12000ft and FALLING!

Saturday afternoon, I said my goodbyes to Nic and Jode, and hired my car from Qtown. A little silver AWD Toyota Starlet to take me on my first real (albeit short) solo tour around the South Island. And how good it feels to be free to go wherever I want, whenever I want.. So much so that I've contemplated selling the rest of my Magic Bus ticket and buying a car instead. Not sure if that's actually going to happen, but it's looking very appealing to me at the moment.
A short scenic drive later, I was in the lovely lakeside town of Wanaka. Another beautifully relaxed settlement, with magnificent views of the abutting Lake Wanaka and distant towering Alps.. It was here I met two North-Islanders, Jesse and Yannick, on their way back to work after a 3 month stint in the South. Sunday morning, the boys and I made our way to an eccentric alternate Universe known as Puzzling World. Pretty much a whole bunch of interactive optical illusions, holograms, and one big friggin' maze called the Labyrinth (1.5km of passages on two levels!). You can even slide uphill if you like in the Tilted House (a room tilted at an angle of fifteen degrees). Some very clever constructions here, and a lot of fun, even for such a mature and conservative citizen (correction: resident) as myself.
Later, we ventured along an admittedly moderate 4WD dirt track, in the boys' 2WD stationwagon, to a location known as Matukituki, just past the triplet mountain peaks named Treble Cone. The entire area, complete with grazing livestock, waterfalls and the extremely clean (and cold) Matukituki River is so very serene and unspoilt by humans.. It makes me wonder why areas such as this aren't more accessable to the general public! We climbed up part of a rockface to simply sit next to a 30m waterfall (and watch the young family below toast [well, smoke] marshmallows over a makeshift fire).
Onwards that evening to Haast, another small community; the first real town you pass after entering Westland. This place is apparently not large enough to warrant mobile coverage. In fact, I'm finding along most of the West Coast that coverage drops off whenever you are not within 2km of a substantial town. Several things, including this anomaly, make it very clear that they are quite happy living relaxed, country-town style lives over here in Westland. A lifestyle I respect, but not sure I could uphold for long.
I watched the sunset over the Tasman Sea that night.
Moving on quickly from this deserted town in the morning, I set out for Fox Glacier. On the way to the township, I stopped off at the glacier and walked about 2.5km up to the terminal face (I had to jump the fence to do so, as did many others). On my way back to the car, I put my hand in my pocket and.. Nothing! My car key had fallen out somewhere amongst the millions of crushed stones and rocks in front of the glacier! After about an hour of frantic searching, I was lucky enough to spot the white tag attached to the key, and my heart could then drop nicely back into my chest cavity. Lesson #2: Ensure keys are safely secured in a pocket or backpack before venturing near a glacier.
Due to a lack of mobile reception at Fox, I thought best to head 25km up the road to Franz again. Upon arrival I realised that Andrea, a Northern Irish gal I had shared a room with for that week in Christchurch, had just rocked up on the Magic Bus and was staying in the room just around the corner from mine. It was great catching up with her again.
And now the fun part.. This morning I was picked up at 1100hr and taken back down to Fox. We drove down a stony driveway, amongst cattle, to a little office in a shed. I signed a legal waiver, put on a red and black jumpsuit, and a tight body harness. I climbed into a lightweight propellor plane with my tandem master Mel, and we took off, heading for 12000ft above the Fox Glacier and the Southern Alps. That's right.. Skydiving!!! This time, anxiety did kick in around 8000ft, but only for a few moments until I was hanging completely out of the side of the plane, with the straps attached to Mel the only thing keeping me from falling. And then Mel wasn't even keeping me from falling... He had pushed out and we were in freefall.. A little longer than the bungy, this time at around 45 seconds before the cord was pulled. And boy did it not feel like 45 seconds. It was over in a flash. But the scenery from up there... You could see over the Alps, the plains, the forests, the weaving rivers, right out to the ocean. You think they look amazing from the ground, but just wait until they're coming up at you around 200km/h. Another unforgettable experience made possible only in New Zealand! Mel had a handycam strapped to his arm the entire way down, and the footage is just fantastic.. I've watched it a few times already, feels like I'm right back up there doing it every time.
I have now finally worked my way up to Reefton (remember that bike ride again?). A very small quiet town, but I believe an Australian mining company will change that with a goldmine due to open here around December this year. I also have a double bed all to myself (first time since I left) which is nice, I'm looking forward to that in a few minutes. Tomorrow, I head to a place called Hanmer Springs, a town built around a popular hot spring which was discovered in the late 1800s. This town also housed the South Island's leading rehabilitation centre for sufferers of drug addiction, until it was controversially closed in 2003. Sounds like a fun little group of people...

Lots of pics this time, sorry if it takes a while to load up.

I've now changed the way you post comments so that anyone can do it, even if you don't have a blog. Drop us a note if you like...

Photos:
1. My little runabout
2. The water really is that blue... Lake Hawea
3. People tell me I'm tall, but this is ridiculous! Me and Yannick in Puzzling World
4. I found this plaque quite touching
5. Me and that glacier (it looks a lot smaller in this pic than it actually is). Not the best place to lose a key. If you look closely at my left pocket, you'll see the offending key dangling perilously...
6. Andrea, a mug, and an empty beer handle
7. Matt (the other lucky contestant) and me before our jumps
8. From the plane
9. Dangling.. Just before we jumped
10. Can't quite reach!
11. Crazy Mel and his trusty sidekick
12. A one-way bridge complete with train tracks that disappear around the corner.. Is it safe to cross?
13. Sharp price rise since last week. En route to Reefton.