Skydiving in Queenstown

After a rather sleepless night, we headed back towards civilization on the morning of 26.03. The first stop was once again the tourist town of Te Anau. The drive back through the valleys before Milford Sound was just as spectacular as the drive there. There were still numerous waterfalls flowing down the steep mountains, and even a few sections of road were flooded and being managed by officials. So, we were lucky that we left early. If a section of the road had been completely flooded, we would have been stuck. As mentioned before, there is only one road to Milford Sound.

Arriving in Te Anau, we both desperately needed to use the bathroom. However, the known toilet was closed. So, we headed towards a bush, but luckily Krissi noticed that an older man was watching us from a house. So, we gave up on our plan. As we walked back to the car, we noticed that the man was taking pictures of us. So, we confronted him about it, stating that we hadn't done anything illegal. But he didn't agree and happily told us that he would post our picture on Facebook. Well, our mood wasn't so good after that, we still had to go to the bathroom and it was still raining. We then used the toilet in the library in Te Anau.

Then our rental camper had some trouble. Somehow, the trunk lid could only be partially opened. So, we called LuckyRentals and they arranged an appointment for us at a workshop in Queenstown on the same day. The problem was that we absolutely needed to open the trunk for cooking. So, the repair was a bit urgent. But Queenstown was still several hours away. 

During our drive, we stopped at some lookouts and even the rain finally stopped after many days. J Arriving in Queenstown, the repair at the workshop was relatively quick, so we had the whole afternoon and evening free. We explored the city a bit, tasted the ice cream at the Patagonia Choclaterie, and booked our skydiving with Sky Dive Southern Alps. It was scheduled for the 28.03.

We then found a nice spot by the lakeside and had our usual sandwiches :D since there is no proper bread to buy here in New Zealand. We spent the evening comfortably in a bar. We played Exploding Kittens as a duo for hours. And Krissi almost won every game. :D

While we were in Queenstown, we stayed every night at the Twelve Mile Delta Campsite. It cost us $26 per night, but it was the closest campsite to the city.

We didn't really have any plans for Wednesday. We hadn't planned to stay in Queenstown for that long. So, we started with some organizational things like refueling, shopping, and a visit to the Medical Center. We wanted to get a few more vaccinations for Asia since we had only completed the first ones in Melbourne. But in New Zealand, there seemed to be a national vaccine shortage? Seriously? :D We still needed two more vaccinations, and we got an appointment for our last Japanese Encephalitis vaccination on Friday. But unfortunately, there was no more rabies vaccine available. And now what? The doctors wanted to try ordering the vaccine. But we definitely wanted to continue our journey by Friday at the latest. It didn't convince us to stay in Queenstown for almost a whole week. After the unsatisfactory doctor's visit, we found a nice place for lunch. We cooked rice pudding with a view of the lake and the mountains in beautiful sunny weather.

After lunch, we went to the Tiki Trail. We hiked up the mountain in 2 hours, which is usually done by taking a gondola for a lot of money. When we reached the top, it was like a little cultural shock. There was the gondola station, then a huge restaurant, then a kind of go-kart track, of course, you could also start a paragliding jump from there, and there were also mountain bike trails. Everything a tourist heart desires. For our taste, it was a bit crowded up there, but the view over the lake, Queenstown, and the many high mountain ranges was of course impressive. Going down was faster. We even ran occasionally, as long as our knees allowed it.

We had dinner in Queenspark near a river called "Frankton Arm". The next day was the day of the skydive. So, we went to bed early to be well-rested.

On Thursday, 28.03., the alarm clock rang at 7:00 a.m., because we were supposed to be at the meeting point for the bus ride in Queenstown at 8:00 a.m. Krissi was so excited that she could hardly eat anything. We arrived at the shop on time, had to fill out some forms, and of course, sign that we wouldn't sue anyone if something happened to us. We're used to that from diving. ;) Krissi also treated herself to the photo package for $179. This meant that her tandem partner would wear a GoPro on his wrist and film and take photos. An expensive but unique and beautiful souvenir. We were not allowed to bring our own GoPro. After a 45-minute bus ride to the Skydive Center in Glenorchy, we received instructions. We didn't have to do much, just pay attention to our body posture during takeoff and spread our arms when signaled by our trainer. Should be doable. There were a total of 16 people, divided into 4 groups. Each group was flown up separately in a small orange plane and then made the jump. We were in the 2nd group. When the 1st group took off, it was our turn to get dressed.

