I could’ve easily stayed in Wanaka for a week or more, but I had to move on, in search of adrenaline and cheeseburgers….aaaand womens underwear?

I’m not sure what this bra covered fence is all about, but I couldn’t just pass it without taking a picture.

Back to business…Queenstown was my next destination.
I’d heard enough about the town to decide that one night would probably be enough, and I’m glad I made that decision. It’s in a beautiful area, and the town seems fine, but it just felt like too much of a cookie cutter, expensive, touristy town that lacks any character (a little bit like a ski resort town in the Rockies…I’m looking at you Vail!).
But yeah, at least the surroundings are wonderful…
These are the Remarkables…the name is maybe a bit pompous, but let’s be honest…they are pretty cool.

And Lake Wakatipu

My first stop in Queenstown was Fergburger. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard it brought up while I’ve been in New Zealand, but as a cheeseburger fanatic, it was enough times to convince me to not miss it.
So, my thoughts on the burger…It was good, but just good. Don’t get me wrong, I’d eat one again, but only if it wasn’t quite as expensive and didn’t involve waiting in line for 30 minutes. It seems to me they’ve placed more emphasis on their marketing department than on their kitchen staff.

Now that I’d seen a fence load of bras and had a monstrous burger, bungy jumping was the only other thing on my list for Queenstown.

The Nevis bungy is 143m up…and it’s not on a nice, stable bridge, it’s from this little shack hanging off some cables, which to my surprise was more stable than I’d expected…but that being said, it still bounced and swayed with the wind a bit.

I did a tandem skydive a few years back, and I used to do a bit of rock climbing, but this was a totally different feeling.
Jumping out of a plane felt a bit surreal, which somehow made it surprisingly easy. And when I’d go out for a day of climbing, I wouldn’t really go out fully expecting to fall. And even then, when I would fall, there were two scenarios, and they were much different than bungy jumping. The first would be when it was completely unexpected…for me, that usually came when my foot would slip off something that I thought was secure, and before you know if, you’re airborne. The other type of fall was due to exhaustion…my hands would be tired to the point that they didn’t want to function anymore, so the only option was to hurry up and try to get to a nice big hold or ledge where I could rest…but if I fell, it wasn’t voluntary, it was because my hands ceased to function.
The bungy jump was completely different…first, it’s 143m up, which is high enough to scare the shit out of you, but not high enough to have that surreal feeling…and second, there’s a very simple alternative, which is turning around and not doing it.

The whole process leading up to the jump went fairly quick. Once I was harnessed in and ready to go, I waddled (my feet were pretty much tied together) over to the ledge, with assistance from one of the workers, so I didn’t trip. Once at the ledge, I had about two seconds to look around and think, “Well, this is a fucking stupid idea.”

The guy let go of my harness and counted down from three. After he said one, I hesitated for about 1/4 of a second, while my brain was still just saying a long, drawn-out “fuuuuuuuuuuuuck,” and then jumped

After jumping, I had a few seconds, which felt like hours, to think about what was going on, and then was overwhelmed with relief when I slowly came to a stop, before being flung back upwards.
 

I think it took a good half an hour before my hands stopped shaking.

And as terrifying as it was, I’d do it again in a heartbeat!