Nevis Bungy Jump- 134 meters!

So the night before last at about 2a I decided to book a spot for the Nevis Bungy.  This morning I woke up and headed down to the Bungy Shop, then signed all the papers, got things written on my hands, and hung around until 1130a, when my bus departed.  It was me and three other guys (one of them was only doing the swing), so the bus wasn't too crowded and we didn't have to wait long for anything.  The bus ride was about 45 minutes long, and we drove past a bunch of beautiful scenery (to keep your mind distracted, obviously, hah).  When we finally got there they had us lock up our bags (I forgot to get my cellphone back from them, oops!) and then had us harness up.  After that we got our little gondola over to the main platform where we would jump.  The entire thing happened so incredibly fast, it was nuts.  Basically, we got there while they were pulling someone up, then Ashley (one of the guys) got completely suited up with the anklets and the bungy and everything, and before I knew it, he was jumping off a 134 meter high platform.  Which means now it was my turn.  So they put my anklet things on me, then had me sit in the chair of doom (the chair where the strap all the bungees onto you or whatever).  After pulling up Ashley, they had me hobble over to the edge.  Oh man, just letting you know, 440 ft is a long way down to jump, and once you're on the edge of the platform, the phrase "don't look down" doesn't exist anymore.  So the guy is just like, yeah okay I'm gonna drop the bungy so you'll feel the weight of it, and I was like MEH!! haha.  Then he started counting down, and I was just like, NO! haha.  This happened two or three times, then he had the pep talk with me, which, by the way, was an awesome pep talk (kudos to the guy working the Nevis Bungy).  So he was like alright, here we go, 3-2-1 and I JUMPED!! haha.  My exit was definitely most graceful in the first few seconds (you'll see when I post the pictures), but it quickly turned into a fetal position or something, haha.  All I could do was scream, it was great.  But the best part about Nevis is that fact that it's so tall, so basically I screamed for the first 5 seconds, then the last 4 seconds I just remember seeing my feet in front of me and the ground and stream rushing up around me, it was awesome.  After almost 9 seconds the bungy kicked in and stretched me downdowndown, then upupup, which was soooo much fun ( :  At the top of my second bounce I released my feet from the harness so I could sit up, which was really awesome.  After that I hung there for about a minute, then they pulled me up and it was over, but I was totally rushing from it and it was sosososososososoSO AMAZING!!  If you guys can build up the courage I totally recommend it; the first 4 seconds are the scariest, but after that it's pure incredibleness.  Hope you enjoy the pictures ( :

sick in Queenstown...

I've been getting a worse and worse cold, which definitely sucks.  To make matters worse, I've been put in a room that, more or less, really sucks.  Everyone knew that I was incredibly sick, and yet while I was trying to sleep last night they had all the lights on and were basically yelling and laughing and being super loud.  It was mostly just these five people and the other two girls are cool, but it really sucked and kinda (really) made me mad.  Anyway, the noisy girls are still in here, but at least the three noisy boys are gone.  I don't have much to write about other than I'm sick and am hating it.  I went to 4-Square and bought some groceries, a Pharmacy and bought various things for being sick, then came back and ate a rather healthy lunch.  I'm feeling better, but still sick.  Meh.  Sorry for the boring post.  Hope your day is going well!

skydiving pictures!!

silly bangs, silly cheeks.
my master and me ( :
slide landing, haha.
entering the clouds where we pulled the parachute.
almost done with the freefall.
above the lake, above the trees, above the mountains, above the clouds.
I want to do this every day.
so beautiful, like indescribable beauty.
chubby chubby chubby chubby cheeks cheeks cheeks cheeks.
I'm so jealous that the master had a scarf thing.
I'm a biiiiiiiiird! haha.
so so so so so so much fun.
trying to smile, failing epically.
freefaaaaaaaaaaaaaall.
nosedive towards the ground, flipping around, looking where the land meets the sky.
weeeeeeee!!
first few seconds of freefall (the best seconds).
yelling while leaving the plane!
dangling out of the plane, just about ready to exit.
getting ready while climbing up to altitude ( :

Queenstown, continued.

