Re-United With An Old School Friend Plus My First Live Rugby Match

Rhys picked me up at 11:30 am and drove us up to Port Hills on Banks Peninsula which provided a nice view. For lunch we went to Rhys’ house which he lived in with his cat but nevertheless he still possessed five televisions. I ate my jam sandwiches, crisps and chocolate cake and drank coca cola (all luxuries to me these days!) while awaiting his brothers arrival at 1pm. David was late but if he’d arrived on time he’d have seen me having the type of lunch I was having with him at primary school 19 years ago!

Rhys informed me beforehand that Dave was very different to himself and I too was under the impression that he had long hair having very briefly caught a glimpse of one of my sister’s photographs of him four years previous. Other than that and his name, I knew very little else about the guy. He eventually arrived wearing gum boots, scraggy jeans, a white vest with sunglasses sported on his head of long black hair. He complained about the cold weather that morning while out surfing and then we had just 30 minutes to catch up on the last 19 years of our lives and share the one or two memories of that era.

We agreed to meet up the following day to do something and then had to part as Rhys was to kindly drive me to the Jade Stadium for my first ever live rugby experience. This Easter Sunday match was between arguably the best two teams in the Super 12 which was a league made up of the best 12 sides from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The game between local team Canterbury Crusaders and The Brumbies (a team I knew about as Aussie Matt from my time in St Kilda was always raving on about his local team from Canberra) was a near 38,000 sell-out and marked the grand opening of two new stands. I took my seat on the end of the row in the new stand behind the posts with the giant screen directly behind.

The pre-match entertainment featured a few knight trotting around the field perimeter on their horses which brought huge cheers from the supporters. Just before kick-off I received the shock news that the Queen Mother had died that morning which was respected by a moments pause.

The game then got under way and I soon realised that, unlike football, this was a sport that was fairly difficult to view from certain angles and for that I had to occasionally turn my head 180 degrees to get an idea of what was happening via the giant screen.

Ultimately, the match was a classic and I got to see the likes of George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and Andrew Mehrtens take part before a fantastic finale which saw Aaron Mauger drop-kick a last minute winner to edge the Crusaders to a dramatic 33-32 win. The live match experience also gave me another example of the kind generosity of the Kiwi’s as the woman next to me bought me a bottle of beer. Once I’d eventually managed to navigate my way back to the hostel on foot I bumped into Orhan again who I’d seen in both Taupo and Wellington and we chatted and watched ‘High Fidelity‘ on the movie channel.

Making Money In An Unorthodox Way

Saw England get off to a flying start in the 3rd Test in the morning before I wandered down to the fudge cottage with the intention of doing a tour but sadly they only operate on normal weekdays so I settled for a load of free fudge samples from the shop instead and was content with that.

I then went to see Rhys at work to organise our meeting time and place for the following day. After that, I went to Ticketek in the town hall and spent $15 on a ticket for the next days Super 12 rugby match between the Canterbury Crusaders and the Brumbies.

Next, I paid a visit to the massive library where I read the back issues of the NME and the next few hours were spent making countless trips over to two of the pay phones in Cathedral Square to indulge in my new hobby of extracting money from the phones. I was able to do this because I discovered a couple of days ago that the coins got slightly jammed in the slot. A quick mischievous poke with my key released the coins for collection from the change area and by the end of the day I had made about $6 from my many jaunts.

At midnight I watched the first half of Leeds v Man Utd over the wall of the Irish pub next door to our hostel which was displaying the live coverage on a huge giant screen. It was quite windy outside so at half time I ventured into the hostel TV room and was lucky enough to see the rest of the epic match in there. I then watched an hour of Japanese sumo wrestling until the Liverpool v Charlton match came on at 3am by which time I couldn’t be bothered to stay up for it.

The Sounds Of A Dormitory When You’re Wide Awake

The previous nights beer meant I got to sleep ahead of normal schedule but this in turn led to me waking up at about 4:30 am and unfortunately staying awake and having to listen to the sound of snoring, sleep-talking, teeth crunching and other such noises.

The sun was shining so I went out for a walk around the botanic gardens and the Canterbury Museum with the latter in particular being done in full in record breaking time. I kept up this pace having a quick look around at the Gypsy Fair in nearby North Hagley Park before deciding against the Arts Centre as I could no longer be bothered to look around things I’m not too interested in just for the sake of doing something.

On my way back to the hostel I again met up with Jo in the streets by chance but this was certain to be the last time as she and Laura were flying out of New Zealand the following day.

