If you start at the top of New Zealand and work your way down, you really do save some of the best until last. For our last week in the country we went to Mount Cook, Queenstown, and up a glacier.
Mount Cook
First stop was Mount Cook – New Zealand’s highest peak. It’s a fair old drive to Mount Cook, and then because it’s at the end of the Southern Alps you cannot actually drive all the way up to the base of the Mountain. We were told that if we wanted some really great views of Mount Cook then we should do a walk through the Hooker Valley.
So we parked up and walked along rocky paths, across bridges, and between snowy peaks, waiting for Mount Cook to become apparent. I know it sounds stupid, but for the most part we weren’t entirely sure which one of the mountains was Mount Cook – it may be the biggest but it seems like a close run thing to us! Anyway, after a good hour’s walking, we were still going along this seemingly never-ending path. We thought we had a good idea which one was Mount Cook but we hadn’t had a great view of it at any stage, and Maya asked when we should think about turning around. I wasn’t sure when we might get to the best point to turn around, but I wanted to keep going for a bit, so I decided to tell a small white lie and say that the walk came to an end when we reached the big lake under the mountain. Of course I had made this lake up as an excuse to keep going, and actually had no idea where the walk was supposed to end.
So nobody was more surprised to me when we did actually reach the end point of the walk, with Mount Cook in the background and a huge icy lake just in front of us. I think Maya had a mix of emotions – on the one hand she was delighted to reach such a fantastic lookout point, and on the other hand she was cross that I could make something up and then it turn out to be true. I on the other hand was jumping for joy.
I’m flying
We stayed overnight at Lake Tekapo, which has an observatory that is renowned for being one of the best spots for stargazing in the world. Coming from London, we were pretty sure there are at least four or five stars in the night sky on a clear night. But we had never seen what is possible when you have an observatory on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Even without using their high-powered telescopes, the Milky Way looks just incredible. With the telescopes it was really impressive to see things like the rings of Saturn, and further afield we could see what stars looked like 500 years ago!
Yes, that sky is real.
Queenstown and craziness
Our next stop was Queenstown, which is probably the biggest centre for tourism in the country. And renowned for its adventure sports – it is basically the home of bungy jumping. For the entire year that we have been away, Maya and I had been half-heartedly discussing the idea of trying out some sort of extreme sport all year, so when we got to Queenstown it was time to put up or shut up. I had always said that if I was to do anything it would be a bungy jump, and Maya said she would do a skydive. We decided that we wouldn’t give ourselves the chance to back out of this, so we immediately went to the booking office and signed Maya up for a skydive in the morning, and me for a bungy swing in the afternoon. So we were committed!
The next morning we were up bright and early to catch the coach to the lake where the skydiving took place. Maya was doing her skydive with four other people – none of whom had done it before. And I went along to watch. It was quite a small plane and they took people up in pairs. Maya drew the short straw, and was scheduled to go last, which meant she had the longest wait. But she kept positive, and when the time came for her to go up in the plane she was literally dancing with excitement and nervous energy – I think the instructor who took her up knew he was in for a handful. The plane did loops of the airfield until it was at 12,000ft above the earth, and then I saw a little speck leave the plane as Maya and her instructor jumped. They fell for 45 seconds and then the parachute deployed, and floating back down to earth. Maya seemed to absolutely love the skydive, she had a big smile on her face for the entire time during the dive and for about 2 hours afterwards! And while I think she is completely mad for jumping out of a plane attached to a complete stranger I am hugely proud of her for getting up the courage to do it!
How can you smile at a time like this?
After everyone had done their skydives, the coach took us all back to the town centre. I was starting to think about my fast-approaching bungy adventure, so I was not very talkative. But Maya and the others who had all done the skydive were absolutely euphoric and were high-fiving and congratulating each other on conquering their fears. Which is great, but from a personal perspective it’s VERY ANNOYING when you are about to face your own terrifying ordeal.
