Hoʻopuka ʻia: 16.04.2018
Now we have reached Queenstown, a city where you can do almost everything. Unfortunately, it is too cold to go rafting with temperatures ranging from 5-10 degrees Celsius, even below freezing at night. First, we familiarized ourselves with the small town, which could also be an Austrian ski resort, possibly because it is one of the largest ski areas in New Zealand.
The next day, we got the supposedly best burger in the world, for which we had to wait for about 15 minutes. We got the recommendation from Chris. The burger definitely tasted great and the price was also good. Later in the day, we visited some old huts of Chinese gold miners who settled nearby.
On Saturday, I did one of the main attractions here in Queenstown: I went skydiving. It was actually a tandem jump, so I was strapped to the belly of another person.
I checked in at the shop at 1 PM. From there, we took a short bus ride around the lake to NZONE Airport. Here, I waited for about five minutes until we proceeded to the detailed briefing, where I also received my jumpsuit. After another 20 minutes, I boarded the plane with about 8 other skydivers, my cameraman Luci, and my instructor Ricky.
Since I was the first to jump, I was the last to board. After a 15-minute flight with a fantastic view at 12,000 ft (3,500 m), we prepared for the jump. Together with Luci and Ricky, we exited the plane and free-fell towards the ground. At first, you only feel the loss of ground under your feet, then you accelerate faster and faster, reaching speeds of up to 200 km/h towards the ground. When the parachute is opened with a short but powerful jerk, you have time to enjoy the scenery before landing again after too short of a time. Once on the ground, I took off the jumpsuit and went back to the bus with a huge smile.