A Queenstown white water rafting adventure

by Stephanie - 23/11/2009 16:21:00

Hold on tight: rafting Shotover River. 

Kate McPhee's top 10 things to do in New Zealand included white water rafting and she braved the challenging Queenstown Rafting trip down the white waters of the Shotover River through the tight corners, twists, turns and cliff edges of the old mining canyon.

I’ve always thought I was someone who pushed the boundaries, stepped out of my comfort zone and tried to live life to the limits, but just quietly I am a bit of a chicken. Having grown up on the East coast of Australia, I’ve lived in the water so when my friend ask me what were the top 10 things I wanted to tick off my list in New Zealand,  I knew that whitewater rafting was right up there.

When I arrived in Queenstown, known as “the adventure capital of the world”, I was quite nervous just thinking about what my friend had in store for me. There are so many things to do in this town; it’s crazy and also quite overwhelming. Although I’d love to do them all, the content of my wallet disagrees. I don’t mind using that excuse when I get asked if I want to through myself off a bridge, but the one activity that I was without a doubt doing was rafting the Shotover River.

We arrived at Queenstown Rafting shop to check in and the bus took us out to the rafting base where we were to get changed into the most horribly unattractive piece of equipment ever, the wetsuit!

There are so many things to do in Queenstown; it’s crazy and also quite overwhelming. Although I’d love to do them all, the content of my wallet disagrees.
Once we got over the fact that we were doomed to look ridiculous for the next four hours, we jumped on a bus into the river. What I ride, I’ve never had so much adrenalin running through my body on a bus. The only way to drive to the river is through Skippers Canyon; an old gold mining road that has sheer drop offs and rock ledges that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.

We arrived at the river and the trip leader proceeded to tell us all the ins and outs of rafting. All I could think about was how am I going to move in this wetsuit?

We meet our guide who is hilarious, I didn’t stop laughing the whole time and even though I’m a confident swimmer it’s still nice to feel as though I’m in safe hands. As we get closer to the big rapids you feel the build up of nervous energy in your stomach as you hear the roar of the whitewater to come. As we approached the rapid I realised I’d forgotten everything the guide had taught us earlier. The whitewater hits my face and the guide is shouting “forward paddle”.

Suddenly I remember what it is I’m meant to be doing. I looked over at my friend as we were paddling through the rapids and she had the biggest grin on her face. I was asked to help the instructor guide the raft from the front of the boat as we entered a 170 meter long tunnel.

In complete darkness, everyone else was on the floor of the raft but I was sitting on the front listening for when the guide wanted me to paddle. We reach the end of the tunnel and get completely submerged in the white water at the last rapid of the day.

What a brilliant way to finish the trip, all I wanted to do was go back to the top and do it all over again.

- Got a must do New Zealand working holiday adventure experience like white water rafting with Queenstown Rafting?  Comments!

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

Don't forget the prizes!

by Stephanie - 16/11/2009 11:46:00

 

Feeling like some excitement?

A white water rafting trip with Queenstown Rafting down spectacular Shotover River in the historic Skippers Canyon could be just the thrill you need! This is just one of the fabulous prizes up for grabs if you send us your blog post.

Your blog post could be tips for newbies, witty stories, interesting yarns, or just reflections on your New Zealand working holiday so far, and you could win a white water rafting trip, three days' campervan hire from Escape Rentals, and three nights' accommodation at BASE.

It is easy to enter, too.  Just send in your blog entry via email, with photos or edited video attached and the word “New Zealand” in the subject box, to .

Include your full name and a contact phone number, but don’t worry we won’t be publishing that last detail but we might need it to help issue the prizes.

Don’t forget to read the Best Blog In the World terms and conditions, just so you know how everything is going to work.

- What's the best adventure sport you have done on your New Zealand Working Holiday? Comments are open!

