Mar 2007

The blog is now letting me download photos, but please keep this link in your bookmarks, because it won't let me download pictures for long.

http://usera.imagecave.com/jaders/

I'm in a small town of Queenstown right now, where it's famous for the adrenaline activities it offers. So I sucked it up and went sky diving! I jumped from a plane at 12,000 ft above the amazing Remarkables Mountain Range and Lake Wakatipu. Above the clouds I sailed through the air at 200 km/hr for 45 seconds of free fall. It was so hard to breathe with air flowing into my nostrils and my mouth at that speed. But as soon as the parachute was up it was clear sailing. I drifted down to the ground at a slower speed, 100 km/hr, gazing at the beautiful scenery around me. It was a euphoric experience once I landed on the ground. I couldn't believe that I had just jumped from a plane so high above the ground. It was such an amazing experience.

To continue my adrenaline experience, I decided to go on a jet boat on the Shotover River through the Shotover Canyon. I think I was more scared of that than I was sky-diving. The boat could operate on only 4 inches of water and travelled at speeds of 80 km/hr through the narrow canyon. The boat was also famous for it's 360 degree turns on the river. That was so scary. But the scariest thing of all (for me) was when the boat decided to break. We were drifting down the river backwards and I was ready to jump out onto the embankment. But eventually (not soon enough) the boat decided to start again and I got to dry ground.

I am on my way to Milford Sound tomorrow for an overnight cruise in the beautiful Fiord region. It should be an amazing time, and maybe a little less adrenaline.....