After breaking camp at the Holiday Park Creeksdyle in Queenstown, we take quick break to check out the original bungy jump location outside town. It’s 141 feet off the Kawaru Bridge, where the teal water river rages below.
You can take in the view from the bridge as if you were going to jump yourself – but I’m sure standing on the actual platform and jumping is a completely different thing.
Still, I’m tempted. You only live once, right? It’s kind of like when I tried skydiving even though I was afraid – it was something I wanted to do at least once in my life and I actually ended up feeling like the freefall – which I was sure would scare me the most – was actually really peaceful.
While not originally on my bucket list, bungy jumping may have made it onto this list because of this trip and seeing the original location. Another scouting mission for next trip…
We fuel up in Te Anu and we’re in Fjordland National Park, New Zealand’s largest. The terrain on our way to Milford Sound feels familiar – like entering Yellowstone National Park in Montana, some of Oregon’s Scenic Columbia Gorge, but with an occasional palm tree. Then like Utah’s white-capped Wasatch Range. Makes us appreciate that we’re seeing the best of America’s West in a condensed few hours.
Then the rainforest reveals itself. As we pass through the near 4,000-foot Homer Tunnel we enter Cleddau Valley, closing in on Milford Sound. It’s like the Hoh Rain Forrest in Washington’s Olympic Mountains. Variations of deep green and the beginnings of many waterfalls.