January 18, 2013

The morning presented clear blue skies with only a few clouds, but later in the day the cloud cover became more prevalent until it was overcast by the end of the day. However, temperatures remained consistently in the low to mid-70s.

The chief purpose of the day was to travel from Wanaka to Queenstown where we will be spending the next three nights. It was a beautiful drive through lovely scenery, but it did not quite match the spectacular scenery of the alpine country we had seen yesterday. Not quite but still very, very beautiful. I wondered if there was a square mile in this country that isn't astoundingly beautiful. Today was my turn to sit in the front row, so I contented myself with just enjoying the scenery rather than trying to take photographs from the moving vehicle through glass windows (a frustrating exercise because the glass tends to capture reflections; you probably don't realize how many photos I had to discard yesterday just to find the six I thought were worth sharing with you). With the polarizing filter on my camera I can essentially eliminate reflections, but iPad cameras don't have polarizing filters. I've downloaded a version of Photoshop for the iPad, and later I'll experiment a little to see if the lens flare removal feature will be successful at removing glass reflections.

We made a stop at "Famous" Aunt Mary's Fruit Stand (this country is wonderful enough as it is; I don't quite understand the need to pile on unnecessary superlatives). Cherries are in season, so I bought some, as well as a generous selection of dried fruit which is something I happen to enjoy, including dried kiwi fruit, something I'd never eaten before. The dried kiwi fruit were a little disappointing, so I think I'll stick with the juicy kind.

And now a mini-rant. People, if you have a cold or the flu, stay home, or at the very least cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. We had one traveler in our group who had a cold and came on the trip anyway. He coughed and sneezed and never covered his mouth until apparently someone said something to him. But by then it was too late, and now every person on the bus, including me, is congested, coughing, and sneezing. Some are even feeling so poorly they are skipping some of the special excursions included as part of the tour, as, for example, tonight, which I'll get to in a moment.

I started noticing my own warning signs of an imminent cold yesterday when I developed a scratchy throat and a little bit of a cough. Today I had a full-throated cough, thoroughly congested sinuses, a runny nose, and a headache. At our lunch stop today I dashed over to a pharmacy to buy some naproxen, a decongestant/antihistamine, and a couple of travel-sized packages of tissues. Unfortunately, in New Zealand, one must have a doctor's prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine products. I refuse to let even this get in the way of my enjoyment of my vacation. But thanks a lot, mister; thanks for being so selfish and inconsiderate of others that you have infected an entire bus load of vacationers, interfering with their enjoyment of this not inexpensive trip.

Sorry. I had to get that off my chest. When I'm feeling poorly I tend to get a tad cranky, but I'm not going to take it out on anyone else, especially not on any of the new friends I've made on this trip. I just feel badly that none of them are doing very well right now either.

After lunch we stopped at the Kawarau (CARE row) Bridge, site of the world's first bungy jump. It's still actively being used as a bungy jumping site today, although it's a paltry 43 meters. I'll be making a jump myself, weather permitting, on Sunday. The bridge is no longer used for railroad traffic, and currently it is used exclusively for bungy jumping. We watched a couple of pre-teens jump, and they did not seem terribly enthusiastic; in truth, they seemed downright frightened. Someone who was apparently their father stood right next to us shouting to them to look over at the camera. I wanted to ask him why he wasn't taking a flying leap because he seemed so excited about it rather than put his sons through the experience who clearly weren't feeling the same degree of enthusiasm he was. However, I always get into trouble when I say things like that, so I remained silent.

I had told our bus driver that I would be bungy jumping off that bridge on Sunday, and he had told the other passengers. Several came to me and asked if I still intended to follow through after having watched the two nervous jumpers. I grinned from ear to ear and said that of course I intended to do the jump. One must weigh less than 100 kg (220 lbs) to make the jump, and I was uncomfortably close to that number. I was at 210 lbs at my last weigh-in just a few weeks ago, and I've been eating five times a day -- breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner -- ever since the coach trip began. I asked the staff at the bungy center if they would weigh me so I would be sure I could do the jump as well as other events I have planned with the same weight limit, and I come in at 97.5 kg. I'm ready, and I'll have more to say on Sunday.

