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Quintessentially NZ things I still haven’t done

What do you think of when you hear ‘New Zealand’? Probably Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit – majestic, untouched landscapes, that kind of thing.

We’ve ridden this Middle-earth wave for a decade, and while we locals may be well and truly over it, the rest of the world is not. Everywhere we went, that’s what people associated with New Zealand.

Sometimes people assume I was an extra in the movies, or that I’ve bungied AT LEAST once. Nope and nope.

Thrillseekers Canyon Bungy, Hanmer Springs

By: Aidan

Bungy jumping

We may be the home of bungy but I have to admit this is one activity I never, ever plan to do. I’ve skydived as part of a media trip, and that is enough for me. Voluntarily leaping off a bridge is too extreme for my blood.

Swimming with dolphins

I’m a bit torn on this one. I really love the idea of swimming amongst dolphins, but I don’t do well in deep water and I suspect I might freak out a little (or a lot) if I was actually out the in the ocean surrounded by creatures, no matter how cute they were. And that would be a terrible situation to panic in.

Glow worm caves

Not a big fan of small dark spaces either, but I think I could probably handle it just to see the spectacle of glow worms at Waitomo.

Hot air ballooning

Hot air ballooning would be pretty neat – granted, I’m a wuss when it comes to heights, but this would be a pretty gentle way to get airborne. Oddly, I never really had any interest in this at all until I saw something online about ballooning over the Bagan temples in Myanmar (it wasn’t that particular link; I can’t remember where the original was). Seriously, how cool would that be? I kinda want to visit Myanmar now and see it from the air.

Scenic flights

When we were tossing around booking a trip to Queenstown, T suggested doing a scenic helicopter ride. The prices for scenic flights can be pretty obscene, but I reckon in the right area it could be well worth it – I’m thinking over glacier country…




11 thoughts on “Quintessentially NZ things I still haven’t done

  • Reply save. spend. splurge. April 23, 2014 at 09:22

    BF wants to bungy but he’s scared he’ll hurt his back..

    As for me, I want to go to the glow worm caves and do the hot air balloon thing once in my life.

    I lived in Toronto for a good 10 years before I even went up in the CN tower when someone came to visit for the first time 😛 😛

    Locals never visit their own sites… oddly enough. I think it’s because we figure we have a whole lifetime to do it.

  • Reply Michelle April 23, 2014 at 10:09

    Haha this post really makes me want to visit New Zealand! All of this sounds amazing.

  • Reply Mario Adventuresinfrugal April 23, 2014 at 10:25

    Ah, yes. Majestic untouched landscapes are what I’d come looking for. Of these, I imagine the balloon rides and flights would work best for that.

  • Reply Clarisse @ Make Money Your Way April 23, 2014 at 11:35

    Honestly, when I heard the word New Zealand, the first thing that came into my mind is cow milk! 🙂 We had an advertisement before about the fresh milk that came from the New Zealand country.

  • Reply Sense April 23, 2014 at 17:08

    The glow worm caves at Waitomo are huge; no small dark spaces there if you do the big walking/boat tours they take grannies on. Just don’t do the water tubing tour like I did. 🙂 My worst fear is dying in a small dark space with water. During the tour they had to demonstrate where to put your feet while jumping backward off of a waterfall so you didn’t get sucked down into the underwater channel. Oh, also there are eels that might bite you. Yeah…not the most fun I’ve ever had. (Floating down the cave river with glowworms above in complete darkness was spectacular though!)

  • Reply Manda April 23, 2014 at 23:58

    GLOW WORM CAVES?! I had no idea those existed but HOLY HELL do they sound cool! As does everything else on this list. Guess I have a rough idea of things to do if I ever make it down to NZ for a visit 😉

  • Reply The Asian Pear April 24, 2014 at 01:36

    But the question is… Have you ZORBed yet?!?! I wanna go zorbing!! 😀

    • Reply eemusings April 24, 2014 at 22:04

      Ha! Nope I haven’t, I would be open to it though I wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

  • Reply Brian @ Luke1428 April 24, 2014 at 14:12

    Love the pictures…I’m ready to come. My family loves caving so we would be all over the glow worm caves. That looks fun.

  • Reply Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life April 24, 2014 at 23:06

    I try to set aside some time during the summer to be a “tourist” in my own town. After almost 10 years I finally walked the Brooklyn Bridge. I have yet to go to the top of the Empire State Building though.

  • Reply Daisy @ Prairie Eco Thrifter April 26, 2014 at 01:31

    I love this post! Those glowworm caves look SO cool. We have a lot of bungy jumping around here as well, which my dad is a huge fan of, but I just don’t know if I could stomach it. I am a bit afraid of heights as it is.

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