The Longest and Craziest Day Ever

So when last I left you, I was about to start the longest and craziest day of my life. We woke up early on the 8th, sometime around 7, which for me, is already not a good start. We then walked to the Shotover Canyon Swing office Dowtown and a bit after 8, they loaded us up in a van and drove us 10 minutes to the canyon. On the way there, we watched a video showing the different jumping styles we could do. Sitting there watching people jump off the ledge was getting me so incredibly nervous, I thought I was going to have a break down and cry. Then when we arrived and walked through the main office I finally looked down at the canyon, which of course was a very bad idea.

I chose to go last and therefore was the last one to get in my harness once we got to the ledge. Elyse went first in our group and just jumped off forward, Lannette did the same next. Then it was my turn. I chose to do the cutaway, which meant they were supposed to cut a string and I fell in a sitting position. They chose to torture me instead and do the 7 string cutaway where they cut each string individually. Let's just say they aren't very nice there. You get a good sense of their personalities by watching the video.

I tried so hard to not focus on what was happening, so when he started pushing down on my shoulder, I freaked out. Then as the rope snapped, I screamed as I dropped from 109 meters high, did a 60 meter freefall, before swinging 200 meters at 150 Kph. To say I was terrified would be an understatement. Once back at the top, I was still uncomfortable and it took me a while to get myself collected again. Elyse chose to do another jump, the Gimp Boy goes to Hollywood, where she hangs upside down and they drop her. Lannette also did another one, which consisted of her sitting in a plastic chair and leaning backwards off the edge and doing flips the whole way down. They tortured her so much that she had a panic attack and cried. Of course once she back up, they were joyous tears.
"Yay I survived!"

In general, it was something I got to say I've done, and will never have to do ever again. I'm not an adrenaline junkie and that was a bit more than I could handle, but I do get to say "yes, I have jumped off a cliff before" which sounds pretty badass if I do say so myself.

Once we were back in town, I found an awesome japanese lunch special and spoiled myself with a great bento box for lunch. Then we did some shopping before the Horseback riding tour. This resulted in me buying my first ever backpacking backpack! I was extremely excited about it, especially since it was on sale. Then it was time to head over to the Dart Stable town office. There we were picked up by a bus that took us an hour along the lake to Glenorchy. We stopped on the way and saw this incredible view.

Once at the Dart Stable, they asked us our experience level. Usually I'm around the middle because of all the horse camps I went to as a kid. This time, Elyse and I were the 2nd and 3rd most experienced. We had a bunch of girls with us who had never ridden. We then climbed back on a bus, drove past a couple of scenes from the movie Wolverine before arriving in Paradise. No really, its called Paradise. I then was given Merlin, described as "moderately ornery." Elyse was given Harry, who really didn't like other horses, but had been one of the opening horses in the beginning of Prince Caspian. Then it was time to hit the trail.

We rode out from the stable, into the forest. Instantly I knew where we were. The lighting and everything was exactly like Amon Hen (the end of the first LOTR). To the left Aragorn was fighting Lurtz, to the right, Merry and Pippin were attempting to flee. A bit further into the forest, the trees became larger, and I was transferred to Lothlorien. Once we rode out of the forest, we overlooked Dart River surrounded in the background by tree covered hills, seen when the Uruks leave for Helms Deep from Isengard. We also saw areas used in Prince Caspian and more sites used for Wolverine.

It was an incredible ride in the most beautiful place on earth. I would love to go again and do their longer advanced ride, including river fording. They were knowledgable and the horses had great personalities. I had a great ride even though Merlin tried to pull me over the top when I tried to stop him from eating. I realized how much I missed horseback riding. Maybe when I get back and I'm not completely and utterly broke, I will go more often.

Once back in town, we made dinner before heading out to do a pub crawl. The pub crawl was an epic fail considering you pay for it, to get "free" drinks at each bar. However, you stay at the bar for 30-45 minutes and then your buzz is gone. We ditched it towards the middle to go meet up with my fellow EAP kid and love Sophia who goes to Canterbury. Then we ended up running into a bunch of Lincoln kids before we called it a night and went back to the hostel.

The following morning we got to a slow start. We packed up the car before getting another Fergburger and heading out for Milford sound.

Heres a link to pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173718&id=665896295&l=a737a7161e