Canyoning in Queenstown!!!!

The sun came back out yesterday which was good news for us as we were about to go canyon swinging......

A canyon swing is pretty similar to a bungy except that you are attached at the waist instead of the feet so you can jump off in whatever position you want. I can safely say I was a LOT more nervous for this than I had been for the skydive and was extremely glad Gwenda and I had chosen to do it together. We decided to go over it backwards for some reason (I think maybe I was still drunk from the previous night). It was so scary at the top looking down and the guys working there try their best to wind you up and start having long conversations with each other so you're left waiting in suspense. My legs were shaking like crazy then it was one to three, lean back and "ARGHHHHHHH"!! Was such a weird feeling and the free fall was quite long (they said it has the same free fall time as Nevis- the highest bungy in New Zealand). It was amazing though and such a rush. When we got back up the guys told us that we had flipped over which we weren't supposed to do but neither me nor even Gwenda realised we had done it.

So.... as it was only twenty quid to do it again of course we both did it. We did it on our own this time and Gwend did the pin drop where you have to stand straight with your hands behind your back. It’s a really scary one because you're naturally tempted to grab the rope in front of you- it was also scarier for her as when she jumped off one of the guys shouted "wait"! I had chosen to do a handstand off it where they held onto my legs and pushed me over by them.  It was so good; my arms and legs were flailing about the whole way down which the other said looked funny. I also had a moment of blind panic when the freefall was almost over and started grabbing the rope. When I came back up it was very tempting to do it again. But I thought better not....

We spent our final night in Queenstown and it’s safe to say I was DEVASTATED to leave. I had such an amazing time there... not sure why, maybe something to do with all the drinking and going out. We did do some sober stuff though- walked through the botanical gardens which was nice and sunbathed out in the garden opposite our hostel... but that really was about it.

We went out on our third night and decided to have a change from our favourite place, world bar and go to cowboy bar where I went on the mechanical rodeo bull and drank (some of) a glass filled with two and a half pints of cider. Safe to say I had a good night. I tried a fergburger (which we had heard about, far and wide, since the start of our trip) and hated it because I decided I would have the "bambi burger" which was a bad decision as I think the original is supposed to be much nicer.

On our last night we decided to have a quiet one.... so about ten minutes later we were off out with our Dutch friends. It was good fun because, unlike us, they could drink in their rooms without being hassled by the staff and they introduced us to some new drinking games, including the infamous Fire King, which we loved.

The next day we were back to our early starts and I was sad all day (still am now) about leaving Queenstown. We had such a good time and had really started to get friendly with people off our bus so it was a shame to leave but had to be done if I wanted to see my big cousin get married. All in all I LOVED the Kiwi experience and would do it again tomorrow if I could.