Bungee jumping!

We decided to head up the mountain in the gondola to watch bungee jumpers this morning. The weather was rainy so we were afraid they might not jump. Luckily, they still did. Bungee jumping originated in Queenstown, and apparently, when anyone travels here, they must bungee jump. Well, everyone except Kate Brindle because she is a big ol' wimp.

The gondola ride was pretty, and it's just about the level of "extreme activity" (AKA what Queenstown in famous for) in which I like to participate.






When we got to the top, we waited for the bungee jumpers to assemble. We met a couple from Australia (he was a first time jumper; she was simply watching), a British guy who appeared to have no fear and had been before, and a family from Australia (the two adult children were jumping, while the parents looked on in terror). There was also another couple who were going to do the swing. This is basically like a bungee jump, only you "swing" off the platform instead (or, as it looked like, a complete free fall, only you're sitting upright).

The swingers went first, and just seeing them go off the platform made my heart skip a beat. It seemed so high, and they seemed so unprotected as they free-fell. Of course, my worry-ridden mind imagined 1,000 worst case scenarios of the cord snapping, or it getting wrapped around their necks, or a million other things.

Luckily, they were fine.

Then, it was the bungee-ers' (is that a word?) turn. I may have screamed a little when the first guy went. It just looked so terrifying! I had seen a lot of bungee videos online, but none of them do it justice until you actually see it.

Then the no fear guy went. He even did a flip! And, apparently, he loved it so much, he decided to go again right after.


No, thank you.

The two Australian first timers looked as if their bodies went completely limp. When we spoke to them after, they said it was 3 seconds of shear terror, followed by a lot of bouncy fun. They even tried to convince us to go, but we declined.

We checked out all of the scenery from on top of the mountain, which was absolutely gorgeous!



Before heading back down, of course, we had to stop at the gift shop.

Tourist Keith.

After the gondola ride back to town, we headed to the airport to board our flight to Wellington. The Queenstown Airport is really small, so we were the only ones in line checking in. We got there with plenty of time, so we stopped to have a sit-down lunch, where I had a veggie sandwich and FaceTimed my mom.

Our flight was smooth, and Air New Zealand might be my new favorite airline. All of the staff were just so nice! And they even bring around candy!

We took the Super Shuttle to our hotel, and chatted up our driver the entire way there. We talked a great deal about politics, and he noted how much he loves New Zealand and thinks it's the best country in the world. That seems to be a running theme here, whether the person is an immigrant or a local.

By the time we checked into our hotel (a cute, little place right down town), we were so tired that we simply set out for food (we ended up settling on falafel and gelato, which we've been eating everyday) and came back and went to bed. Thankfully, after yesterday, our place was really quiet!