Wanaka & Queenstown- Parapente and Caynon Swing

Hope you enjoyed the Glaciers post, we had a great time there!

Las fotos del glaciar molaron eh!! impresiona estar entre tanto hielo 🙂

Further on the road south we visited Wanaka, Queenstown and then finally on to Milford Sound. Once we left the westcoast heading inland we had to go over the mountains via Haast Pass, some beautiful scenery and many a winding road… Once over the pass the mountains give way to huge valleys, and lakes with amazing views, apparently these valleys and lakes form the main rift between the Indo/Australian and Pacific tectonic plates! It did take us a while longer than we had planned but we just had to stop on the way to take those pics!

Esp: Despues de los glaciares visitamos Wanaka, Queenstown y finalmente Milford Sound. Al dejar la costa y ir hacia las montanas nos ibamos encontrando con paisajes cada vez mas bonitos, estos valles y lagos estan entre dos placas tectonicas, Indoaustraliana y la Pacifica. Ibamos parando de vez en cuando para hacer fotos.

Lake Murchison with Mt Cook (NZ’s highest peak)

Esp: Lago Murchinson y detras cubierto de nieve Mt Cook ( el pico mas alto de Nueva Zelanda en el centro de la isla sur)

IMG_6581.jpg

Reflection of mountain in Lake Hawea (not Hayes as previously posted – thanks to Anton for pointing this out!) SA400753.jpg

Esp: El agua del lago Hawea era como un espejo (y no lago Hayes como escrito anterioramente, gracias a Anton por su observacion) .

Peaks looking north into Lake Wanaka SA400739.jpg

Esp: Desde el Lago Wanaka mirando hacia el norte.

After Lake Wanaka, we stopped off in Wanaka, where there’s this place called Puzzling World, Paul if you’re reading, you’d love this place, great for kids and and adults alike! Check out http://www.puzzlingworld.co.nz/ for an idea of what it’s about. There’s also this huge maze, and it took us literally hours to get to each corner!

Esp: Paramos en Wanaka, donde hay un sitio llamado Puzzling World, no es solo para los mas peques, los adultos tambien se lo pasan bomba aqui. Echar un vistazo el link para ver mas detalles. Hay tambien un laberinto un gran cuadrado con cuatro torres y nos pasamos andando horas intentando encontrar las 4 esquinas.. pero las risas que te echas !!

SA400774.jpg

The illusion “Roman Toilets” SA400771.jpg They did have real toilets, but I thought I’d demonstrate just for the laugh!

Esp: Esto es una ilusion optica de como eran los servicios romanos , James haciendo una demostracion. 😉

Then there was the leaning tower of Wanaka: SA400772.jpg SA400775.jpg

Esp: Entre todas las fotos tipicas de este lugar, esta es la mas tipica de todas..Como pesa la torre …!! juas

Further on from Wanaka we arrived in Queenstown, a hip an trendy resort high up in the mountains, perched on picturesque Lake Wakatipu. Home to the famous AJ Hackett bungy pioneer, and many other mad pursuits to waste your hard earned bucks on… We did partake,

Esp: Queenstown es una de las ciudades mas grandes de esa zona, muy turistico con un inmenso lago Wakatipu y rodeado de montanyas, hacen de este lugar la cuna del “puenting” o Bungy jumping y otros deportes de aventura para derochar adrenalina y dinerillo.

Quene did some paragliding , she jumped from the Coronet peak, if you want to enjoy of beautiful views and feel like a bird this is the thing…! Cool to see all this sheep so tiny form the air.

Esp: Si quieres tener las mejores vistas de la zona , en este caso del pico Coronet y sentirte como un pajaro esto es lo mejor que se puede hacer por aqui, una carrerita y estas en el aire… molan ver las ovejas desde arriba..! La sensacion de volar es increible..

Quene Paragliding Jump 1 Quene Paragliding Jump 2 Quene Paragliding Jump 3 Quene Paragliding Jump 4

P4210013.JPG P4210005.JPG P4210025.JPG

And James did Canyon Swing, they way you scream when you are going down, you can feel the G force , 60m of free fall.. it is scary even for the most aventurous spirits.. I jumped twice , side ways and upside down!!!

Esp: Le teniais que haber oido gritar cuando bajo las dos veces una se dejo caer de lado y la otra le pusieron boca abajo y despues le soltaron, es el salto mas grande del mundo 60 de caida libre y luego te balanceas una vez que estas abajo, apenas dura un par de minutos, pero gasta la adrenalina de varias horas… para hacer esto se necesita un par…!

