11/15/06: Lake Manipouri to Queenstown to Mt. Cook.

I did the bungy jump! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s do this in order. Last night dinner was great fish and chips from the pub next door, and this morning the guides cooked breakfast for us in the motel’s kitchen. After breakfast we loaded the van, and while the guides cleaned up from breakfast and filled up the van with gas, we started off on foot. It was a country road, with fields of sheep and deer and the sound of birds all around. I don’t know enough about birdsongs to know which is which, but it’s quite lovely. At the time the first Europeans arrived it was said that the birds were so loud that you couldn’t hear yourself think. Because there were no land predators in New Zealand, many species of birds evolved as ground nesters. Alas, when they introduced stoats in the 1800s to try to control the rabbits they had previously introduced, the stoats wiped out huge numbers of birds. The current populations are something like 10% of what they used to be. They have a captive breeding program for the kiwi (a cute nocturnal bird that is the New Zealand namesake), and they’re using stoat puppets to try to teach the baby chicks that stoats are evil. They also trap stoats quite aggressively in some areas.

We’ve adjusted to some extent to driving on the left side of the road, but it still catches us off guard. I will often look at the person in the left hand front seat of another car and think “That person is way too young to be driving”, or “That driver should be paying more attention” or “Why is the dog driving?” On the walk along the side of the road, we all remembered to walk on the right side, but every time a car came along from the rear, I felt as if I was on the wrong side of the road.

The van eventually came along and picked us up, and we headed off to Queenstown, where we had two hours on our own while the guides got provisions for our days at Mt. Cook. I picked up a jar of Marmite and a few other things to bring home. Marmite is similar to Vegemite and is often eaten on toast. I actually liked it. Sort of. In small quantities.

Then it was off to the bungy jumping. I had decided not to jump. It wasn’t something I had my heart set on, and I figured why spend the money and take the risk of an injury when I still had two weeks of vacation left. I was being very practical and sensible. But this nagging voice kept saying “but I’d really like to try it.” So I watched one person do it and it didn’t seem too bad. This is one of the shorter bungy jumps … only 43 meters. (One of the other locations is something like 130 meters.) So I decided to go for it.

First step was handing all of the pieces of my life to one of my trip mates … my passport, my wallet, my camera, my sunglasses, my change, etc. You sign up for the jump by filling in a little card labeled “toe tag.” (Bungy jumping involves a lot of showmanship.) You get weighed and they write your weight on your hand in kilograms. (No fibbing about your weight on this gig.) Next they tell you they need you to sign your life away (more showmanship; you do sign a waiver, but it’s less intimidating than the one you sign to go kayaking at Lake Calhoun.)

Next you go up and out on the bridge. Our guides went first, jumping tandem. Then the jump crew called my name. The bungy rope connects around your feet. They wrap a very ordinary bath towel around both of your feet and take a few loops with one inch pack webbing and then a heavier belt and attach it to the bungy cord. The towel wasn’t folded properly when they first tried to wrap it around my feet, and two of them had to refold it, which was a little tricky in the wind. All in all, it was a very low tech connection. There’s also a backup/safety line attached to a climbing belt you’ve put on. They ask if you want to go into the water at the bottom of your jump, giving the impression that this is a finely calibrated operation. I’m not sure why, but I said no water.

When you’re all ready, you shuffle/hop (since your feet are strapped tightly together) out onto a small platform and put your toes over the edge. We’re all used to standing on tall objects with a window or railing between us and the edge. Here you are out on a little ledge with nothing but a handhold slightly behind you, while the water rushes by 43 meters below at 10 miles an hour or so and the wind is blowing hard. The river looks pretty narrow too. They count you down … “Five, four, three, two, one, jump!” I jumped before I had time to get too scared. As I approached the water, it was pretty apparent that I was going in. I got dunked up to my chest. You bounce back up with river water spraying all over. After you bob up and down a few times, a boat they have moored to the shore just up river from the jump site comes down to hand you a pole to grab, and and someone in the boat guides you to land on your back on on a trampoline while the people above lower you, and they undo your feet.

I had ordered a DVD of video of my jump but had initially turned down the photos. They go ahead and print 3 pictures of your jump and when you come up they hold them up in a nice folder and ask if you want them, and of course I did by that point. Ka-ching, ka-ching. But you don’t do this often, right? You also get a t-shirt that says “Jumper.” All in all it was quite fun. I don’t think I would have tried the jump that’s three times as high, though.

Next was the drive to Braemar Station, a working sheep station overlooking Lake Pukaki and Mt. Cook. On the way we stopped at a high country salmon farm and picked up salmon for our final night.

Braemar Station is located on rolling hills above the lake, which was carved out by glaciers. The station has lots of paddocks with sheep and cows. We only saw a tiny piece of it ... it's about 65,000 acres if I remember correctly. For some reason the cows in one of the paddocks were particularly fascinated by us every time we drove by and came rushing up to the fence line to say hello, while another group of cows we passed always ran in the opposite direction and wanted nothing to do with us.

We’re staying in what used to be sheep shearer’s quarters. One building has about 5 bedrooms and a kitchen, living room and bathroom, and a second building has a couple of bedrooms. We step outside to gorgeous scenery, including Mt. Cook.

We had another delicious dinner after our arrival, then built a fire in the fireplace and looked at everyone’s bungy DVD on my laptop. When it got dark we trooped out to look at the stars (saw the Southern Cross, and an upside down Orion, and the Magellenic Clouds.) This is the first clear night since we’ve been here.

Tomorrow is hiking towards Mt. Cook. We’ll do one hike up to some high lakes, and one more level hike. Then we have a party tomorrow on the occasion of our last night, and head back to Christchurch Friday morning.

Pictures are here.

Video of the bungy jump is here.