After the Kawarau Bridge stop, the driver took everyone to the Shotover Jet Boat ride, an option on the tour. I already independently had made arrangements to do the jet boat ride tomorrow, so I stayed on the bus. This turned out to be a very good decision. The driver went to our hotel in Queenstown while the others were on the jet boat ride, and I contacted my travel planner with whom I have been working to make all of my trip arrangements to see if it was possible to go hang gliding this afternoon rather than Sunday when the forecast predicted a 40% chance of rain. Hang gliding is on my bucket list, and I didn't want to miss my opportunity. She called me minutes after I sent her a text message: "Get to their pick-up point in 20 minutes. They're waiting for you." I ran to my room to grab my camera and my denim jacket, telling a cab driver who had been waiting in the hotel driveway I would be back in just a minute and to start the meter running.

I really could have walked to the pick-up point and still made it in plenty of time, but I didn't know the layout of Queenstown at all and I didn't want to take any chances. The van drove me and two other brave souls out to Coronet Peak, about 20 minutes outside of Queenstown. This was to be a tandem flight with an experienced flyer of course, and as the experienced guides began setting up, I realized one small mistake had been made: I wasn't going hang gliding, I was going paragliding. I've never done that, either, so I didn't say anything. This was one for the bucket list, too.

In the end, I'm really glad I went through with the experience, because it was a genuine thrill. The pilot finished setting up, gave me the really simple instructions on what to do for take-off (essentially, run to the cliff edge and leap!), and within minutes we were in the air. We didn't even have to go through the entire routine, because the wind quickly picked us up and we were on our way even before we reached the edge of the cliff. One of the advantages of tandem paragliding over tandem hang gliding is that with tandem hang gliding the passenger is slightly above but behind the "pilot." With tandem paragliding, it's the opposite: the passenger has the front row seat.

Wow. What can I say? Words fail me. All I can think of is that a dream was coming true: I was flying! This was better than being on a motorcycle that could float in the air! Stefan, the "pilot" noted that the conditions were ideal for our flight. We quickly found a thermal, and I could feel the push upwards. I looked down and I saw the folks who were hang gliding, who had jumped from the same point we had, were having a little bit of trouble, flying just above the trees, seemingly unable to gain the elevation we had reached. We circled in the thermal, flying higher and higher. I commented to Stefan that I often dreamed of flying when I slept; "And now you are," Stefan responded.

"This is a good flight," Stefan noted; "it's the longest one I've had all day." He kept checking in with me to make sure I was doing okay; I assured him I was having a fantastic time. But, alas, all things must come to an end. Stefan gave me instructions on how to land, and we began making wide circles moving towards the ground, spiraling with a fairly significant centrifugal force, I might add. We made a gentle landing, and my first experience with flying was at an end. I have pictures; I even have video! Unfortunately, it's all on an SDHC chip, so I'll to wait until I get home to share them with you or even look at them myself. Stefan warned me against putting the chip in my own camera, saying that the camera likely would try to format the card, thus destroying all the data on the chip.

Just writing the preceding paragraph I realized again what a truly amazing experience I had, and how much I miss it already!

Video, photographs, and additional commentary from that adventure are located here.

For dinner tonight we rode a gondola -- operated by our old friends who operated the gondola and luge at Rotorua -- to the top of one of the peaks surrounding Queenstown and enjoyed an exquisite buffet dinner, a buffet with an incredible view. Buffets get such a bad rap, but I've had some very good experiences. Tonight definitely was one of them. I started with a nice Sauvignon Blanc (I'm starting to realize this is one of New Zealand's specialties), and a rather generous helping from the salad bar. I commented to our driver that I could make an entire meal from a salad bar. However, the buffet had too many other good offerings for me to limit myself to the salad bar. Vegetarians could eat especially well at this buffet; I had spinach and ricotta cannelloni, a chickpea casserole, and a very nice stuffed tomato. The only sour note was a salmon and prawn dish in a pastry.

Dessert presented a minor dilemma: two of my favorite, irresistible, desserts were among those offered: tiramisu and creme brûlée. Because I'm a both/and kind of guy rather than an either/or one, I had a helping of both, and added a slice of kiwi pavlova just because I like that, too. My excess of self-indulgence, at least for today, was concluded with a cup of coffee and a rather good tawny port. I've had a hankering for a tawny port ever since those few sips at the Yealands winery earlier in the week. It had been a great day, a great welcome to Queenstown, the adventure capitol of the world. I even managed to forget that I felt like hell

The photo below is the view from my room. Quite appropriately the mountain range is known as The Remarkables.

The remarkable Remarkables

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Last revised: August 26, 2015.