Lake Wanaka to Te Anau

Drove through the modern, touristy town of Wanaka at the south end of the lake. Found an internet connection to pay some bills and shopped at the New World. Beyond Wanaka, SH6 opens up into big sky country between the Dunstan and Pisa mountain ranges. Reminiscent of Colorado, the valley here is warm, dry, and full of orchards and wineries.



We saw hitchhikers in wetsuits and unicikers along SH6 as it turns into the gorge tracing the frothy Kawarau River.



Stopped at A.J. Hackett Bungy Jumping outside of Queenstown, playground for the adrenaline-deficient. A.J. Hackett is the world’s first commercial bungy jumping operation.





The 43-meter (141-foot) jump off the bridge is impressive. More so is Hackett’s business model, which judging by the size of the Kawarau Bungy Centre, complete with Bungy Dome Theatre, café, bar, and gift shop, has made Hackett and associates very wealthy.

Hackett dangles someone over the bridge about every ten minutes, at $175 a pop, for the amusement of latte-swilling or mesclun-chomping onlookers. Hackett even employs cheerleaders to fire up the crowd before each jump. Few businesses have the privilege of relying so heavily on customer-provided entertainment. The place filled me with “hey, why didn’t I think of that” jealous admiration.

We watched a few jumps from behind the glass-fronted viewing platform. Try explaining bungy jumping to a 2-year-old! Sawyer would have none of my nudging to take the plunge.



I always wondered how the jumper got off the line. At Hackett, a crew is stationed in an inflatable dingy moored below the bridge to retrieve the jumper when finished bouncing. The jumper grabs a long pole held up from the raft and then the folks at the top put some slack in the bungy. The jumper then tucks his head and rolls onto his back on the raft deck. In reality, this is the most dangerous part of the experience. The jumper could easily be swept away into the rapids if he missed the boat. With his feet tied together!



Queenstown is full of similar death-defying activities: canyon swinging; jet boating; whitewater rafting, sledging, and surfing; canyoning; paragliding; and skydiving. But if that’s too extreme, or if you’ve recently been denied life insurance, skiing, mountain biking, and horseback riding are also available.

With our wallets and eyeballs intact, we skirted Queenstown and headed toward Te Anau, gateway to the Fiordland National Park. We stayed at the modern, convenient Top Ten Motor Park in Te Anau. Top Ten campgrounds are all over New Zealand, as are purveyors of Tip Top ice cream. Every convenient store, called “dairies” in New Zealand, bears a Tip Top sign outside. Sawyer loves the Tip Tops because they have nice playgrounds and kids to play with. He’s not the least bit shy about asking other kids to play.


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