With no time to lose, we made our way to the cable car which would take us to the site of my bungy swing. Which was located 1500ft above the town centre. I’m sure the views on the cable car ride were just great but all I could think about was how steep the climb was, and how high we were going. We got to the top, and went straight to the site of the bungy swing. I’ll assume that most people won’t know exactly what a bungy swing is, and quickly explain. It’s like a bungy jump, but instead of jumping from the platform that your bungy rope is attached to, you go from another platform and after the initial drop you then swing at ridiculous speeds for a while.
So I headed over to the platform from which I would do the swing, attached to my bungy rope. Before you go, you are harnessed and roped up by one of the members of staff. I got a British guy with a ponytail who kept asking where I was from. “I’m from London,” I replied.
“But what about before then,” he asked. “Where were you from before you went to London?”
“I’m from Derby,” I said.
“Really?” he said smiling. “I’m from Nottingham – I’m a Forest fan.”
“That’s just my luck!” I tactfully declared. “I can’t believe I’m putting my life in the hands of a Nottingham Forest fan!” Which after a second I followed up with, “I can’t believe I’m insulting the man who is responsible for my safety. No offence,” I added with a sheepish grin.
He didn’t really respond to this, as he led me to the edge of the platform. The other key difference between a bungy jump and a bungy swing is that you don’t jump for a bungy swing. Instead you are attached to a second rope (in addition to your bungy rope) and lowered out beyond the platform. Then when you are ready to go you reach up to your harness and pull a long metal pin out of it, which releases the rope you are attached to sending you plummeting on your bungy nightmare.
As I was lowered out over the edge of the platform I was absolutely terrified. I mean truly bone-chilling, clammy-handed, gibbering nonsense, scared. I genuinely don’t remember the few seconds before I pulled the pin too well, but Maya reliably assures me that I sat there, hanging out over the cliff edge talking to myself. And all I kept saying was “Okay, right, let’s do this. Okay, right, let’s do this.” This went on for about 30 seconds until I let loose a shout and then pulled the pin. My shout then turned into a (very manly) scream of terror as I fell faster than I thought possible, and was swung at huge speed out over the 1500 ft fall to the town. I didn’t stop shouting as I swung out, and I certainly didn’t stop as I hurtled back towards the cliff face. In fact I didn’t stop until I had stopped swinging and come to a halt. Luckily I wasn’t the only one making a lot of noise – on the video that they took of it, Maya screamed even louder than me at the moment when I fell!
What was I thinking?!
Reflecting on our foray into extreme sports, Maya has made it clear that she absolutely loved her skydive, and would do it again at a heartbeat. I on the other hand, wouldn’t necessarily be queuing up for another bungy jump. But we are both happy that we did something that absolutely scared the hell out of us.
The Fox Glacier
We ended our month in New Zealand by climbing the Fox Glacier. As we packed for our year abroad almost one year ago, Maya had justified loads of jumpers and coats on the basis that for one day of our year away, we would be on a glacier in New Zealand. So it was obviously very exciting to actually get to this much-anticipated glacier. I, however, hadn’t really packed any cold-weather clothes so I had to buy a hat so I didn’t look silly by being on the glacier without the appropriate headgear.
What a lovely hat!
We were on a guided tour, as the Fox Glacier has a number of dangerous crevasses that you could fall into if you didn’t know where you were going. Also, by going on a tour we had access to all the proper equipment, including special boots and crampons that make it hard to fall over when climbing the ice. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised but spending six hours walking on and climbing up and down a glacier was very tiring. I think the fact that every footstep is a big stamp to make sure that your boots dig into the ice was probably the reason why my legs were so stiff the next day. Totally worth it though, particularly the ice caves and tunnels!
And of course I couldn’t get through the day without asking one of our tour guides whether Fox’s Glacier Mints were actually invented at the Fox Glacier. Our kiwi guide called Scott rolled his eyes at this, and said that every British person asks that very same question. And the answer apparently is no – they were not invented at the Fox Glacier.
In an ice cave
As we move from New Zealand, back to Australia, we have absolutely loved our month there, and would say it is totally worth the journey around the world. It’s been great being able to spend time with family, try new things, and get to meet lots of bonkers and brilliant people along the way!
Maul's year out 