About a week ago we got to try the adrenaline activity canyoning in the area around Queenstown. Queenstown – a place where adrenaline oozes from every corner and the offer is so vast you need seriously deep pockets.
A mutual friend from the road once told us that a backpacker’s life is a hard one. True! But at the same time we backpackers (half broke) meet similar people with the same interests and different jobs. What follows from that?
Meeting people on the road, building friendships, swapping skills with each other or simply giving someone a bit of joy pays off down the line!
How to try canyoning in New Zealand
Our Canadian friend Tab has an English friend Rachel, who works as a canyoning instructor and happened to need three volunteers so she could put her skills to the test during her exams for a higher instructor level. In short… we were standing in the middle of a park, half in the mood, half euphoric, and we took the opportunity.
Who wouldn’t take it for free? The normal price is around 200 NZD.
Spontaneity – the reason we don’t like staged events. Suddenly we’re standing half-naked in a car park among people, pulling on our gear and heading off to have fun.
Canyoning is a mix of sports like rock climbing, swimming, hiking… What nobody mentions, though, is that it takes place in cold water at 10 degrees (especially in New Zealand). Yes, we had wetsuits, but what good is that when your hands and head are bare? The water slowly trickles down inside the wetsuit all the way to your backside. I think I was briefly an ICE CUBE, but I came round with the next drop into freezing water.
For activities like this it definitely pays to have sports insurance arranged, covering risky sports and unexpected injuries.
How does canyoning work?
First a climb up above the canyon in full gear (whatever you do, don’t tighten your buoyancy vest, because halfway up the hill you’ll hear your purple-faced buddy wheezing behind you and slowly resuscitating), then an abseil down to where the adventure began!
Along the way: wading through icy water, jumps from high ledges and low ones, being carried by the current, floating through narrow canyons and more abseiling down tens of metres. We also panned for gold and swam under waterfalls. The whole thing kept us on edge about what was coming next.
Nature is mighty and people can dream up all sorts of nonsense, so don’t hesitate – give it a go! You’ll get mild frostbite and the lads’ bits will have shrunk a little, but once you’ve dried off and had a hot drink everything will be rosy again – well, bigger.
Rachel would definitely appreciate it if you used her services. Fun, attentive and above all an instructor who demonstrates within reason and then lets you try all sorts of things yourself. You’ll find her at Canyoning Queenstown.
Travel with a backpack, and if you have canyoning experience of your own, add the hashtag #cestujsbatohem to your photos and share your story with us.
