I had some kind of lie in this morning after deciding to sleep through my first alarm this morning. The plan of action for the day was to go canyoning, a trip in which I booked yesterday and I didn't have to meet until 9.15 at their main shop. I was originally going to get up at 7 for some reason but I opted for 8 after my first alarm went off. After a quick shower I had breakfast which was toast with preserves, all supplied by the hostel which was a nice touch. It was proper fresh bread from a bakery as well which was a nice change from the value supermarket bread that lasts me a few days normally.
By the time I finished breakfast I still had a fair bit of time on my side, so after walking round the shops I checked out the gondola which is this cable car up a hill. I am tempted to do this in my one of my days in Queenstown. I also passed an indoor crazy golf course which looked pretty cool on my way up here. In the end I arrived at the canyoning centre by around 9 where after completing a fancy check in with an iPad I relaxed on the centres bean bags.
After meeting the rest of my group and my guides who represented France, Brazil and New Zealand, we set off in this little minibus to go canyoning in an area called Routeburn. If you're wondering what canyoning is, it is basically the means of travelling down creeks or streams within a canyon by a variety of means including walking, scrambling, climbing, abseiling, jumping and swimming. What separates a canyon from an ordinary stream is the narrow passages created by erosion into bedrock which created sculptured walls and waterfalls. Our drive took us through the small village of Glenorchy, which had this amusingly small library, and then onto this gravel track to a hut which I think marked the start of the Routeburn track, one of the great walks.
Upon arrival we were given all this equipment and swimwear to put on, which apparently had to be a tight fit. After eventually squeezing into this four part wet suit, we had to put on a life jacket and nappy harness in their words, which was a harness with a coloured piece of material on our bottom. We then had to put on a helmet which had a nickname on. I ended up being called e coli. I swear our instructors were just trying to make us look stupid. Before setting off, we went for a paddle in the nearby stream where we were told to roll around in the cold water. We reluctantly agreed, although it was quite refreshing.
When finally getting everyone ready we went for a walk which was in fact along the Routeburn Track. I found it really difficult to gain any flexibility in my legs as my wet suit was so tight! It was a good half hour walk in the end through the woodland before arriving at this bridge with a waterfall which was the start of our canyoning experience. There were too many sections during our trip to describe everything, so I'll just talk about the bits I remember most.
After a quick safety briefing we clambered up these rocks, aided by a rope in places to this small waterfall. It was here we were told our first section was a slide, and after getting dragged headfirst over this waterfall our guide let go of us and we slid down these rocks headfirst into this small pool below. As we had time on our side we did this twice. Our next section involved us going back to the bridge where we told we had another slide, this time feet first. This was simply a rock however and we couldn't see the water below, so we just trusted our guides here. It was a pretty big drop in the end, a bit like a triple drop slide.
Continuing along what can only be described as dangerous, we scrambled across these slippery rocks aided by a rope before getting to this pool where we were told to jump into back first. That was pretty simple, but then we were told to repeat what we did a few metres off a waterfall. The reason we had to land back first was because the water was too shallow to land feet first. In the end I just went for it and luckily I only just gently touched the bottom!
The next section involved us sliding off a waterfall which was pretty fun, this time having to land on our bums because of the water levels. The reason much of the canyon was so shallow in places is because it is the end of summer which means it hasn't had much water. The canyon gets much of the water from snow melt in the winter and spring months from the surrounding mountains. After completing the waterfall slide which was feet first we were given the option of climbing back up for a rock jump. At 6m high it looked precarious at top because we had to jump a fair way forward to avoid rocks. I managed it though, and I was happy I made it down without touching the shallow bottom.
We then continued through the canyon, the next exciting bit being what I thought was a zip line but what was in fact an abseil along a horizontal rope. Our previous abseils had been done by our guides, but this one was self guided and I just showed off here along the long rope speeding as fast as I could to the bottom. Our next part took us over these rocks what were really dodgy because it finished with a large drop unattached which I landed awkwardly. It was funny after a few more jumps and slides when we got to our next abseil where our French guide just let go of the rope when lowering someone. We soon realised he was lowering us over a pool then letting go so we fell into it. He kept offering the rope to us then making jokes when we didn't take it, thinking it was so funny!
Towards the end of the trip, we got to another big jump which involved landing on our backs again, although by now I had got the hang of the landings and blitzed the landing without touching the shallow water below. I just aimed for the whitewater created by the waterfall. Continuing down through the rocks in the canyon after one final abseil, we got to this big zipline which was the final part of our canyoning experience. As always it was fun although our French guide was more excited that the pulleys we used were made in France. Once reaching the end we got a group photo, although it wasn't as good as the one we got whilst in the canyon which included one of our guides doing a back flip in the background!
To finish off the trip we had to walk through the woodland along less commercialised tracks along the stream. We did have to get one final photo pouring water from our helmets over our heads however! I was pretty relieved when getting back to the minibus however so I could unchanged as the tight suit was uncomfortable! It wasn't long after returning when we begun our drive back to Queenstown, a pretty full on day overall which is what I wanted. After driving back past the lake along the scenic road we finally arrived back into Queenstown by around 4. It was a nice end to the day when arriving at the centre to all relax on the bean bags and look through the photos and videos of the day. I ended up buying the photos in the end.
When returning to the hostel and telling everyone about how much fun I had, I headed out to check out the gardens which were really nice, although I didn't spend long there, heading back to the hostel for my free dinner which was curry. It wasn't very filling though so I went out and treated myself to a $5 dominoes pizza which is so cheap for NZ. After demolishing my bangers and beef pizza it was back to the hostel for one final time, staying in due to the horrific weather this evening. I used this opportunity of a quiet night in to catch up with blogs, even if Queenstown had no free WiFi hotspot. I then went into my dorm room which was surprisingly empty, simply relaxing until I fell asleep.
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