Can you say "adrenalin"?

I left Queenstown this morning and am writing from Tuatapere, in the middle of a bunch of sheep farms. We went to Milford Sound todday which was just gorgeous. I'll post pictures next time. On the drive from there to here, we passed huge fields packed with sheep. More sheep than I've ever seen. And a beautiful pink sunset. (There might be snow overnight.)

Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand, so of course I had to join in the fun. I did a bungy jump from 43m at Kawarau bridge near Queenstown. It's the oldest commercial bungy jump. I wasn't planning on it, but then I saw my friends doing it, and it wasn't really that high... The river was pretty. It was really scary at the end when I was just dangling upside down waiting to get into the raft. Apperently I screamed really loudly when I first jumped. But it was so cool!! 2 of my friends are doing the "Thrillogy", which is 3 of the many bungy jumps in the area, including the highest at 134m. The other one, we went to watch, was on a mountain overlooking Queenstown. I'm glad I did the one over water and not over rocks and trees.

A few days before, I did a sky dive from 15 000 feet in Wanaka. It was a tandem skydive, so I was jumping with a professional strapped to my back. He was in control of everything, so I didn't have to decide to get out of the plane. All of a sudden, we were just plummeting through the sky. It was scary at first. 60 seconds of freefall before the parachute opened! Once it was open, it was as if we stopped moving. I had a beautiful view of the Lake Wanaka area. I was on such a high for the rest of the day. It was just an amazing experience! I couldn't imagine doing it multiple times a day though. One of the tandem jumpers said he did about 20 in one day, although 10 was more typical.

I also went to Puzzling World in Wanaka and did a walk there that was pretty much just up a really steep hill for a couple of hours and then back down. Great view though. We went to the Cinema Paradiso to see a NZ movie called "Black Sheep". Very funny. Only here will you find a movie about zombie sheep. The main character grew up on a sheep farm, but developed a sheep phobia. And there were really yummy fresh cookies at intermission!

Before Wanaka, we stayed in Makarora, also in the middle of nowhere. We drove through the Haast pass to get there. Haast Pass was quite dramatic, but my pictures didn't turn out well. I'll try to get one from someone else.

I'm having an amazing time. I'm heading to Stewart Island tomorrow, unless there's a storm, in which case the ferry may not go. We'll see what happens! Maybe I'll do another skydive instead!