Ethan's Semester In the South Pacific: SB XIII

And picking up right where I left off, we got up pretty early. 7:00 AM to be exact, which was especially hard for me because 7:00 was 4:00 in Brisbane, Australia. (In case you didn’t read my previous entry, we refers to my dad and I. He came to visit for my Spring Break, and we spent a great week together exploring New Zealand). But I rallied, we got out the door around 8, made a stop at the local Mickey D’s, and headed north out of Christchurch to Picton. We got an early snapshot of the amazing scenery we would see as we drove along the coast. Mountains seemed to come right out of the water that was as clear as the Caribbean Sea. After stopping for a couple picture breaks, we made to Picton by lunchtime and had lunch at a café right on Picton Harbour. After a quick look around, we got back in the car and headed west to Abel Tasman National Park. We basically hugged the coast the entire way there, which was pretty, cool and made it to the town right on the outskirts of the park by dinner time. We stayed out a really neat place that was basically a condo built into the side of a hill with a great view of the water. The walk to dinner was incredibly scenic and again, we got some amazing pictures.

The next morning (Monday, February 25), we got up early again. Fortunately, I was already a little better adjusted to the time difference. We got picked up by a local outfitter to go on a kayaking/hiking/boating trip through Abel Tasman National Park. There are actually no roads through the park, so the majority of it is only accessible by sea. The weather was perfect for what we were doing, probably mid-70s (or mid-20s Celsius as they would express it in this part of the world). The kayaking was great and we got to go through a fairly calm channel along beaches and rocks with seals laying out on them. Around noon, we made it to our final destination and got to do 6 km hike along what is supposed to be the best stretch of the Park and it definitely lived up to its billing. When we were through, we got picked up by boat and got taken back to our launch site. When we got back, we headed into town for dinner and called it a night pretty early.

The next day was mainly a driving day. We traveled through some amazing landscapes that included the coast, mountainous regions, the rain forest, and glaciers. I also got my first driving experience, which was a highlight. It was definitely strange driving on other side of the road/car, not to mention it was my first time operating a motorized vehicle since leaving the United States over a month ago. Anyway, we ended up at small town in the middle of nowhere, New Zealand called Haast, which did have one of the most spectacular red sunsets I have ever seen. We had dinner and called it a night.

We got up Wednesday and continued our counter-clockwise loop around New Zealand and passed through Queenstown en route to Te Anau, which is basically the gateway town to Fiordlands National Park. Again, unbelievable scenery, but it was strikingly different from the northern part of the island. There was lots of very tall, snowcapped mountains and lots large, clear lakes. Fortunately, we got to Te Anau pretty early and had the chance to spend some time walking around before dinner.

We awoke Thursday and headed to the Milford Sound, only a hour-and-a-half drive which was relatively short in comparison to the other drives we had made, thus far. We rode on a cruise down the 10 miles stretch of the Milford Sound, which was again was very different scenery, but probably the most beautiful. The Sound is about a mile wide, with giant cliffs and waterfalls lining the sides. And beyond the cliffs are giant mountains, until the Sound empties out into the Tasman Sea. The whole boat ride took a couple hours and afterward, we headed back through Te Anau to Queenstown. We arrived there in the late afternoon and walked around, ate dinner, and ultimately made the decision to do our morning bungee jump.

We woke up and headed straight into town where we would be picked up by coach to go the Nevis 134m (441 ft) Bungy. It was about a 40 minute drive out to jump site and we got there about 9:30 (what a great way to start the day). We weighed in, got in our harnesses, and got on to a gondola to take us out to a suspended platform over the giant gorge. I was informed that I would be going first because at 185 pounds, I was the heaviest person there and apparently that means you get to go first. I was alright with that and I had actually expressed earlier that I hoped I would go first, so that I could get it over with. I got all hooked in and ready to and had to shuffle out to the end of the platform (kind of difficult because my ankles were strapped together). Standing at the platform was especially lovely because they tell you to look at cameras from three different angles while just standing at the edge and I felt like was about to lose my balance. Finally they said, “Take a deep breath, count to 3, and jump.” Instead of thinking about it, I decided to just go for it (they probably would have pushed me off anyway) and took my swan dive downward. Probably 2 seconds passed before I realized that diving at freefall speed straight into a gorge, but the experience was unbelievable. It was definitely the closest thing I have ever felt to being a bird. I was surprised as I reached the bottom because I was expecting some kind of jerk, but instead it felt like I was weightless and just got tossed right back into the air. That part definitely felt weird because you go halfway up again (so more than 200 ft) and fall right back down. The next bounce is kind of nice because you get to release your feet by pulling a cord so I was upright once again. I was under the impression that I would be hanging there upside down, but it was quite nice to be upright to enjoy the scenery. Almost immediately, I got pulled up and they had the next person almost ready to go by the time I was back up, definitely an efficient process. I was up there probably another 20 min before it was time for my group to head back on the gondola. It definitely was nice being back on solid ground again because being on that hanging platform suspended only by some cables was about as scary as the jump itself. At the end of the experience, I was proud to have challenged myself to go outside of my comfort zone to face one of my fears.

Afterwards, we had a long drive back to Christchurch, but we had to spend the night there because my dad’s flight was at 7 AM. Overall, we had a great week together and marked the 4th of 4 incredible trips we've taken together during each year I've been in college.