Wow, I love Queenstown so much.  I've met such amazing people here, have done such amazing things, and have seen such amazing landscapes.  If I were to live in New Zealand, Queenstown would be my obvious location for my home.  You guys would love it down here; this little city situated on the side of a huge lake, surrounded by unbelievably gorgeous mountains-- does life get any better than this?  Well, as you can tell from my last post, yes, if you skydive.  I just wanted to write this post to tell everyone how much I love them and miss them (for people back in the States and everyone I've met here).  As for the people I've met here, you've truthfully changed my life and I'm so glad for everything and this opportunity to travel to New Zealand by myself.  For everyone I met in Christchurch while working (Gemma, Mia, Antony, José, Caroline, and everyone else), you guys are great and made my time in Christchurch bearable.  I miss you all and hopefully will be able to see you again in due time.  The clean team rocks and it's all because of you ( :  For the people I met in Queenstown because I was so luckily placed in your room (Danielle, Craig, Jay, John, Daniel), thank you tons and tons for making Queenstown my favorite city; it definitely wouldn't have been the same without you all.  Danielle, you rock and are my North American buddy woo!!  Craig, you're a great guy and ridiculously silly, freaking monkey on the top bunks!  Jay, we have the same birthday, and we're kind of a big deal-- enough said, haha.  John, you're hilarious, and like to pass out all the time after getting drunk; also, "AH JESUS!!!!!!!"  And Daniel you crazy old man (just kidding!), well, you're CRAZY!! haha.  I hope I get to see you all very soon (I'm like 85% positive I'll see Jay and John again, yay! and Craig once I head up to Auckland for my flight home) because you're all amazing people.  Thank you for being such great friends and really helping me acclimate to good ol' Queenstown.  Anyway, I've decided I'm definitely going to stay here until at least Tuesday (was originally going to leave Sunday) because my Milford Sound trip on Saturday got cancelled due to road conditions, so I'm pretty excited-- I love it too much here to leave so soon!

SKYDIVING!!

Finally the weather was clear enough to go skydiving!  I got to NZone that's about a minute walk from X Base and filled some paperwork out that basically signed my life away, then watched a video of people jumping.  After about half an hour, all of us jumpers piled into a van and took off to a location about 15 minutes outside of Queenstown, towards Milford Sound.  The jump zone is directly above the Remarkables, which is amazing.  Once there, we stood around watching other people in front of us land, one by one, which really helped with any nerves that may have started to build up.  I had a muesli bar (thanks Chantelle and James!) and a cup of tea, then decided that I was being dumb for only jumping at 12,000ft; I'm here in one of the only countries that allows jumps at 15,000ft, and I'm choosing to jump at the mediocre 12,000ft?  I immediately went inside and asked to jump at 15,000ft, and they said it wouldn't be a problem at all.  Yay!  After waiting for about an hour and a half, it was finally our turn to jump!  We suited up in this silly jumper thing, then into the harness, completed with a silly crazy-person hat, goggles, and gloves.  After meeting our diving masters (the people we're strapped on to go tandem with) and photographers, we made our way towards our plane, which was this tiny little one-prop thing.  I was definitely expecting it to be a bit bigger inside; we've all seen videos where the divers are waiting on benches that are lined up against the plane's wall.  This plane was NOTHING like that.  I walk up to get in, and it was LITERALLY (and when I say literally, I really do mean literally) three and a half, four feet wide (maybe), and about 10, 12 feet long for nine people to fit into (three divers, three masters, three photographers) the main compartment.  It was absolutely insane.  The plane took off, and we were soon climbing over the gorgeous Remarkables; the view was breathtaking.  I didn't freak out at all, though I definitely made sure that I was attached to my master (I was like, we're not gonna die, right?  I'm attached to you, right? haha).  Finally we reach our altitude, and my master goes, alright, you're all hooked up, let's go!  So the door is opened, my photographer jumps out and clings onto the side of the plane so he can capture me exiting, and my master sits at the edge of the plane with my entire body dangling over the edge.  I was so totally stoked and not scared at all, it was nuts.  So my master basically swings to the count of three, and on the third swing just propels us out of the plane into a headfirst dive, then a flip, then finally to a belly-towards-the-ground position.  Exiting the plane was absolutely my favorite part about the entire thing; that feeling right as you leave cannot be imitated by anything.  It's like you're falling, but you aren't scared about hitting the ground because it's so far away, almost like you're falling in water, and you look around and see the beautiful landscape and mountains all around you meeting the sky and clouds; irreplaceable.  After the exit I freefell for the next entire minute, which was awesome.  My face was sooooo cold, which kinda sucked, and it was hard to breathe (think trying to breathe during a five mile run outside in the dead of winter), but it was absolutely incredible; seeing the ground like you see it in google maps (haha), the feeling of the wind rushing past your face, oh man, I'm in love!!  Towards the end of the freefall my master set us into spins, which was soooo fun, haha.  Then he counted down from three on his fingers and released the parachute, and we went flying upwards in an amazing rush (definitely my second favorite part).  After that we just flew around and did some G-force spins and talked about how cold it was and how beautiful everything is.  It was amazing.  After about five minutes of that, we came down for our landing; I lifted my legs up and we basically slid to the ground.  It was the most amazing experience I've ever been through and am SOOOO glad I did it, I totally want to do it again!  I have a $50 off coupon for my next jump-- who knows?  haha.  But it's totally the kind of thing that I could become addicted to and just take classes and whatnot.  I had no clue I would like it so much, but seriously, oh my god.  Words can't describe what it was like.  EVERYONE should do it, seriously.  It's not scary at all (and this is coming from the kid that held up the water slide for like 10 minutes at summer camp when I was little while I cried and said no no no!).  It was amazing.  I don't know what else to say.

