Sunday, March 31
Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand, possibly the world, and Charlie was not going to miss his opportunity! Our day started with a trip to the World's First Bungy Jump, Kawarau Bridge Bungy. Charlie was the second jumper of the day. Although the rest of us didn't jump, it was really cool to watch and see how smoothly everything ran. This jump is over a river and jumpers can choose to get dunked under the water when they jump. After jumping, bouncy, and swinging back and forth, a team in a raft holds a long pole up for the jumper to grab. While the team in the boat is pulling the jumper in, the bungy is slowly released until the jumper is laying in the boat. Then, with what I assume is crazy amounts of adrenaline pumping, the jumper has to walk up the long, steep path back up.
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| Charlie, geared up and ready to jump! |
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| Jumpers can choose to be dunked in the river |
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| Steep trail to the beach |
We watched a few more people jump after Charlie, then got in the car and backtracked a little to a turn-off that Charlie recognized from a few week's earlier. Just a couple weekends before we visited, Charlie went kayaking down the river with the University's Canoe Club. He took us down the trail to the beach where they started their journey. It was a steep hike, but we got to see a part of New Zealand that other tourists wouldn't. The sand was clay and had silver specks in it that left my fingers silver.
The trek up took a bit longer than going down, but then we were on the road to Dunedin! We stopped for lunch at a bakery in Cromwell before arriving in the city. It was too early to check into our apartment, so we first went to Charlie's flat. It was nice inside, but he lives on one of the worst party streets in town and there is broken glass and trash all over the street and sidewalk.
From his flat, we walked to the University of Otago, where he goes to school. They have some large academic buildings like in the U.S., but some classes and departments are in flats or other small buildings around campus. The Leith River also flows through campus, but unfortunately, the students have dirtied it too with stolen traffic cones, road signs, and trash. After the University tour, we checked into our apartment then went to the grocery store. Dunedin would be our home for the next four nights and we decided to make some of our food to save money and give us flexibility in our itinerary. Back at the apartment, we enjoyed a chill evening of settling in after our first days filled with travel.
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| Family picture in front of the University of Otago bell tower |
Monday, April 1
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| Giant Sequoia at the Botanic Gardens |
Another day of sleeping in was very welcome! Nothing specific was scheduled for today, so we took our time with breakfast in the apartment then walked to the Botanic Gardens. There was a beautiful (and fantastic smelling) rose garden, green house with desert and rainforest plants, plants from all over the world (we traveled all the way to New Zealand to see Giant Sequoia) and an aviary. We saw Kea, the only mountain parrots and native to New Zealand, as well as several species of Macaw, including one named Sid who said "hello"!
From the Botanic Gardens, we met Charlie and had lunch at "The Staff Cafe" on campus. Both my cheese scone and berry & granola yogurt were great. The four of us then walked back to the apartment to plan our afternoon and evening. Shortly after 2pm we were on our feet again, walking down George Street to The Octagon, the "hub" of Dunedin. The walk was longer than we estimated and we made it to just the edge of The Octagon before we had to turn back to stick to our timetable.
We had planned to drive out the Otago Peninsula and see penguins come in at dusk, but after we were back to the apartment, Charlie's flatmates decided to have dinner together, so he left to join them and our evening plans fell through. If only we had known that earlier, we could have spent more time at The Octagon! Not wanting the evening to be a complete waste, after supper Dad and I went for a walk to a lookout point he saw on our city map. Our trek was made longer by a road construction detour, but we eventually made it to the spot overlooking part of the city. What is traveling without putting on the miles walking?!
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| Lookout point |
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