James Canyon Jump 1 JAmes Canyon Jump 2 JAmes Canyon Jump 3 Where are we? Shotover Canyon

There’s a gondola ride up to the top of a hill with great views of the town and the surrounding area, as you can see!!! Everywhere you look around this part of NZ you get amazing views! Plus at the top there’s a luge ride, that was a bit of fun too, tamer than most Queenstown high-adrenalin rides!

Esp: Una de las mejores vistas de la ciudad es subiendo el teleferico, se puede ver todo el lago y las montanyas, vista de Queenstown al anochecer. Desde arriba de puede hacer karting mientras disfrutas de las vistas de la ciudad.

IMG_6657.jpg IMG_6640.jpg

Also this time of year everywhere you look you can’t help but be reminded by the leaves on the trees that it’s autumn, and winter is on it’s way down in the southern hemisphere, let’s just hope it’s a dry one 🙂

Esp: Igual el tiempo no nos esta dejando hacer todas las actividades que quisieramos pero las vistas de las montanyas con los tipicos colores de Otonyo es inigualable.

IMG_6698.jpg

That’s all for now folks!

Hasta el proximo! Ya no queda mucho por Nueva Zelanda!!

James & Quene

8 Responses to “Wanaka & Queenstown- Parapente and Caynon Swing”
  1. Richie 27 April 2006 at 5:58 am #

    Did you see the fence covered in Bras? If you drive from Wanaka to Cardrona (a ski field) theres this monster truck place which is surrounded by a big fence. For some reason people started putting bras on the fence some time ago and now its covered in the things. I also recommend the cinema there. You can get a slap up meal and sit on sofa drinking booze while you watch the movie.

  2. Monica & Peter 27 April 2006 at 12:09 pm #

    Hey lads,

    Anto’s bday went well. There was a few drinks in his apartment first and then on to Fibbers. They’ve both decided to stay away from Whelans, they said they always finish after a night there and end up walking home alone! They’re nuts.;-)

    All is well here, nothing much to report.Peter is going crazy in Waltons now at this stage.He cant wait to leave for college.Hes leaving at the beginning of August. Were going on hols in August, hopefully to Florida first to see Brian on a stop over to LA. We were supposed to go mid August but we got tickets to Radiohead for late August so that was out the window.my powers of persuasion didnt work.he wouldnt budge, hes counting the days for the gig.

    anyway, continue having a ball and ill post up again soon.
    Love M&P

  3. admin 28 April 2006 at 4:51 am #

    Richie,

    yea, we passed that on the way into Queenstown was a bit wierd, also just read that a local woman has removed them, as they were way passed their use by date…I’ve heard about bra burning before but hanging them on a fence, man those Kiwis are a wierd bunch!

    Hi Mon & Pete,
    Fibbers instead of Whelans, mmm… Guess it’s a shorter walk home! August you guys hit the states? Sounds good! Radiohead, now you guys got me jealous, must check out if it’s a world tour and if they’re playing ion South America… only 5 days to go, getting nervous!!!! We just added a few more pics of the paragliding Quene did and the Canyon Swing/Jump thing I did, awesome!!!!

    Take care folks!

    J&Q

  4. Ruairi 28 April 2006 at 2:57 pm #

    Now if that isn’t a nervous smile on Quenes face before you jumped off that cliff…

    Seems like myself and Mairead are the only ones not going to Radiohead…damn…I didn’t think it would be that big a gig..Marley park me arse…but everyone seems to be going…

    What is Peter doing in college? Perhaps I should just walk the 5 minutes down the road and ask him but since Im here…

    Ruairi.

  5. admin 30 April 2006 at 9:22 am #

    Nothing compared to James screeeeaaaming when he jumped off that ledge, more of a eeeeuuurrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!! sound than a scream!

    Yea, you should get off yer arse and walk 5 mins down the road, sure he’d love to explain it all to ya!!!

    We are not going either to Radiohead if that makes you feel better…
    When are yus going to the Shannon Cruise?? you have to keep us updated, it is the first year that we are going to miss it.

  6. Jean Murphy 3 July 2007 at 8:22 pm #

    Hi James and Quene,
    ?Como estan?
    What are temps is BA like this time of the year, is wintertime very rainy?
    Why are you staying in BA and how long for, do you have a phone number?
    Would love to hear from you,
    Jean and Don

  7. Anton 6 October 2009 at 9:44 pm #

    Hi there. great pics but your Lake Hayes one is not Lake Hayes. Looks more like Hawea

  8. J&Q 12 October 2009 at 1:38 am #

    Hi Anton,

    Thanks for the comment, glad you like the blog. Mmm, looks like you’re right about that pic, it is indeed Lake Hawea, must have been looking at the wrong part of the map when writing up this post, or something…

    I’ve modified the post with your correction!

    Thanks for taking the time to point that out!

    James

Leave a Reply