A full-body jumpsuit, a funny aviator hat, goggles, and of course the harness that we would hang onto our trainer and the parachute. Eventually, we got into the plane and enjoyed the view from the inside. Below us, a large blue lake and many high mountains. A combination that we fell in love with more and more. Even from the excitement, we felt good, now it was too late anyway. Krissi jumped 2nd and Kenny 4th from our plane. Two women from the USA also jumped with us, who have been living in New Zealand for a long time. One of them kept bombarding her trainer with questions because she was so excited.

The only really scary moment was when the plane door was open and Krissi slid with her trainer towards the open door. That's when she realized how high 12,000 feet (4,000m) actually is and that she will be jumping out of a plane. But then everything happened very quickly. You hang in the open airplane door and only hold onto your harness. From that moment on, it's really too late. The trainer has complete control from that moment on and you're just hanging onto him. Then, as learned before, you lean your head back onto the trainer's shoulder, angle your legs back, and wait for the trainer to jump. But that all happens in seconds. The first few seconds out of the plane, we were probably not facing the right direction, but you can only see that in the video, and you don't notice it at all. Once the trainer has found the balance and the right position in the air, he taps you, and then you spread your arms. The following 45 seconds of freefall are just a dream. An incredible feeling of freedom. 45 seconds may not sound that long, and we were afraid it would go by too quickly. But it was not too short, just amazing.

At some point, the trainer pulls the parachute, it opens, you slow down significantly, and move from a horizontal to a vertical position, sitting in your harness. Then there were about 5 minutes of flight. As I write this, I'm getting excited again because it brings back memories of this incredibly impressive situation. It really is an incredible feeling of freedom that I have never experienced before. In those 5 minutes of flight, you also have time to admire the beautiful landscape. During the freefall, I could only think "awesome, awesome, awesome".

Even the landing is quick and easy. Here you just have to make sure to extend your legs properly and pull them up as high as possible (you can even use straps on your suit to hold onto your legs), so that you don't get stuck in the ground with too much momentum, and then you land on your butt.

We would have loved to get back on the plane and jump again right away. 100% recommended. Fortunately, we didn't have any problems with ear pressure. Some others came back from the jump with severe earaches. We were either lucky or had good training from diving. We didn't pay much attention to it during the jump, at least not consciously.

After our jump, we were able to watch the 2 other groups. We sat in the sun at the start and landing area and watched the process carefully. Even a family with a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl jumped after us. Respect.

At around 1:30 p.m., we took the bus back to Queenstown. Krissi even had her USB stick with the video and photos in her hands.

Back in the city, we found a nice spot at the foot of Queenstown Hill for lunch. That meant we were on a quiet little street, on the mountain, at the start of a hike, enjoying the view of Queenstown Lake. We immediately looked at the pictures and videos of the jump and even watched the Tonight Show. Then we spent about 1.5-2 hours hiking up Queenstown Hill. It was quite crowded because the hike was steep but not really challenging. We once again enjoyed the familiar view of Queenstown, the lake, and the mountains. Today it was higher than the day before. But we didn't have to hike as high because of the road.

In the evening, we wanted to treat ourselves a bit. We found a place at the Fat Badges pizzeria. We shared a huge 20" pizza and still could not finish it all. In total, we ate from the pizza 3 times. So, the $42 almost seemed worth it again.

After dinner, we went to the super empty bar TGR Blue. We were the only guests. For Kenny, it was great because he could select the music himself via tablet. Actually, we wanted to go to the same bar we were at two nights before, but we couldn't find it. :D

For sleeping, we went back to our Twelve Mile Delta Campsite.

