Queenstown

The title 'adventure capital of the world' is pretty much dead on to be honest. Whilst sat on the deck of our hostel yesterday we could watch Bungee jumpers on the hill behind us, paragliders above us and jetboats behind us.

So, obviously, we've had to try a few of these things out...

1. Jetboating - Shotover Jet

Awesome fun, but not that scary.



2. Paragliding.

This was pretty special. I wasn't really sure if I would do it, as it was more expensive than Christchurch, but it was a nice day, so what the heck!



What made it special - well the Pilot said he probably won't top that flight for the rest of the summer. We started at 2,500 feet and due to favourable conditions, the paragliding company had applied for an Air Traffic Control exemption to 7,000 feet. As it was we made 5,300 feet, which is not bad going to be honest! The views were incredible and it wasn't at all scary to see Queenstown a very long way below my shoes. However, on the way down, Brendan the pilot decided to show me some 'manoevures' - which seems to be paragliding for going upside down. I didn't even know paragliders could go upside down. We did get some amazing photos, but they'll have to wait as I'm currently blogging from Melbourne Airport.

Some Stats

Number of 360's in the Shotover jet - 6
G force pulled in wingovers and spins paragliding - about 2g
Height at which Rach could hear me from the ground - 500 feet!