5...4...3...2...1! Queenstown, NZ

So, back to the New Zealand saga.

We left Te Anau early evening and drove to Queenstown. We decided that a parking lot was the best bet for the night. We found a "Pay and Display" lot, but the machine didn't work until the morning. I planned on waking up early to pay for, and thus display, the slip of paper required to park there. However, I was so exhausted that I turned off my alarm as soon as it went off.

9:30 and we hear a knock on the door. Alex gets up and the lot attendant informs him that we need to pay to park here. Alex comes back in and falls asleep again. 11:30, and the man comes back, threatening to ticket us if we don't pay. We finally buy some time and head into Queenstown to finalize the plans for the two days we're there.

Four of us decided to do a tour of the Lord of the Rings sites around Queenstown. I found a tour which included driving to each place, information about the sites and movie shooting itself, and a coffee, tea, or hot chocolate at a local restaurant for $99 per person. Allen, Ralph, Derek, and I were the only ones on the tour, so we were able to ask lots of questions. We saw the moss where Frodo and Sam laid to see the oliphants, the tower of Isengard, and one of the Elven forests, among other things. It was so enjoyable, and the tour guide was great. He works in the movie industry so we learned a lot about shooting movies at the same time. Most of his friend were involved in LOTR in some way. He was not because he was already working on a movie at the time.

The rest of the group had gone kayaking for the afternoon, so we met up after our excursions at the vans. The LOTR crew hadn’t eaten in awhile and wanted to get dinner, but the kayakers wanted to barbeque. The starving four reluctantly agreed to a barbeque, so we drove around looking for a place to stay that night. We needed to empty the waste tanks and wanted to have the heaters running that night (certain parts of the vans only work if they’re plugged into a power source). We stopped at a few places, only to discover that they were all full or closed for the evening, so we finally stopped at a gas station, emptied the tanks (may I say, one of the most disgusting things any of us had ever done), and decided that those of us who wanted to eat would get some dinner, the barbeque crew would buy the food, and we would meet at Moke Lake, a camping site that we could camp for free at.

Allen, Ralph, Derek, and I headed to Fergburger, a gourmet burger place. The food tasted so good after having not eaten for about 12 hours—good enough that I bought the overpriced t-shirt…but hey, at least I have a somewhat unique souvenir from New Zealand. We then attempted to find Moke Lake. The camp site was supposed to be off of the main road out of Queenstown; we found “Moke Lake Road” and assumed we were on the right track. The paved road soon forked, with Moke Lake Road labeled as the dirt road traveling into the darkness. We passed one turn on the left, then headed through a gate to where we assumed we would find the lake.

I drove, somewhat reminded of the incident with the Tunnel of Death. The dirt road twisted back and forth, rabbits every so often appearing in our headlights to the side of the road. One turn felt particularly treacherous in such a large vehicle, and I was terrified we were going to flip over. After driving at about 20 kmh (about 12 mph) for quite some time, we decided that we were lost and turned around. We drove back to the turn-off that we had seen, pulled in about 4 meters and noticed a “private property” notice on the side of the road. Sighing, we turned around and drove back down the dark dirt path. Turns out that if we had gone about 50 meters further, we would have found the entrance to Moke Lake the first time. We then began searching for Team Competence, meaning we off-roaded in the huge Team Efficient, shining our high beams onto every tent and vehicle camping near this lake which we could not see. After chasing down embers of dying fires (maybe the barbeque, we reasoned) and flashing the same van four times, we paused to reevaluate what to do. At that moment, Ralph called out, “I see headlights behind us. Maybe that’s them?” We all turned, and suddenly Team Competence pulled up! All eight of us let out a cheer.

True to their word, they had bought all of the things needed for the barbeque, including stealing a shopping cart to grill on. They had then spent four hours trying to find Moke Lake; they had turned off of Moke Lake Road back onto the main road and drove about 10 kilometers before deciding that they were wrong and headed back. At this point, it was dark and raining, so we gathered into Team Efficient, enjoyed each other’s company, then passed out again.

We awoke to the most beautiful site imaginable. New Zealand seems to be like that; you drive in pitch black conditions and awake to paradise. We took a few pictures, then got ready for horse riding! Becky had convinced the boys that they wanted to ride horses, so everyone but Allen (who had opted for a massage at a spa in Queenstown) headed off to the point where we were to be picked up. We were driven up to Deer Park Heights and rode horses for the morning. My horse was named Ren (Stimpy is no more). I tried a trot but was too nervous with the position to try a canter. I do regret that poor decision on my part.