As just one geek was watching ice hockey in the TV room, a dozen or so of us had to go into the hostel bar to watch ‘The Simpsons‘ and ‘Top Of The Pops‘ and on my way out of the bar (having not had a drink) I bumped into Ryan and Poser Chris again and much later on at night I watched the movie ‘Best Laid Plans‘.

Just Happy To Get My Tapes Back

Hoping to re-unite with Ronit & Tamar (very lovely and kind Israeli girls I met in Cairns, Australia back in September of last year) I went to check my e-mail and ended up running into Alex-the-b*stard. I’d ran through in my mind many times what I’d like to do or say to him when/if I saw him again. Inevitably I did none of these but did give him a fright and just asked why he left me and that I wanted my two tapes back. As we walked to his car it was surprisingly good in a slightly begrudging way to catch up with what he’d been up to since he deserted me.

I then left a message for the John family and on my instant return to from the supermarket I was called back by Roz John who apologised for being too busy to see me and she also gave me an update of her two son’s lives of the last 19 years in just a few minutes. She gave me Rhys’ number and said he worked in Smiths City near where I’d just come from.

Subsequently, I wandered back up Colombo Street and saw a 6ft 3in guy with glasses who I guessed was him. I introduced myself and we spoke for a while before agreeing to meet up for a drink after he’d finished work. In between I had a nap and then met him in the Grumpy Mole at 9:30 pm and after that we went to a huge 4-tier sports bar/nightclub near my hostel called the Holy Grail which was giving out complimentary hot cross buns as we were on the verge of Good Friday. To complete the evening, we went to Irish bar The Bog where we sat outside and talked some more.

Arrival In Christchurch

Checked out of Penguin Palace Backpackers and went for a quick wander around Otago Harbour before a hot, sweaty and boring six hour bus to Christchurch. On arrival I headed for a pay phone and spoke to Peter John this time who disappointingly told me that his wife and he were run off their feet presently and had no time to see me but said to call back and leave a contact number for them and their other son Rhys who lived elsewhere.

I then booked into the nearby Star Times Accommodation and Backpackers which was right on Cathedral Square and fairly new looking with good comfy beds including doona’s. I then read the huge chunk of e-mails that had been sent to me in the past week and back in the hostel later on I bumped into the Swede and Canadian guys who I did the Nevis highwire bungee jump with the previous Sunday.

A Taste Of Scotland……In Dunedin!

I departed Queenstown at 7:45 am and slept much of the journey on up to the student dominated city that is Dunedin which is celtic for Edinburgh and the city too has many Scottish principles. I arrived at my pre-paid hostel (only $12!!); Penguin Palace Backpackers at around 1pm and after a quick bite to eat I walked through the densely populated student area around Otago University (a surprise to me and a scenario I hadn’t encountered since walking to University all those years ago myself) as well as through the Botanic Gardens.

The intended destination of my one hours walk was Baldwin Street which is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records 1997-1998 as being the steepest street in the world with a 1:1.266 gradient. I thought the streets beforehand would prepare me for it as they looked fairly steep but they were nothing compared to the real thing.

As I approached it I saw a coachload of Japanese tourists (inevitably I guess!) at the bottom. I then took the steep walk to the top via the pavement steps where a drinking water fountain was ideally located as was a bench where I sat and heard the story from a guy about a student who died going down the hill in a wheelie-bin. Just as unbelievable was the souvenir shop at the foot of the street which stocked just about every conceivable merchandising item.

Back in the city later I looked around some of the shops and went back to the hostel to ring the John family in Christchurch and spoke to my old school friend David for the first time in 19 years which was kind of strange and I thought he possessed a very strong stereotypical exaggerated Kiwi accent.

I then met two Swiss guys from my unit at the Fat Camel hostel (Auckland) who had  few days previously travelled down with Alex-the-b*stard so I knew there was now a strong likelihood of bumping into the git.

A Feeling Of “Game Over” In New Zealand!

Jenny left for Christchurch early morning and Kieran went on a Milford Sound trip early too so I was left to my own devices for the day. I went to collect my nine bungee jump pictures at 11am and baked for a bit in the sun on the very gravelly lakefront beach in the afternoon. The day was fairly depressing though and I was of the opinion that it was “Game Over” and mission accomplished for New Zealand really…..and that’s with three weeks left in the country too!

