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We had freedom camped the night before, I'm getting used to sleeping in lay-bys now and arrived in Queenstown early in the morning. The holiday park we were in was a complete rip off, already charging us $40 to park a car (it would be more but one of us hides each time) we had to pay $2 for an 8 minute shower! It could at least not be timed if we're paying for it!
Queenstown is beautiful, surrounded by mountains with a lake in the centre. This is the place I want to move to. We meandered around the town, booked our bungee jump, bought some overpriced (but delicious) fudge and treated ourselves to a sunday roast in an Irish pub.
The next morning we all woke up feeling a bit nervous. We'd gotten up later than intended and after getting ready, pretty much headed straight to the bungy shop. We got weighed, signed our lives away and then given 20 minutes to do whatever we liked which included using their computers for free. This turned out to be a bad idea and after watching a video of a girl in hysterics before jumping, I was ridiculously nervous. The bus journey over to the Nevis jump site had a soundtrack to get people psyched, this featured tracks such as "I believe I can fly", "Jump" and "Don't worry, be happy". At the jump site we were put into harnesses, weighed again and this time the weight was written on our hands, when we figured out how to convert the kg to stones it was a little bit of a shock! Our jump was from 143m and the jump pod appeared to just be dangling across a valley. We were carted over there by a precarious looking basket and then made to wait. They had music playing really loud, presumably to drown out the screams and expletives as people jump. We were left until the end and had seen everyone jump, there had been no faffing, everyone had just gone for it- this worried me a bit more, I didn't want to be the first faffer! Grace jumped first and then it was my go. You sit in a chair while they strap your legs together and attach the bungy cord to that with a weight on it. I got out of the chair, shuffled to the ledge (mostly because my legs were stuck together but I can't imagine running to the ledge) and was pushed to the edge of it. From there you can see that there is a pretty big drop and survival instinct kicks in. The weight got kicked over the edge and I didn't have a choice, I had to jump then. Well, I think I kind of stepped as instead of going head first, I appeared to be going feet first and had to flip over. When you get past the "oh b*****, I'm plummeting towards the ground attached by a piece of flimsy string" it was quite nice and I found myself just looking around at the scenery. After the second bounce I pulled a cord which released my feet so I could sit upright rather than dangle upside down whilst being hoisted back up. It was then over for me, Charlie was the last to jump and then we got carted back to solid ground. We all bought the DVD and pictures, got a free tshirt and headed back to Queenstown.
The rest of the day was spent chilling in the campervan and we made vegetable stew again for dinner, it's surprising how much you can cook in this tiny van. Grace and Charlie were preparing to go out that night while I was intending on going to see Harry Potter. I got really excited about seeing the film and headed off towards the cinema but when I got there I could see that it was packed inside and a notice had been put on the door: Harry Potter is sold out. I was a bit gutted, walked back to the van and turned in for the night.
For our last day in Queenstown we wanted to do a walk and chose the "Queenstown Hill Walk". I guess the name should have given it away but it was still a bit of a surprise when we were faced with a massive hill to climb. It was worth it though, when we got to the top after one fall and a few stumbles in the snow the view over the town was incredible. Charlie and I decided to treat ourselves to a hot chocolate and slice of cake from a posh cafe, which was awesome, and then it was time to head off towards Te Anau.
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