Canyon Swing CaTaSTrOphe

For the uninitiated, Queenstown is the adrenaline capital of New Zealand's South Island, if not of all of New Zealand. You don't really come here to chill out, you come to do stuff!!
So, the day after our Fergburgers we went in search of adrenaline. First stop was Vertigo Bikes for some mountain biking in Skippers Canyon. As kids we all had mountain bikes, right? Wrong! These were real mountain bikes. When I say real, I mean awesome suspension and super sensitive over-the-handlebars-you-go brakes. Skippers Canyon was a gold mine back in the day and now you can bike down the road they built to access the mine or go along a cycle track, which runs along the bottom of the canyon. There was no way I was taking the cycling track on the first run! When I first got on the bike I was bunny hopping all over place because the brakes are so sensitive. Ciaran and I took the top road with two ladies in our group but Jimmy decided to go straight in on the cycle track below. The ladies offered to go at the back as they were going to be slower but they quickly passed me for the first km or so as I dragged behind at the back, too scared I was going to go over the handlebars and also distracted by the amazing scenery all around us!

We were following our transport down the road and every so often we stopped to watch the others cycle down the track below us, which looked like a very thin line snaking across a very steep hill in the valley below. We were so high up that we could only tell who was who by the colour of their t shirts. We saw Jimmy cycling along near the back... And then go over the handlebars on his bike, straight off the track and onto the steep hillside below it. A few anxious seconds ensued but he got up and straight back on the bike, and carried on straight down the track, phew!

 We met him and the others at the bottom of the canyon, and we and the bikes were driven back up the gravel road before we had our second run down. Despite it being slow going on the cycle down it's only when they drive you back up to the top for your second run down that you realise just how narrow the road is and how big the drop at the side is!  Anyway, I'd been thinking over whether I wanted to do the off road cycle on the second go but was really put off by the fact that you have to stay stood up on the bike, and also by the fact that Jimmy had gone over, because if he had, I was sure to! Also, the gravel road was super scenic, whereas down in the bottom of the canyon you didn't get the same views, so I, along with one of the other ladies, was quite happy sticking with that. I think if we'd had 3 runs down I would have been ready to do the off road track by the third run, as it's really just about getting used to the bikes. Oh well, next time! Safe to say, we all really enjoyed it.

One thing I really regret not doing is getting a photo of Sara when we all met her after. Jimmy pretended he had hurt himself, limp and all, and needed to go to the hospital. Sara's face was a picture, she looked so annoyed!
To come to the title of this post... After we finished the biking we said goodbye to Sara and Jimmy as they were driving up to Nelson. Ciaran had booked us in for the Canyon Swing at 3pm, which is a bit like a bungy, except the free fall is only for 60m, before it swings you out 200m across a canyon. Let me just say, whenever anyone heard we were going to New Zealand and said "oh, you HAVE to do a bungy", my reply was "er, probably not, I'll just do a skydive", because I've done one before and didn't really enjoy it. So, I didn't come to New Zealand with any intention of doing any kind of bungy but somehow found myself booked to do one and $200 lighter. The problem is, after we had finished the mountain biking I had a good 3 hours to mull over the prospect of it/think about how I really didn't want to do it. So when we got up there, all harnessed up together and ready to jump off backwards in tandem, well I just couldn't bring myself to do it. They ask you to back your feet up to the edge and well, my right foot just couldn't quite do it. Then before I knew it I was CRYING. And the guys that worked there were saying "just put that right foot back, and look up at the camera". As if I was going to look at the camera when balling my eyes out!!
The guys there were really cool about it, and tried to convince me to do it but I just didn't want to! Ciaran still did it, in fact he went twice because I didn't go (they don't do refunds!) And I should be really embarrassed that I cried all over him and in front of all the guys that worked there, and the other people queued up to do it, and wasted $200, well, $150 as Ciaran gave me $50 towards it for his second jump. But you know, I am still just quite happy that I didn't do it! Bring on the skydive!