The remainder of the day was spent in the dorm watching TV . This included the 2nd Test Series between New Zealand and England and ‘Neighbours‘ which was the first episode for the new season of episodes thereby allowing me to continue where I left off in Australia with December’s season finale. I saw ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me’ again at night and then half-watched some of the 74th Academy Awards.

Big Sunday – Bungee Jump #3

At 6.30pm I walked on up to the gondola to meet American Chris who was jumping The Ledge with me 60 minutes later when sunset had been and gone. In the seven hours or so since the second bungy jump I had hardly given this third one any thought whatsoever but as we rode the gondola steeply up to skyline a few nerves crept up on me though they were no comparison for the earlier jumps.

When we got to the top we had amazing panoramic views of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables and was actually looking down on the hut which we’d be running and jumping out of within the hour. My original plan (well, after my confidence had grown from the Kawarau Bridge and Nevis Highwire jumps) was to run off the ledge and do a few somersaults but I was now slightly worried about the waist harness doing me damage in the groin area!

We first watched fellow ‘Thrillogy’ jumper Danish Dennis take the run and dive and then when the skyline had darkened it was time for us to take the plunge into darkness. In some ways this 47 metre urban bungy looked worse as it was located 400 metres above Queenstown with the forest and gondola below. Unlike the previous jump sites, we could see out for miles over the town and surrounding area  (well, we could see the areas lit up in the distance anyway!) and then it was time to get into the harness and complete the most challenging day of my life yet. I went before Chris yet again but with very few nerves this time. I had to walk to the edge to look out and wave to the moon (the camera was in the same direction!) before retreating to the back of the hut ready for as long a run up as possible.

The instructor then said that I could go “when you’re ready” so I didn’t hang about as I ran and dived off into darkness. Within a couple of seconds I felt the tug of the bungy cord but this was not around my ankles. Instead it was around my groin area and as I sat in the harness swinging in the night skyline the pressure on that part of my anatomy increased! It was only as I was being winched back up (having had to to hook the rope on myself after it was dangled down to me) that the instructor suggested I lie back in my harness more.

After I’d seen Chris jump and the viewed the video footage of it (as well as receiving another blo*dy A4 certificate!) he gave Dennis and I a lift home in his car. I “treated” myself to a McDonalds meal for dinner but didn’t really have any kind of adrenalin rushing or pumping its way through my body which felt very anti-climactic in a way.

At 9pm I went to the Loaded Hog with Kieran and Jenny but the place was completely dead and empty so an hour later we carried on to Winnie Bagoes pizza bar for one more beer where I met up with bungee Chris as well as Helen, Jenny and Lee. After that it was back to the hostel and into our beds where, along with Sean too, we indulged in some very amusing pillow talk.

Big Sunday – Bungee Jump #2

With the first jump off Kawarau Bridge freshly under my belt, I was fairly confident, though still a bit nervous as six of us from that 43 metre jump joined the people who were doing the 134 metre Nevis Highwire jump only. One of those people already on board even had his parents with him to witness his jump in real-time.

A private mountain access road through a high country sheep station took us on a 4-wheel-drive to our location in the rugged Nevis Canyon. This was our last chance to go to the toilet before we got our harnesses on and walked out to the viewing platform where we got our first proper look at the breathtaking ‘jump pod’ hanging  from 380 metre long cables which span the valley. From this view we couldn’t even see the Nevis river which I was thankful for really.

We were then split into groups of six to take the cable car shuttle to the pod which was reminiscent of a UFO as it swayed in the breeze across the river. Unfortunately for me, these groups are categorised by weight with the heaviest going first which ultimately meant I would not be doing this bungy jump first! In fact, I was to be the penultimate jumper just to prolong my agony. I was still feeling pretty calm despite seeing the first few heavier people jumping into oblivion.

Finally my time came to get harnessed on to the cable car ready to join the rest of the jumpers , spectators and crew over at the ‘pod’. There was a clunk as we reached the ‘mother ship’ which was a lot larger than I expected with music blaring out of the CD player and a glass bottom to see those going before but I declined to really focus on this.

Eventually, after a long wait it was my turn and I even tried to carry on walking through the safety gate without getting harnessed on. Was I too excited or just keen to get the ‘big one’ out of the way? Once through the gate, I was sat down in a big black comfy chair but it certainly wasn’t a game of ‘Mastermind‘ that followed! Instead, I was strapped up bt my instructor and given a briefing on how and when to release the ripcord. This was not a burden I needed as I thought just to dive off the platform was enough responsibility!

