Canyoning in the Routeburn Canyon

For my last day in Queenstown I had chosen something active and special. I went canyoning for the first time in my life. It was very much fun and I want to do it again in Europe. The canyoning tour started with a safety briefing in the office in Queenstown. We were ten participants. After the briefing, Andie, one of our guides drove us to the base camp were we got all the equipment like wetsuits, helmets and shoes. Then, we continued with all three guides - Andie, Pete und Rachel - to the start of the Routeburn track (more than one hour drive) where we put the wetsuits etc. on. We started going through a river. Then, we had to hike up for about half an hour to the Routeburn canyon. We were explained some theory about canyoning and abseiling and then the adventure began with an abseil. I had to get used to it. The water in the canyon was only about six or seven °C "warm". It was so much fun to just go through the water, to glide, to abseil and to jump from five meters or so into the water. In total, we were a bit more than three hours in and around the canyon. I would have loved it to be even longer. Back at the van, we changed into dry clothes and had some sandwiches and brownies for lunch. We were back in Queenstown at about 4:00 pm. I went for some souvenir shopping and then enjoyed a warm shower in the hostel. I ended my stay in Queenie with a burger and some beers in my favourite craft beer bar.Les mer