Everything can change in a minute

Yesterday I was fairly gutted to hear that my adopted country and hometown, Christchurch, New Zealand was rocked by a major earthquake. This sort of news is something no one wants to hear, especially about a place so near and dear to one’s heart.

Below is a video highlighting some of quake’s the aftermath:



For those of you who haven’t had the good fortune to visit the amazingly awesome country of New Zealand, I can tell you with great enthusiasm that there is a very good reason NZ is fondly referred to as ‘Godzone’. Not only is New Zealand stunningly beautiful but so too is the spirit of its people.

Kiwis are hardy souls and no doubt my fellow Cantabrians are already focused on productively moving forward …which is but another reason why I ♥ New Zealand.

Bungy, Oh Yes I Did!

I am all for having new adventures but sometimes a quest for adventure can really force you to step outside your comfort zone. While in Queenstown, New Zealand (otherwise known as the adventure capital of the world) a group of friends and I decided that we should sign up for a crazy triple adventure package. Jet boating was absolutely thrilling. The ride through the canyon up to the bungy jumping site was gorgeous. It was all good up until the point where we had to walk across a suspension bridge perched nearly 340 feet over the raging Shotover River canyon. It probably didn’t help my nerves at all when midway through the bungy harness being attached to my lower legs the technician decides to bugger off and go on a coffee break—only to have a completely different technician step in about five minutes later and commence with hooking up the rest of the harness. So there I was about to voluntarily fling myself off a very high bridge in the middle of nowhere and all I could wonder was what if during the staff switcharoo they accidentally skipped one of the steps in hooking up the bungy harness. Seriously, like where the f*ck was OSHA at a time like that? Fear ensued but at that point I didn’t have much choice but to hop myself over to the edge of the bungy platform and prepare to jump. I knew unfortunately that the only way I was going to get back to our hotel with any sort of dignity intact was to jump off that bridge, get picked up by an awaiting boat and be jetted down the river to our helicopter waiting on shore. And I REALLY wanted to experience that helicopter ride. So I said the sort of prayer anyone facing potential death might say and I then swan-dived to one of the most incredibly disorienting, exhilarating and crazy adventure experiences I have ever had -- so far… (Scroll down for bungy video in next post)