Milford Sound

Day 15
I woke up around 6:30am to finish getting my things together and then went to reception and stored my bags for the day. Today the contiki group continued their way to the next location which was Milford Sound but since I wasn’t doing the full tour I wasn’t going to be able to go. I decided that on my last day in Queenstown I was going to fly to Milford Sound (considered to be the 8th wonder of the world) which was an hour flight in a very small passenger plane. I sat in the front of the plane and the views were unreal. We flew over the lake and the mountains, some of which still had snow on them (and ash from the Australia fires). I couldn’t stop looking out of the window and taking pictures of all the surroundings. Since it is such a small plane, you could really feel the wind and would get that feeling of your stomach dropping a lot, definitely wasn’t my favorite. Once the plane landed we were taken on a 2 hour cruise on the water, surrounded by the beautiful mountainous landscape. The weather was a little cold but the boat had complimentary tea and coffee to help keep you warm. The boat was big but there were probably only 12 of us on it and because it was 9am, we were the only boat on the water until we returned to the dock around 11am (it was peaceful and the water was so still). I was surprised to see that there were several waterfalls varying in heights and sizes. There was one waterfall that we actually went under and got splashed by. You don’t realize how big waterfalls are until you are right under it. I stood on the front of the boat when it first went under and got some pictures but then went inside before I got completely soaked. After about 2 hours on the water we went back to the dock and got back on the plane to Queenstown. On the plane ride back I was all the way in the back, and that plane dropping feeling was even worse. I got back to my hostel around 12:30pm and after going back and forth I decided to sign up to go bungy jumping in the afternoon. I never had a desire to do it but after watching so many people on my tour group go, I didn’t want to regret not doing it while I was in New Zealand. I have done a lot of adrenaline activities while being in New Zealand, I was most nervous about bungy jumping. I think the fact that it was doing it alone and I actually had to jump made me more anxious than any of the other things I had done. I grabbed lunch and sat outside enjoying the sun before going back to the bungy place to get the bus. While I was waiting I met a guy from Canada so we started chatting and he was doing the same bungy as me, the Kawarau Bridge (the original that I had gone to a few days earlier). When we were dropped off we were given 5 minutes to go to the bathroom and put our belongings in a locker before going to the bridge. Unlike the other day, there was no line for jumping so once there was only one person in front of me. After he jumped, I went up and sat down for them to prepare me (they put a towel around your ankles and a black strap that is attached to the rope and a harness). When I got onto the wooden platform I looked down and it didn’t really look like it was that high, it was 141 feet high. They aren’t allowed to push you off so you have to jump, they hold the back of your harness and count down from 3 and once they hit 1 they tell you to lean forward and jump. I knew that if I didn’t jump after the countdown I wouldn’t have done it, so when I heard 1 I jumped. The fall wasn’t as long as I thought it would be and before I knew it I was on my way back up with my body flinging through the air. The up and down of the bungy was odd but it didn’t hurt my body the way I thought it would. Once I was hanging there no longer moving, a boat is sent over with a long pole for you to grab and they pull you down into the boat and unconnect the rope. The whole thing was over before I knew it and I was so glad I did it. I probably wouldn’t rush back to do it again but I know if I didn’t do it I would regret it. After getting my pictures, videos and free t-shirt we were picked up again by the bus and taken back into town. I went back to my hostel to get my bags and bring them to the other hostel I would be staying at for my last night which was right down the black from the lake. After getting checked in and getting my bags to my room, I met up with the guy from bungy jumping to grab a drink and dinner. When I got back to the hostel I ran into Simone (a girl from my contiki group), she missed her flight and had to spend another night in Queenstown so we went to a bar across the street to grab a couple of glasses of wine before calling it a night.Read more