QUEENSTOWN - NEW ZEALAND

9th - 11th Aug 2011

Jetboating in the Shotover Canyon.

As mentioned previously, Queenstown is the world champion place at scaring the shit out of you by inventing a myriad of life threatening 'activities'. The things you can do include; skiing and snowboarding, aeroplane sightseeing trips and aerobatics, helicopter trips and heli-skiing, ballooning, skydiving ( tandem with oxygen from 19,000ft! ), para-gliding, hang-gliding, parascending, cable cars, swing-gondola cars, lugeing, sailing, cruising, wind surfing, kayaking, jetboating, horse trekking ( no doubt along 5000ft precipices ), golf, climbing, mountaineering, caving, clay pigeon shooting, mountain biking, abseiling, canyoning, white water rafting, trekking, fishing, bungy jumping, swing bungy jumping, ledge jumping, zip-lining, canyon swinging, plus wine tours and any weird combination of the above. There are probably some that I have missed. Virtually every method of leaping off dizzy heights, nearly drowning and being made sick have been thought of.  Actually, I'm told the skiing is not that great and you have to get bussed to the snow-fields in the Remarkables, and the golf and fishing are possibly free from imminent danger ( unless the golf is done from mountain ledges, which is entirely possible ). The only noticeable things missing from their list are zorbing, shweebing, and duck shooting. You can do those in Rotorua. And whale watching., of course.

Left: In the Jetboat on the Shotover canyon river. I'm on the right, second row. This was rather fun and quite exhilarating. The driver showed great skill as the boat went bloody fast and the canyon was narrow with jagged rocks on the side. He steered directly towards these and missed them by an inch. We cut round the bends and skimmed over what seemed like bare rocks on the bottom. The boat only needs 4 inches of draft. The pieces-de resistance were the 360 degree 'wheelies' which he frequently carried out in very limited space. These were pre-warned by the driver making a revolving hand signal and we had to hang on tight.

Bryan C was to blame for this ( right ). He as good as issued a challenge, from a safe distance, ie Andover. There were much higher and more dramatic ( and more expensive ) bungy leaps and swings but this was AJ Hackett's 'original' from 1988 over the Kawarau river gorge. There were only three of us on the bus up there; me and two, would you believe it, Vietnamese girls from Hanoi.

Note the chap behind giving a helpful hand, probably with a pin in it.  

...there was no lack of photographers around to record your leap. I suppose the pics would come in useful at the inquest. I should have worn my cap.

The most worrying aspect of this is realising how bald I am.

Right: I presume this was arriving near the bottom. They asked me at the start if I wanted the line to be set to be dunked in the river as an added bonus. I didn't.

Left: One of the Vietnamese girls at the point of no return. They thought it was magic with lots of posing with the traditional Vietnamese 'V' sign to camera before they jumped.

....and afterwards. Troi Oi!

We were all sold photographs and given a T-shirt as mementoes.

That was about all I did in Queenstown which, frankly, was quite enough. The girls were off to do the much bigger and higher bungy jumps and swings. They must have more money than sense.

Onwards next to Lake Tekapo....idly drifting towards Christchurch.