Queenstown, New Zealand

Saturday and Sunday, 19 and 20 January 2008

Queenstown is on the edge of Lake Wakatipu and has a skyline dominated by the Remarkables mountains. The town is a big tourist draw, particularly for backpackers who are into adventure sports. As a result the area is heavily built up (for New Zealand!). By chance, we bump into Derek Hayes, a friend of Leahanne's from Dungarvan, and his girlfriend, Angie, who are in New Zealand on holiday. After a great pizza at Winne Bagoes, we meet up with Derek and Angie in the local Irish pub (naturally!). Derek has done a bungy jump that day and makes us feel like complete wusses by not having done one yet. The next day we take the Skyline Gondolas up to the top of the hill overlooking Queenstown. We ride luges around the side of the hill at breakneck speeds of up to 5 kph. Dara decides to bite the bullet and do the Ledge Bungy, on the side of the hill. Nerves are evident beforehand - 4 separate sprinted visits to the bathroom. The time for the jump nears. It is then delayed as a girl on the neighbouring canyon-swing has a re-think and the staff have to hold everything until she is winched back to safety. In the meantime Dara sweats it. Finally the moment of truth arrives. The jump itself is not exactly balletic, more of a belly flop through empty space really, and the infant screams from Dara do not help. For footage of this embarrassing moment see here.

We drive out to Glenorkey, about 70 km from Queenstown. It's a lovely spot, at the head of Lake Wakatipu. The local campsite looks fairly basic so we decide to do our first freedom camp instead, finding a secluded spot beside the lake. It's peaceful until a local family roll up beside us. To set the tone, the parents start playing gangster rap at an ear-splitting volume. Then their kids turn the ignition on their jet-ski. The resulting sound must be what it's like to stand underneath a space shuttle launch. Between the soaring harmonies about the life of a pimp and the toddler joyriders trying to break the world water speed record, there is no peace. At long last they leave, possibly to score some dope or maybe tinker with the jet ski to see if they can be the first New Zealanders in space. It's a quiet enough night after that and we weren't killed in our beds.

If you want to see photos click here.