The morning was a nice distraction for what was to come that afternoon. We got back, killed some time by getting some lunch, and then headed to the next pick-up point. We piled onto a bus with other people to be driven to Kawarau Bridge, the first commercial bungy jump site in the world. 43 meters over a river, you can choose to be dunked into the water when you jump off. I had been forced to commit to the jump when we first talked about traveling to New Zealand for break. Now I didn’t let myself consider backing out, or else I would have.

The first step to the bungy jump experience is being weighed (so that they know how much tension and slack each jumper needs) and signing a “certificate of achievement” which included a contract promising not to sue if anything happened. We all signed, stored our things in lockers, and headed up to the bridge. We weren’t forced to go to the bridge at a certain time, but if we wanted to return by the bus, we all had to jump by 5 PM.

We had met a girl on the bus who was there only to photograph her friend. She agreed to take pictures of us on my camera (outside of Ben’s semi-professional one, I had the best). As we all waited in line, everyone’s nerves were on edge. I handled it by dancing to the music they had playing, a combination of Johnny Cash and ridiculous jazz covers of Radiohead and Red Hot Chili Peppers. A man put a harness on me, loosely placed because the harness was not what was to hold me. Ropes were to be placed around my ankles (over a towel), with an extra line hooked to the bungy cord in case anything went wrong.

Soon enough, it was my turn. I crawled into the enclosed platform where they prep you for the jump. They clearly are used to dealing with nervous people, so they asked me questions about where I was from and told me what I needed to do. They asked if I wanted to be dunked in the water, to which I replied, “I’d like my fingers to touch.” They then told me how I needed to jump off and how to place my hands as I neared the water as they placed the towel, then ropes, around my feet.

“Okay, shuffle out to the edge,” the man said. I took the tiniest baby steps towards the edge of the exposed platform, terrified that I’d take one step too far. I grasped onto a metal loop near the platform. “Just a little bit more,” he urged as he gently pushed me forward. Soon enough I was too far from the loop to keep holding. “Keep your eyes on the bridge way out there. Okay, now I’m going to count down from 5 to 1. On 1, you jump. All right?” I nodded, doing my best to keep my eyes outwards. I glanced down, but at that point, all thought had stopped. It didn’t phase me. “Wave to the camera!” I attempted to wave. “Anyone out there waiting for you?” he asked, pointing to the balcony where everyone watched from. “Wave to them!” I waved again. “Go Vickey!” I heard, far away.

“5…4…3…2…1!”

I did my best to dive off and went into a free fall. When’s it going to end, when’s the rope going to catch, oh my God, when’s it going to catch, I screamed in my head, my mouth frozen shut. Finally I felt the rope catch as I threw my hands over my head like I had been instructed to do. The rope then pulled me back up, away from the water. My mouth opened and I let out a terrified scream as I headed back up, then down, then up again, and finally settled down.

Because it was over a river, I was rescued from the bungy rope by men in a yellow raft. They pushed a white pole towards me and I grasped at it, scared that I was too shaky to hold onto it. I did, however, and they pulled me into the boat on a trampoline-esque material in the middle of the boat to take the harness and ropes off of me. “You’re a little bit shaky, aren’t you?” one of the guys smiled, and I realized that my hand was shaking uncontrollably. They pulled back to the dock and helped me out, where I found Derek waiting. We watched the rest of our group jump from there. The best jump we saw was Allen, the crazy circus-performer-gymnast. He decided to do a backflip off of the platform. He spun around in a beautiful twirl and hung there for quite some time. Later he told me he was contemplating climbing back up the rope.

We headed back to the bus after we paid for (once again) overpriced pictures (or DVDs of the jump, as some of my friends opted for). We headed back to Queenstown and, once again, started driving, this time north to Fox Glacier for a glacier hike the next day…

Oh, the joys of the technological age! You can view my official pictures from my jump online! Download them!

How to view the official pictures from my bungy jump experience:

1. Go to www.bungy.co.nz
2. Click on “Daily Photos,” then “Kawarau Bridge”
3. Type into the search box one of the numbers (each number has a different picture):
AJHK704131231566
AJHK704131231567
AJHK704131231568

You can download these pictures (and please do, I paid more money than they were actually worth…it’s how they get you). You can do this until June 13th, I believe, so do it before then!!!