New Zealand, Part III

Our flight to Queenstown on New Zealand's south island was early, so Kelley and I drifted off during the plane ride.  When I woke up, I peeked out the window and saw that we were flying above some beautiful snow-capped mountains which we would soon come to know as "The Remarkables."  According to the locals, they are called The Remarkables because they are one of the only mountain chains in the world which run perfectly north to south.   Therefore, when the sun is setting at night, it casts a red glow on the snowy mountains and makes them look "remarkable". 

The Remarkables from above

The Remarkables and a glacial lake

Conveniently enough, the Queenstown airport has a shuttle that runs fr0m the airport to different hotels and shops in town.  We hopped on and headed toward our hotel.  After a while, I saw the name of the hotel and realized that were were passing it.  "That's okay," I thought "we'll just get off at the next stop."  As it would turn out, the next stop was much further away that I anticipated.  When we made it to the hotel, they were unable to find our reservation, and after a brief chat with the receptionist, we realized that we were at the wrong hotel.  Before you start judging us though, the name of the hotel we were supposed to be staying at was "The Copthorne Hotel and Apartments" and the one that we went to instead was "The Copthorne Resort."  I'm not entirely sure why they would have two hotels with practically the same name only a few hundred meters apart from one another, but whatever.  We eventually made it to our actual hotel where we promptly put down our bags and walked into town. 


Queenstown is a pretty small place, but it offers TONS of adventurous activities.  As we walked the streets, we saw shops advertising: skydiving, jet boating, paragliding, zip-lining, heli-skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, bungee jumping, and so much more.  Since we didn't have the time nor funds to be able to participate in all of the adventures (though we definitely wanted to) we decided to do the zip-lining and jet boating.  The Rugby World Cup was still going on and that night we went to a pub to grab some food and watch the game.  The waiter was really nice and highly recommended that we take the gondala up the mountain and stay up there for the sunset. 

One of many paragliders

The next day, we heeded his advice and went up to the top of the mountain.  It was gorgeous up there but it was also COLD.  Our zip-lining adventure was scheduled for midday, so we popped into a coffee shop to grab a muffin and warm up with some tasty hot chocolate.  After we had regained feeling in all of our limbs, we took a walk outside and explored the scenery until it was time to go zip-lining.  Luckily for us, the zip-lining company provided all participants with hats and gloves, which were a welcomed addition to our attire for the day.  We had a safety briefing and then we were all fitted into harnesses and helmets which would hopefully spare us from any injuries.

We had the special gondala in honor of the Rugby World Cup, go the All Blacks!

For your information

Neither Kelley nor I had ever been zip-lining before, so we let a few people go first so that we could get a good idea of what it would be like.  When we were finally up, Kelley went first and I took a few pictures of her happily zipping in the forest.  My turn was next and I was feeling a little nervous--heights aren't exactly my thing.  As soon as I was "clipped-in" I walked to the edge of the platform and looked down (I would soon come to regret this).  I inhaled deeply and stepped off the platform and began flying through the air, which was actually a really cool feeling! 

Kelley getting ready for zipline #1!

Kelley happily zipping through the forest

Me zipping through the forest

It's all about the []_[] (even when we're freezing!)

Look at that happy face!

After four more zip-lines of increasing slope and length, we finally hiked through the forest to meet our maker: the steepest zip-line in the world.  My mouth literally gaped open when I saw how steep it was--how was this even possible!?

This picture doesn't do it justice

When it was finally my turn, I walked over the the platform and took a good, hard look at the zip-line.  The second that I was told that I was ready, my feet left the platform--I figured that it wasn't in my best interest to continue to stare at the massive angle of the rope, so I just went for it!  Due to the angle, this zip-line was much faster, but it was also more fun!

After our zipping adventure, we watched the sunset and witnessed the mountains glowing red.  It had been a long (and cold!) day, so once we descended the mountain we stopped off at another pub to get some food and watch more rugby, and then we headed back to the hotel for the night to rest up for tomorrow's adventure--jet boating!

The Remarkables at sunset