Ziplining in Queenstown – Day 139

Today we’re going ziplining in Queenstown.

this afternoon we are super stoked because we are heading to the top of the Queenstown gondola to make our way up to Ziptrek Ecotours. We’re gonna be ziplining today. So we hedad up to the gondola and make our way to some awesome views overlooking Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables mountain range.

We had a couple of options to get up there we could have walked all the way up or we could have taken the gondola but Laura and I are pretty lazy or maybe we just have a lot of videos to edit for you guys so we chose the gondola. After getting kitted up we are up for our first zipline.

The first zipline is a practice run so the entire group can get used to ziplining through the trees it doesn’t go too fast but we are promised that some of the later ziplines are gonna go super super fast. By the way we are calling it zipline right here but most people in New Zealand call that sport shall I say flying fox.

We have two awesome guys on the Ziptrek Ecotours today we have Henri and Amy who one of the em is gonna go down each zipline first and then the other one is gonna go last just so we know that the zipline is safe each time.

We are getting used to the ziplines though I am pulling some crazy shapes like a starfish because that’s the thing you often see flying through the forest.

As soon as Laura arrives on the platform Henri is grabbing all her gear and tucking it in into her equipment so it doesn’t get hooked onto anything as we move around the small platform.

Henri and Amy are taking the time to tell us more about the forest but Amy has something else in mind she really wants to get onto the next flying fox and for this one she wants us to do it upside down. So she demonstrates for us what we have to do to end up being upside down during the flying fox.

I am super keen to give this a go so I fling my leg up in the air and oh my God this is the best way to travel this is how I want to travel throughout the rest of New Zealand from now on. Upside down on a zipline.

I for one try really hard to put my legs up but basically I look like I’m sharting my pants as I’m flying through the forest. I cannot succeed to stand upside down during this flying fox it’s pretty ridiculous and makes the entire group laugh.

But my arrival Amy keeps a straight face, unhooks me shows us a little bit about the Wakatipu Basin where we are currently flying the forest and start setting us up for the next flying fox.

Henri and Amy are giving us loads of different challenges to do along the way for instance this one is where we need to keep our legs straight and just fall backwards. And it’s actually pretty hard to do just falling into the abyss is so unnatural but once again we have the fun motion of ziplining through the forest in Queenstown. This is so awesome.

Laura is having a hard time falling backwards on this one it’s too unnatural for her to succeed to do it so she reverts to doing exactly what she did the time before trying to stand upside down while flying but she ends up doing a Robin and sharting herself all the way to the finish.

Right after Henri unhooks Laura he is taking the time to tell us more about the conservation work that they’re doing in the area. They’re teaching us about sustainability as well as the lifecycle of the pine forest that we are currently ziplining through. it’s absolutely to learn so much while having so much fun flying through the air. But they’re keeping the conservation talk quite short because the next adventure has been prepped for us by Amy and we are about to fall into the abyss once more.

Each zipline that we’re tackling is getting longer and longer which means we’re getting faster and faster and this one in particular has the best view of them all we can see over Lake Wakatipu over to the Remarkables mountains and the Kelvin Heights Peninsula. It’s such a stunning view on the way down.

This is the longest tour offered by Ziptrek and this has 6 different ziplines taking us from the top of Bob’s Peak all the way to the bottom.

And this tour includes one of the fastest ziplines I have ever done in my life. Henri and Amy are prepping us for the next run and they are telling us that we’re gonna be catching some real speed. They are laughing giggling and as soon as I leap off the stairs of this zipline I can feel that this one is gonna be really different. I start speeding up through the trees and because the trees are so close together I have a sensation of speed like I’ve never had before and as soon as I am out of the canopy the speed picks up and oh man this is going super quickly. But at some point the zipline is gonna stop right in the middle and I’m gonna be stuck for god knows what reason waiting for people to carry me all the way.

Henri is getting a real workout pulling me for over 10m all the way back to the platform.

And now it’s my turn to take on the super fast zipline this has to be my favourite zipline so far on this tour and I am absolutely flying through the forest like a native bird. I feel so epic.

I’m curling my body into a canon ball shape to make myself go faster but it kind of fails toward the end so I have to be pulled up onto the platform.

To get to our next zipline we are taking a short trail down through the forest where Henri and Amy are telling us more about the conservation of the area. New Zealand has a real huge conservation program to protect the native birds and native plants and Henri’s telling us more about possum trapping which possums are actually considered a pest here in New Zealand.

And after that we are onto the final zipline of this tour.

Our final zipline is absolutely epic we are jumping from a 25m platform. We’re gonna be reaching a speed of 70km/h and the whole length of the zipling is 300m. So as soon as I’m leaping I can already feel the speed that i’m gonna be taking. And because the trees are so close it even enhances the speed sensation that i’m having flying through the air I am expecting to be absolutely smashed onto the arrive trees. However, there is kind of a break in the middle which actually stops me. I should have really listened to the instruction that I’ve been given by Amy and Henri which was to actually crawl myself into a ball about halfway through so I can make it all the way to the end. But luckily Amy is here to help and she pulling me all the way to the platform.

Now it is my turn once again and because this is the last zipline of the day I really need to make this count. I’m flinging my legs in the air. Doing my favourite pose upside down on my way through the forest passing through trees at I don’t even know what speed making my way down to the lower platform. It is absolutely epic and an awesome way to end this tour.

I had an absolute blast on this tour and it’s with regret that I’m walking down the platform and sort of walking you know the normal human way instead of ziplining on our way back to the bottom of Bob’s Peak. There’s a lot of coll little features along the way though and we’re getting out of our harnesses and heading back into Queenstown.

We worked up quite an appetite so tonight we are not going to be cooking for ourselves we are heading toward Erik’s Fish & Chips which is actually to my knowledge the only fish & chips in Queenstown.

This is the first time Laura is not picking tomato sauce she puts this shit on everything.

Fish & chips is the go to food right here in New Zealand. And on top of it it’s usually quite cheap. this box right here is only $10 but we’re getting ourselves quite a lot of extras because we are fatties and with the amount of activities we are doing at the moment we know we’re going to lose it really in no time.

We also get to meet Ann who is the owner of Erik’s Fish & Chips she is telling us more about the menu and the fact that she really keeps her prices super low because she wants to feed all the backpackers of the area. Because no one cooks in Queenstown.

The Lake is super wavey right now I have never seen the Queenstown lake that rough so Anna just said hey let’s go on a boat to eat desert because that makes sense right? So right now we’re heading to Queenstown lake and we’re going to somebody’s boat to be bounced around while trying eat desert. She just wanted it to be really funny.

After eating our dinner at Erik’s Fish&Chips we are heading down onto Perky’s Floating Bar which is a bring your own bar right on the wharf in Queenstown. And it’s a pretty rocky ride today. And we are doing our best no the throw up our dinner but it’s a pretty cool novelty here. we’re getting ourselves a couple of drinks meeting the locals and trying some of Erik’s Fish & Chips specialty which is the deep fried kiwifruit. Deep fried kiwifruit is hands down my favourite desert ever. I absolutely love the hell out of it. And to be honest I did finish Anna’s and Laura’s deep friend kiwifruit I loved it.

As you may know I am scared of heights but I’m gonna try to do my best today to keep my composure because anyway there is no other way around. So sometimes in some of those tours you kind of have oh yeah we can get you down here if you want to. Not here, you’ve got to make your way through. So…