Wow has this been an incredible adventure in Queenstown and Arrowtown. This area is absolutely phenomenal and is well known for being the adventure capital of the world. I tried to take advantage of the endless adventures here and ended up skiing and bungee jumping, both for the first time. Berri was quick and generous to offer his services as a ski instructor/ tour guide/ driver for my excursions, which I am ever so grateful for!
I was lucky to spend two days up at Coronet Peak learning to ski for the first time in my life. Berri, who used to ski competitively growing up, was a great instructor. The first day he had me learning on snow blades, which are really little skis. It was definitely difficult because it is so much easier to fall on them, so it pushed me to find and strengthen my center faster so I was doing parallels down the mountain. It also made me have a lot more control when I was on bigger skis the second day.
I spent a little bit of time on the magic carpet before moving up to meadows for the majority of the time. Learning to ski was hard for me because it felt to counterintuitive to put my weight downhill to stop, the opposite of when I learned to snowboard. I definitely had to push myself to keep going and keep trying, even after some tough falls. Ultimately I was very proud of myself for trying to ski and for where I ended up after only two half days of it. When Berri moved me up to the M1 track I was doing miraculously well until a snowboarder rammed into me from behind and took me skidding down with him. I was so close to finishing my first run without a fall, but I definitely got into my head after that and took a few tumbles the rest of the way down. It was fun though!
In classic Sydney style as well, I walked away with a couple of minor falls and injuries. I managed to give myself a bit of a self-inflicted shiner from knocking my goggles off in a big tumble and whacking myself in the eye with the end of my ski pole. I also ended up with some massive bruises from my borrowed ski boots. But it was all in good fun, and I'm really glad that I pushed myself to learn to ski! Not to mention what a neat place it was to do it for the first time-- the views were incredible!
Another big highlight of my time down here included bungee jumping off of Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown (43 meters/ 141 feet). That was unlike anything I have ever experienced! I honestly thought that I was going to be more scared and hesitant than I was, but I just took a deep breath (which you can clearly see in the video lol) and then jumped. I like to think I nailed the swan dive and am also so happy that no one had to push me off the ledge!
The free fall was insane. The funny thing was that I had been so focused on the actual jump off the bridge that I hadn't ever really thought about the rebound. It was incredible bouncing back up and spinning through the air. The beautiful surroundings made the experience even more spectacular. It was so exhilarating and I am so grateful that I was able to check that off my bucket list so early, because now I hopefully have the rest of my life to do it again and again.
What was also pretty special is that 31 years ago Mom and Paige did that same first jump when they were backpacking together through New Zealand. I love now being able to share that with them! I've never felt a rush like that before and definitely had a goofy smile on my face the rest of the day. What a fantastic time!
xx syd
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