Goodbye to Queenstown

Today is my last day in Queenstown :( I booked a bus to Franz Josef Glacier a couple hours ago, which leaves tomorrow at 7:30am..  as well as a hostel, which I hope is alright!  There are only 4 there, so it can't be that bad..  or that good..  we'll see.

Queenstown has really grown on me.  When I first arrived here it had this semi-annoying touristy fancy-shmancy almost full of itself feel..  but I quickly got over that..  even though I've only spent 3 days here total.  I'm not sure what it is.. maybe it's the people, they are awesome.  Case in point - the girl who is working here at this internet cafe is from Slovakia, and even though I've only been here 3 times, we're already pretty much friends.  Everyone is really friendly and ready to please..  Stuff does seem a bit overpriced, but that's probably a more a Kiwi thing than just a Queenstown thing..  Although I have a feeling that things will get a bit cheaper once I reach other parts of the country.


I forgot to mention something in yesterday's "Routeburn Track" entry.  I had one of the famous Fergburgers!  It is supposedly a MUST DO if you're in Queenstown..  The girl that helped me book a bunch of stuff before my hiking escapades began suggested that I have one right when I get off the Routeburn Track..  She even booked a hostel right beside the place for me so I wouldn't have far to go.  So after checking into my hostel yesterday, after the bus from the end of the track, I went to Fergburger..

It was PACKED.  There were people inside, there were people outside..  the whole place was buzzing with excitement..  So what's the big deal, anyway? Fergburgers are HUGE..  and tasty..  and.. everyone loves the Ferg..  It might seem a bit trendy, but once you go there, you just get sucked into Fergmania.  They serve beer too, which is cool..  and something I really wanted right after the Routeburn Track :)  My burger was GIANT..  two big patties, american bacon (I think that's just what they call bacon strips here), some sort of a good cheese, some sort of a weird sauce, bbq sauce, tomato, lettuce, onion.  Mmmm

After digesting the Fergburger I booked a couple "extreme" things to do the next day (today)  First I did the Shotover Canyon Swing..  Which was recommended to me by a couple people - including the "You should totally eat a Fergburger after the Routeburn Track" girl.  So like an idiot, I booked the thing.

What is it?  The world's highest cliff jump..

Did I mention that I'm afraid of heights?

I didn't quite realize how crazy this was going to be until I showed up at the Shotover Canyon Swing office, in downtown Queenstown.  I had to fill out a form (the "if I die, my family won't sue you guys" kind)  While I was filling this thing out, they turned on the TV right in front of me and showed me exactly what I was going to be doing..  Now..  I looked at the brochure before..  obviously.. and it seemed scary enough..  but not INSANE.  After looking at the TV for a couple seconds this incredible fear washed over my body..  How the hell was I going to do this!?!?  If there's one thing in life that I know for sure it's that I don't like jumping into a rocky canyon from a ledge 100m above

But I did!  Somehow..

What happens is a bus takes you about 15 minutes out of town..  While on the bus there is a big lcd tv right in front of you showing you, once again, what crazy shit you are about to do..  over and over.  I looked out the window.  You then walk 400m or so to the ledge, and on the way there decide how exactly you are going to jump.  There are 8 or so recommended jumpstyles, including forwards, backwards, doing a flip, etc.  For some reason the "sitting on a chair with the canyon behind you, and tipping over" one appealed to me the most..

These guys  really try to freak you out while you're on your way to the jump..   I wanted to jump first, so that they didn't have much of a chance to do that..  Plus I really didn't want to stand there watching people in front of me having second thoughts..   The less time I have to be afraid, the better, I thought!  I even recited the Litany against fear, from Dune..  (if you know what I'm talking about here, you WILL be amused)

So anyway, as I'm standing there, being strapped into stuff, they ask me if I have any medical conditions..  I look at the board that had a short list of medical conditions that I should be mentioning..  And the last one on the list?  CANADIAN.  That was just too amusing..  but..  yeah..  I told them about my "medical condition"

Then they strapped me to a chair and told me to hold on..  Right before this one of the guys "accidently" bumped into me and freaked the SHIT out of me.  Their job is apparently to scare the crap out of you..  and they do their job well!  Very well..  I was SCARED..  You're supposed to tip the chair backwards until it tips over and you fall down into the depths below..  but..  I wanted THEM to release me..  somehow..  but then just said "whatever", tipped backwards, and flew off the ledge!

And let me tell you..  It was an amazing feeling..  The scary part is just deciding to jump.  Once you've made that decision, it turns from HOLY CRAP I'M GOING TO DIE scary to HOLY CRAP THIS IS AMAZING awesome.  You get 60m of freefall and then the cable gets you and swings you across the canyon at 150kph  for 200-300 more metres.  It is CRAZY AWESOME.

I wouldn't do it again.

I bought the "Hoff special" (Yes, David Hasselhoff was somehow a big part of all this), which included a DVD video, pictures, etc., so I'll be able to show you guys the video of this when I get back home.  It can't be that flattering, but whatever.

If you want to see how the Shotover Canyon Swing works, you can visit their website here: http://www.canyonswing.co.nz - click on "See how it works" to get an idea of what stupid shit I did in Queenstown.

Next on my list was the Shotover Jet Boat Ride, which is supposed to be the "World's most exciting jetboat ride"

It's in the same general area as the Canyon swing, so that was pretty convenient..  A 5 minute bus ride dropped me off at the Shotover Jet station, and I was off!

And it is pretty crazy, but..  after doing the Canyon swing, I didn't think too much of it!  Don't get me wrong - I had a really good time..  but I didn't feel that RUSH that everybody else in the boat felt..  Ok, maybe a bit!

These boats basically have VERY powerful engines..  They pull in water and spray it out..  400L a second, per engine (there are two jet engines I believe).  The thing goes really really fast, through a very rocky and sometimes narrow canyon..  and SOMEHOW the drivers are able to keep the thing from smashing into the rocks, even though they do seem to try really hard to get as close to the rocks as possible..  which sometimes is VERY close..  The best part is when they do their 360 spins, which spins the whole boat around rapidly and splashes everyone with water..  This goes on for about 25 minutes.  It was pretty cool!

When I got back into town I had lunch at @Thai, the best Thai place in town, supposedly.  Their Pad Thai was magnificent (yes, magnificent).  Then I went to this little cafe called Patagonia, close to the harbourfront and my hostel, which is where I had some of the most amazing cheesecake I ever had.  Seriously!  There was a couple on the Milford Track that wouldn't shut up about how amazing this cheesecake was..  Naturally I had to have some..  I had it with a giant vanilla milkshake..  Good stuff!

So that's how I spent my last day in Queenstown!  After that I did some research and booked a 7 hour bus ride to Franz Josef Glacier.  I am heading there tomorrow at 7:30am, with short stops in Wanaka and Haast.  We are going through the Haast pass, which is supposed to be spectacular.  It's quite a small place, so I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to write nearly as much as I could here.  We'll see!