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

Getting there and getting stuck in

by Stephanie - 11/11/2009 17:36:00

Congratulations Emma!
Our November blog winner

Travel tips from New Zealand

Emma Searles has been chilling out in New Zealand for almost two months now, quite a change after the stress of preparing for the trip and organising her life into one suitcase. Now happily settled in and working Emma has some tips for new arrivals.

If there was a ratio to discern the time we took on our preparation for living in New Zealand versus the time we spent packing up our lives in the UK and getting ready, it would be 1:10.
 
We applied for our visas, got approval and spent the next six months saving up, packing up and letting every company, relative and neighbour know our intentions. The week before we left was spent manically packing and labelling boxes, saying our goodbyes and trying to figure out exactly what we most needed from our house full of stuff to put into our one suitcase each. Yes, it was a stressful time.

I think my point is that we lost sight of what we'd actually do when we got there. Touching down in New Zealand was an amazing feeling and not just because we'd spent three days on and off planes to get here. It is a terrific feeling to know that all the preparation is over, all the ties of responsibility and normality are gone. Then life can truly begin.
 

We received priceless tips that we
wouldn't have gotten from travel guides...
My advice, if wanted, to new arrivals who (like us) will be here for a year or two is to get out as much as possible. We did this on foot so we got our bearings really quickly and saw what Christchurch had to offer.

Next we started to ask questions of anyone who would listen; tourist info, YMCA, hotels, restaurants, theatre, library, etc. We received priceless tips that we wouldn't have gotten from travel guides, such as where was a good area to live. Job ideas like buy The Press on Wednesdays and Saturdays, use Trademe and Seek on the web although agencies are a really good bet and offer the flexibility visitors look for. Also, look out for local events advertised around the city or in the papers.

We recently went to an art exhibition spread out over a farmstead. It was a beautiful location on a warm day as we casually strolled around the site, eating brownies with tabla music in the background.
 
After seven weeks here, we're starting to feel much more settled. We bought a second hand car so we can explore further afield now and get out to more events. Now we have jobs so we're getting into the Kiwi way of life. Plus I've joined drama and dance clubs to meet people and do things that I never set time aside for back home. It is a different pace of life and while some things may seem too relaxed compared to home, it's really nice to just slow down and appreciate what's going on.

It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end
- Ursua Le Guin

- Interested in hearing more about Emma's New Zealand working holiday adventures? Let us know in the comments!

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

Kauri is lord of the rings

by Stephanie - 10/11/2009 15:53:00

Tāne Mahuta: Lord of the forest

The most famous tree in New Zealand is Tāne Mahuta, a giant Kauri tree in the Waipoua Forest of Northland Region, New Zealand, that is between 1,250  and 2,500 years old.

It’s pretty old, although in the scale of old trees it ranks about middle aged.

The oldest (non-cloning) tree in the world is Methuselah in California, United States, at around 4,800 years. It gained the title as the oldest tree when a scientist cut down Prometheus, a 5,000 plus year old pine from Nevada for “research” in 1964. For now obvious reasons the exact location of the now-oldest known tree, Methuselah, is kept secret by the US Forest Service.

But I digress.

Tāne Mahuta deserves the meaning of its name ‘Lord of the forest’ with a trunk girth of 13.77 m (45.18 ft), trunk height 17.68 m (58 ft), and a  total height 51.2 m (167.98 ft.

It’s a remnant of an ancient subtropical rainforest which once grew on the peninsula. On New Zealand’s North Island a forest of ancient Kauri trees can be found buried and preserved under peat some 50,000 years after an unexplained natural event at the end of the last Ice Age flattened them.

These ancient Kauri (or swamp Kauri) trees, some which grew for nearly 2000 years before they were buried, have been perfectly preserved by the peat and the timber is a  rich, deep brown.

Swamp Kauri is extracted (no easy task these trees are huge!) and reclaimed, often finding its way to furniture makers, boat builders, and the wood artisans who make nick-knack souvenirs and household kitsch as well as the ones who do fierce guitar bodies. 

What's the best Kauri item you have found on your New Zealand working holiday adventures? Let us know in the comments!

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

Powered by BlogEngine.NET