here's a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpwK0vPUDU8

Rainy Mornings.....

sunny afternoons, but unfortunately my skydive was for 1120a today, so it's been cancelled and rescheduled for tomorrow.  It'll still be fun ( :  A couple of friends I've met while down here (Danielle and John) and I walked around the town a bit this morning, checked out movie times (after having breakfast), then did a little window shopping.  The mountains around Queenstown look beautiful with mist shrouding their tops, it's absolutely amazing down here.  The atmosphere is something I could definitely live in, but there's no way I could live without you all!  So move to NZ stat!  hah no not really, and I'm really excited about coming home, though I'm starting to consider pushing it back a FEW days because the weather down here is really shifty and my trip to Milford Sound might be cancelled, I still need to talk to the Fox Glacier people, AND I definitely have to go skydiving, however long that takes.  Oh and the more and more I hear about people doing Nevis, the more I'm considering it.  John showed me and Danielle his video yesterday and it was hilarious, the guy counted down to three and he was like, "No no!  I can't do this, wait wait wait." haha.  Then when he jumped he said, "OH JESUS!!"  I'm guessing my reaction would be similar, except definitely with tears, haha.  I've also been missing my friends from Base Christchurch that I met while working there, if any of you are reading this, hi!  I'm having a really great time this week, much better than the two weeks before that and it's really making me stay optimistic ( :  Anyway, Ima go since I don't want to bore you with what's happened since last night (nothing, besides sleep, haha), so have a wonderful day and I missese yous!!

Queenstown!!

Finally!  I'm super stoked to be here.  Today it finally cleared up and you can see these GORGEOUS mountains that are the backdrop to Queenstown, which is set on a lake.  It's just absolutely incredible.  Apparently this lake is 300 meters deep at some points, as well as 84 kilometers long, which is absolutely nuts.  I didn't even know that Queenstown was built on the side of a lake, how dumb do I feel!!  Anyway, the people I'm staying with at X Base are really nice and we get along, which is great, but it definitely sucks to have to be paying for accommodation again-- I had forgotten how it can really eat up my money!  Anyway, last night I went out for awhile with the people from my room, but it was kinda slow and I wasn't really feeling it; maybe tonight we'll go out to World Bar and I'll have a couple of teapots, that ought to solve the problem!!  I'm currently in between rooms right now because I didn't book it in time to stay in the same room for tonight, which sucks, but my roommates from the last few nights and I are all hanging out in our room so it's not that bad.  I GO SKYDIVING TOMORROW!  Wow, I'm actually getting pretty terrified of it, but everyone tells me it's amazing, so I'm sure I'll have lots of fun ( :  Anyway, I'll be going now because I'm pretty hungry (and tired!) so I'm either going to eat or sleep, haha, but definitely one of the two.  I hope everyone is having a great time back home and I miss you lots and lots!  Hugs and kisses to you all.