We had an afternoon to fill and in true Wegan form, we found an activity that we could go do after getting back from the Doubtful Sound cruise. We were hoping to work in this crazy caving adventure but unfortunately it started at 9 am, and we couldn’t get back to Queenstown until about noon. No need to fear though, because there is a zip line course that runs all day and has tours started every couple of hours.
Once we got back to our car in Manapouri, we rushed over to Queenstown, which is about an hour and a half drive. We made it there in plenty of time for our 3:30 pm Zip Line tour, so I was feeling pretty confident. We had gone up to the top of the mountain that the zip line course was on earlier in the week when we went on the luge and ate dinner overlooking the valley. That day, we were dressed up a little and the package we purchased included a round trip gondola ride that took you up to the top. However, this day I was being stubborn and thought it was a rip off to have to pay full price for a round trip gondola ride when we didn’t need the return leg due to the fact we were zip lining down the mountain. I tried to use my persuasive magic to convince the guy selling tickets that we were actually paying for a return leg on the gondola ride buy purchasing a ticket and the ride up was free (this made sense in my head). He didn’t go for it. In fact, he probably thought I was stupid and was kind of rude, which made me more stubborn. So I said “Fine! We’ll walk up!”. And we did.
Oh my, was it a trek. Ironically, Warren and I had just been discussing that we would like to return to the South Island of New Zealand in the near future, and when we do we would like to do more out doors activities like hiking since we didn’t do enough on this trip. I do enjoy hiking, when I’m wearing hiking boots and hiking pants, and have my hair pulled back; it is fine when I’m mentally prepared that I will be sweaty and smelly. I, however, was not prepared for this as I was dressed in heavy jeans and flip flops. The side of the mountain was not meant to be hiked, as it was not a casual stroll up a nice path. We were scrambling up steep cliffs which were almost vertical paths up the side of the mountain and the whole time we were climbing this mountain face I could see the gondola over my shoulder mocking me with its not sweaty passengers casually looking out over the valley as they are lifted to the top. By the time I reached the top I was pouring buckets of sweat, my clothes were drenched, and my hair was a giant poof. I was hoping to sneak off to the bathroom to freshen up unnoticed but unfortunately we walked right passed the zip line company kiosk which had a group of people eagerly waiting for our arrival. Luckily the guide took pity on us, and suggested that we get a drink from the deli in the restaurant next door. A trick I learned in college when we’d go dancing at the bars is to use the hand dryer to dry my hair. Luckily there were hand dryers in the bathrooms at the top of the mountain. This approach to freshening up must not be widely used, because a woman in the bathroom stopped and watched me for full 5 minutes as I dried my hair, and made no effort to pretend that she wasn’t watching when I looked at her and stared her down. Finally I turned around and said “WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?”. Actually, I didn’t. I said “tough hike” with a little smile and scurried out the bathroom embarrassed.
Fully freshened and hydrated, we made our way back to the zip line location where the fitted us with helmets and harnesses. I was a little nervous due to my fear of heights, but feeling confident – I did bungy jump a few days before after all. There was another couple in our group who were nice. The girl, however, was wearing a mini skirt which seemed like an odd choice for zip lining attire. But, whatevs. Who am I to judge – I smelled like I just ran a marathon.
The first line was a warm up, to make sure you weren’t going to freak out. It wasn’t too steep or long. As we went down the mountain they got steeper and longer. The guides taught us how to zip line in all kinds of positions – sideways, upside down, cannon ball style. The miniskirt girl stuck with right side up which was probably a wise idea. We finally made it to the STEEPEST LONGEST ZIP LINE IN THE WORLD. They installed this special to make the zip line live up to the Queenstown Moto – the adventure capital of the world. I guess regular zip lining isn’t extreme enough. The last line was pretty awesome. My favorite part was this giant net they had to put up in between each person’s run that was the back up breaking system in case the active breaking system didn’t work. Basically you’d go full force into this net and the girls had to take off jewelry so we didn’t get our ears ripped off. Unfortunately, the breaks never failed so we didn’t see anyone fly into the net – lame.
Once we made it down to the bottom we took off our safety gear and headed off. Our guide gave us a last minute suggestion to eat at Fergburger in Queenstown. I was like – burgers (I don’t really eat burgers at restaurants ever) don’t sound that exciting but the guide said that we can’t leave without trying it so we decided to split one. Best decision ever! We got the Hawaiian pig burger and it honestly was the best burger I’ve ever had in my whole life. We photographed the menu so we can replicate it at home, although I don’t think it’ll be the same.
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