Adventure time in New Zealand

Queenstown

We arrived in Queenstown on a cold afternoon ready to start the "adventurous part" of our Australia / New Zealand segment. Think boats, bungees, and... hiking.

Can you think of another word for hiking that starts with a b? No, I didn't think so.

Needless to say, we got started right away on the closest adventure we could find.

This adventure is called "Beers with Books" at Smith's.

After a few more similar adventures, we ended up at a place overlooking the water and I proceeded to make up a song. Don't ask me about what or why, but it happened. Maybe it was about this giant kiwi?

After the first solid day of adventuring we hiked, yes hiked, back to our hotel at Revear's Lodge to call it a day.

Our second day's adventures were a little more of the normal variety. We hiked up the Ben Lomond mountain to get a better view of the city and sweat some of last night's adventures out. The way up was gorgeous and had stunning views of the water below.

The top, however, had a completely different type of view in store for us. Behold the beauty of Queenstown from 5,735 feet high.

We did make a friend at the top though. And by we, I mean Mirek. And by friend, I mean a shameless, vicious Kea Bird.

Seen here: Mirek and Kea having good and wholesome fun together. BFFs for life and all.

Seen here: Kea terrorizing me and trying to steal my glasses. DICK.

After finally convincing Mirek to leave his new friend, we decided lunch would be better enjoyed at the halfway point which presumably still had a view. We were right.

At the bottom of the hike, feeling tired and exhausted, we chose a better way down. LUGES!

We had to do this more than once as it was surprisingly fun. Five times, to be exact. And I won. Every race. Obviously.

Editor's note: if by "won" Soph means "got crushed" and by "every race" means "by Mirek, who was a goddamn speed demon," then yea. Soph won every race.

We ended the night at a nearby bar, Morrison's Irish Pub, where we watched the Warriors game and drank some Czech Pilsner.

Yep, we had a Czech beer at an Irish bar in New Zealand while watching American basketball. Chew on that for a bit.

We also enjoyed a fried kiwi on the way, because why not?

No, not the cute endangered bird, you heartless carnivore, you.

On the way home we stumbled upon an insane sunset by the lake, where we posted up to watch a dozen or so paragliders swoop and spin and they descended with the setting sun.

For our last day in Queenstown, we didn't have anything pre-planned. However, being that I love a good deal, I did some googling to see what we could possibly do for cheap.

If you ever visit New Zealand, use this website!

We were able to take a jet boat on the Frankton Arm with some amazing views of the Remarkables.

And of course, we topped off our adventures in Queenstown with a little KC Chiefs (shout-out my padre) and a brew.

Needless to say, we were excited to be 23 hours ahead and finally be in a time zone to watch some of the games.

Queenstown conquered. Bring on Auckland!

Auckland

Our first adventure in Auckland was more of an adventure for Mirek. "What will she do? What will I look like? Will I end up with a bowl cut?"

Left photo: During.
Right photo: After - not too shabby.

Our first full day in Auckland, we took a boat to Waiheke Island. It's an island comprised of over 30 wineries. We only got to visit 6.

I think we did something after this as well, but we don't have any photos, so did it really happen? Maybe we were too focused on what the next day would hold. Totally had nothing to do with the wine.

The next day it was time for our final New Zealand adventure: BUNGEE JUMPING!

Get ready, we're jumping off that bridge!

Given that this was Mirek and I's fourth time bungee jumping, we were both more excited than nervous. Okay, I was nervous, and Mirek wasn't, but at least I was also excited too!

First up: Mirek!

Shout-out to this bad-ass chick from AJ Hackett Bungee, who also happens to be named Sophie. She was a blast to work with, cracked jokes the whole time, and just overall made the experience so much better.

One cool thing about this jump location is that they can set the ropes up so that you can touch the water below. Mirek, obviously, wanted to touch the water. The resulting interaction went roughly like this:

Mirek: "I wanna touch the water."
Instructor Sophie: "Not gonna happen dude, tide's too low and you're too heavy."
Mirek: "Pretty pretty please, I wanna touch the ocean!"
Instructor Sophie: "How wet are you willing to get?"
Mirek: "Completely."
Instructor Sophie: "Let's do it."

I can confirm he did get. Completely. Wet.

Success, I guess?

Next up: me!

Given that this was not our first time jumping, they let us chose what jumps we wanted to do. I chose the "James Bond" - run, jump, and hand guns.

It was officially the coolest jump of the day... and I didn't even need to get wet.

That is, until a soaking Mirek insisted on this photo.

After the first jump, instructor Sophie asked if anyone wanted to go again. How could we say no?

Mirek's second jump was a backwards pencil. Apparetly this is the "scariest jump you can do," as you're not allowed to look down. Smile for the camera!

Oh, and it's a full body dunk. Head to toe. Or is it toe to head in this case?

For my second jump, I took a stab at the fall-backwards-and-touch-the-water jump. Fortunately, I was just the right weight, so I managed to just gracefully dip my hands.

It was sheer perfection. Let's take one more look:

Second coolest jump of the day, obviously.

New Zealand adventure: accomplished. I dare say we went out with a splash.