NZone. I was a bit put off by the bungy jumping, as apparently the jerk you get from the bungy cord can be unpleasant, where injuries such as whiplash and ruptured retinas not being uncommon. The fact that you would do the skydive in tandem with an experienced jumpmaster was quite appealing. I would be in the plane with two other Chinese girls, who were only going to jump from 9,000 feet and whilst their instructors were helping them to kit up, along comes Bill (from Pennsylvania), my instructor trying to look really smooth with his aviator sunglasses, as if he had just come from the set of Top Gun (Tom Cruise he was unfortunately not! All the skydive instructors are men, so they must have a great time spending their days being strapped to female customers. Not so fun if you are a 20 stone fatso). Bill has been skydiving for 8 years and working for NZone for 4 years. Not a bad day at the office if you ask me!
The training we were given was very brief - ie how to jump out whilst strapped to your instructor and how to land. Then we headed out into the plane - all three of us decided that we would have a cameraman film our jump so, there were 9 of us in the plane and it was a very tight squeeze. Once the girls had jumped out, I was in the plane with Bill and Dom (my cameraman) and the scenery was spectacular, surrounded by the Remarkables, bright sunshine and no cloud in the sky. I didn't actually feel that nervous and at 15,010 feet, Bill showed me his altimeter and said it was time to go. We inched forward to the door, which slided open, then Dom stepped outside, hanging onto the door so he could film us. I adopted the banana position (ie head back, legs bent outside the plane - plus smile for the camera) and after the count of three, we were off. I was thinking that once we jumped out of the plane I would suddenly have an amazing view but the next thing I know I am upside down (Bill has decided to do a forward somersault outside the plane!). The feeling you get on a rollercoaster or on bad turbulence when you feel as if your stomach is in your mouth only lasts for about a couple of seconds. You then start to freefall for 60 seconds at 200km per hour, but strangely, because there is so much upward pressure, you don't feel as if you are falling, more as if you are flying. All this time Dom is filming and taking pictures, holds your hand, then spins away upside down. You really get carried away with the moment, then Bill pulls the parachute at 4,000 feet and you spend a leisurely few minutes drifting towards the landing pad, with spectacular mountains all around you (I think the skies around Queenstown offer some of the most panoramic views anywhere in the world - other than the Everest region, of course). Bill also kept turning the parachute 180 degrees in different directions, but not for long as it really made me feel dizzy.
My landing was quite smooth (Nick in our group who did the skydive in the morning had quite an unsmooth one, with the instructor sliding on his backside for a good 10 metres). All of a sudden it was over but the massive headrush you get with all that adrenalin pumping around you lasts for ages afterwards. I just wanted to go and do it all over again. The only disappointment was that Dom told me that his stills camera had not worked in the day (there is a wire from the camera which they stick in their teeth and they bite on it when they want to take photos). Apparently it had broken earlier in the day and he had changed it but it had been temperamental ever since. A shame really, as some of the shots in the air would have been great but the DVD looks really good. I also picked up a leaflet to learn how to solo dive anywhere in the world, which is rather tempting (and also much cheaper than doing it in the UK)!
Unfortunately we had only one spare day in Queenstown, but I could definitely spend a week there doing all the activities. There is so much to do, including hiking and mountain biking. Some of you probably think I am a bit mad for doing it but I would definitely do it again (only to get some decent shots in the air) and I am glad I didn't opt for the bungy, as I think it would probably be a bit of a let down! This was definitely the highlight of my trip.
1 comment:
Put off by the bungy or afraid of the Bungy?
I have bungy jumped many a time, as well as skydived over 10 times and I have "heard the rumours" but never seen them. There is actually more chance of getting injured Skydiving than bungy jumping..... hmmmmmmm. Bungy is far more scarier as its about you and only you, where as the skydive you are attached to someone so have confidence in them.
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