On Friday, we started the day very relaxed. Except for our vaccination appointment and our journey north, we had nothing planned. At 12:45 p.m., we got our 2nd and final Japanese Encephalitis vaccination. Unfortunately, we didn't get a 3rd rabies vaccination. So, we went to Frankton near Wakatipu, very close to Queenstown, and tried our luck there. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a medical center that had the vaccine in stock. In one practice, we were told that the partner practice in Queenstown had the vaccine. So, we got an appointment for the afternoon and drove back to Queenstown. But it was in vain because the practice didn't have the vaccine. The funny thing is that a few days earlier, we had already been to the practice and were told that they didn't have the vaccine in stock, then they said they had it, and in the end, they didn't have it again. Well.. a waste of time and wasted fuel, but at least the doctor told us that with two vaccinations against rabies, we would already be quite protected for the next 3 months. We relied on that. It should be enough time for us, and we didn't want to go to the monkey forest in Bali anyway. It would have been pretty critical there. Many tourists feed the monkeys or pose with them for photos and then get nasty scratches or bites. Because the monkeys in this forest are tend to be aggressive.

Nevertheless, we still had some time left and left Queenstown for real. First, we stopped at the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge and watched some people bungee jumping. We even considered doing it ourselves but thought that our skydiving jump might be hard to top.

Next, we went to the Roaring Meg Lookout. As the name suggests, it's a raging river. But the main attraction here seemed to be the nearby hydroelectric power plant, which we honestly didn't pay much attention to.

We still managed to be active on this day. We decided to take a 1.25-hour hike along the Bannockburn Walking Track. It used to be a mining area. Thyme was growing along the roadside, and it smelled wonderful. Otherwise, the trail was okay. Quite dry, and the view was only semi-spectacular. But it was still a nice ending to our day. We even picked a few pears, took them for our car, and took a small thyme bush with us. It hung from our rearview mirror and provided beautiful scents.

We spent the night at the Bendigo Free Camp. We sat by the water, watched GNTM, cuddled with baby cats, and enjoyed a beautiful starry sky at night.

On Saturday, March 30, 2019, we passed Wanaka and a huge lake. Along the way, we stopped at a lookout on the lake and had a little lunch.

Then followed one of the most challenging hikes for us during our travel time. We climbed Isthmus Peak in about 5.5 hours and only arrived back at our car in the late afternoon. It was 8km steep uphill and then equally 8km steep downhill. Our knees were starting to complain a bit. We climbed about 1000 meters in altitude and reached a total of 1,386m. Once at the top, it was quite chilly, and we were glad to have our long clothes with us. With a small toast snack, we enjoyed the view of the mountains and the two lakes, one on the left and one on the right of us. Unfortunately, it became a bit cloudy when we reached the top, but the view was still great and of course, we were proud. J Kenny even still wanted more and ran a bit higher to another peak, while Krissi started her descent. When we reached the car, we ate some Nutella toast to recharge because it was exhausting.

Originally, our plan was to continue north along the West Coast. But due to heavy rainfall around March 25, the only road on the West Coast at Fox Glacier was closed. So, we had to go through the inland again. That was a bit annoying because we had already driven past Lake Tekapo and co. on the way there, and now we had to pass that route again. But, of course, we couldn't have known that, and the road was expected to be closed for at least another week. Unfortunately, we didn't have that much time.

We spent the night at Lake Poaka for free.

On Sunday, we were back at Mt. Cook. To make the detour worthwhile, we decided to hike along Mt. Cook. It's supposed to be very impressive in terms of nature. So, we planned a 10km hike for 3 hours. But after only 1 kilometer, we couldn't go any further because a bridge was closed. Thanks a lot, heavy rains. But at least the view was already very impressive here.

We had lunch at the Old Homestead Picnic Area at our already familiar Lake Tekapo. Then, a few kilometers later, we treated ourselves to a $6 shower at the Grumpys Camp Ground.

In the late afternoon, we stopped at Rakaia Gorge. Simply put, it's a river and a bridge. We entertained ourselves by throwing stones and taking pictures with our GoPro. The sun was slowly setting, promising beautiful photo opportunities. Others seemed to think the same, as they set up their huge cameras and tripods. Kenny even served as a model for a moment.

However, this day mainly consisted of long, long driving. In between, we stopped at various lookouts. We spent the night at the Whitecliffs Domain Official Campground.