I then had to give the video camera the thumbs up and the few short moments that followed were the worst but they were over in seconds. I’m of course talking about leaving the chair and waddling on over to the edge where I saw what lay 134 metres beneath…and beyond! I gave a very assured and confident captains salute to the camera above me, took a deep breath. Only a 3…2….1….countdown this time, and like my predecessors, I was straight off diving into free fall for seven or eight quick seconds. Finally, I felt the tug which was a huge relief and then as a I bounced around for a bit I realised I was supposed to release the ripcord. I pulled the cord to the left like I had been told but nothing happened as I began to descend yet again. I anxiously pulled it harder and extreme joy was felt as my feet were released and I was left sitting enjoying the view whilst hanging in the middle of nowhere.

As with the previous jump, the self satisfaction I felt was indescribable as I again threw my arms about in joyous celebration. After, what seemed like an eternity dangling in the peaceful mid-air I was winched back up to the pod where one of the crew informed me that my dive out was very good. I then got to watch the last jumper dive off without any nerves or tension in me. For the record, it was a Japanese girl who was very, very nervous in a giggling-type way and took a long time to do it after a couple of reservations but thankfully she prevailed.

By this time, I was absolutely starving as we took the cable car back across the valley where we saw the video’s of our jumps and got another certificate. At this point, I felt a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders which had been carried around for weeks in anticipation of doing a bungy jump……or three in this case! I still had the Urban bungy to do at night from the 47 metre ledge but that wasn’t at all in my mind as I had just jumped from New Zealand’s highest bungy site and, back in Queenstown later on, I felt like I was the king of the world!

Big Sunday – Bungee Jump #1

The most challenging day of my life got off to the worst possible start when I woke up at 4.30am and couldn’t sleep again as I sweated the next four hours out tossing and turning. Fearing I may bring up any breakfast later on, I decided to skip breakfast having finally  got out of bed just after 8am. I was the first person at the AJ Hackett centre where I had to be weighed. Was I keen to jump or just get it out of the way?! 64 kilo’s was my weight which was written on my left hand. I sat in the waiting area and felt quite calm probably due to my blatant ignorance of the bungy jumps being relayed through the TV screens.

The minibus then took us on a 25 minute journey to the world’s original bungy site at the Kawarau Bridge. On the way I didn’t stop talking which might have been my way of coping with nerves. This was the jump I’d thought about most and if I could handle this then I’d ideally be prepared for the jump which would follow at the far bigger Nevis Highwire. The journey to the bridge had obviously taken its toll on my body as I weighed only 63 kilo’s at the next weigh-in!

An American guy called Chris and I were first onto the bridge and after stepping through the railings we simultaneously sat on the floor entrusting the instructors who were strapping us up using just an ordinary towel around our ankles. While this was happening, loads of Japanese tourists were peering through the railings and snapping away at us with their camera’s which is probably as close as I’ll ever get to rock-star status!

Another instructor appeared on the scene and as I was wearing my Leicester City shirt I got involved in a strong discussion about why we were doing so cr*p that season. Not really the time for pondering how the Foxes had fallen into crisis but I guess it stopped me thinking about my imminent first bungy jump.

By now I’d been given the signal that I would be the first of our group to jump from 43 metres above the crystal waters of the Kawarau River which I had taken trouble to avoid digesting too much! I hobbled out to the edge of the platform and had to put my toes over the edge which was the defining moment when it really hit me. No time to think though as I waved to the camera. The instructor quickly did the countdown…5…4…3…2…1…

I crouched down and dived off into the air as if I was diving into the swimming baths. Within a second or two of my leap into freefall, the bungy cord came into play leaving me bouncing around for a while which I did celebrating and shouting my head off as if I’d just scored the a last minute winner in the cup final!

The adrenalin rush I felt from achieving one third of my feat (two more jumps to come later that day remember!) was fantastic and I felt free and enlightened. From my leap at 9.52am I was pulled into a little dinghy about 90 seconds later where my belly and legs were wobbling but as soon as I was back on land I was fine and climbed the stairs to the viewing platform just in time to see Chris take his jump.

I got to see the video of my jump in the office immediately after and was also given my t-shirt and certificate before having to wait around for everyone else to complete their jumps and for the bus to take us on the second, much bigger jump. In the meantime I had something to eat in the form of an apple which was adequate enough in the circumstances. On reflection, I felt my first jump was over with too quickly and I was a little disappointed that my splashdown only involved getting my hands wet rather than a good dipping!