Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand (April, 2014)

After heading back to Queenstown from Milford Sound, we planned an adrenaline-filled day, including riding jet boats through Shotover Canyon, bungy jumping, and riding canyon swings.

First thing in the morning, we bundled up and made our way to Shotover Canyon.  To our surprise, they let both Nash and Zander ride the boat with us so we were able to get our whole family in the boat (except for Cy and grandma Toni, who stayed with Cy to let Emily go with Kip).  The trip was awesome…we were ripping at high speeds through narrow canyons with rock walls on both sides, periodically doing power slides and donuts in tight places that you'd never dream of trying to do these types of tricks.  The boat drivers were amazingly skilled and were trained to keep the boats within inches of the rock walls.  The air was frigid early in the morning, which made the experience even more fun when the water splashed us in the face.

 Our crew, doing a power slide after exiting Shotover canyon.

 The crew, just before getting on the boat.

Sawyer, all bundled up and excited for the Shotover Canyon jet boat ride.

Our next adventure of the day was the Nevis Bungy, which is the highest in New Zealand.  Nevis also has the highest canyon swing in the world, which we also did.  The bungy jump is 440 feet (134 meters) of free falling which lasts 8.5 seconds and it's over a deep canyon with a river at the bottom.  Everyone was nervous and the excitement and fear continued to build throughout the day.

 Cody, taking the plunge into the gorge below from the Nevis Bungy platform.

Eliza, swan diving into the gorge below from the Nevis bungy platform.

After our fun-filled day around Queenstown, we were ready to continue our South Island adventure and head up towards Wanaka and the beautiful scenery further north...