Wanaka: Heli-Biking

Agra is believedsite of an ancient Hindu Kingdom, but the city
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January 8, 2005:
Today, we packed up our stuff and we took off for our heli-biking tour in wanaka. That was very cool. We took a helicopter which was loads of fun and so beautiful over wanaka lake area. Then we got dropped off with our bikes. The owner/guide was meticulous about the care of these bikes and they looked brand new! That made me feel quite good about the ride in general. He took a lot of care for this trip. We started on our ride a ways, but I was lagging. I was cramping and the air was very thin, so I was hufffing and puffing. The downhill was more fun, but also more scary.

Journal Continued:
There was a lot of loose rocks and gravel which I don't much like. My favorite was the smooth grassy areas, but that was few and far between. Then we were given three choices for the downhill. The first was the easy route... mostly green and smooth. The other two were more tricky. Josh opted for the latter of the choices... and it was very tricky.

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I tried hard to keep things under control and I was doing pretty well until I hit a creek the wrong way and flipped over the handle bars. Well actually, I first hit a rock which, then I tried to recover from it, but I couldn't slow down because it was all gravel. But before I could slow down, there was a small creek approaching me very quickly. I couldn't slow down, I could regain control... so I hit the creek at full speed. I flew over my handlebars about ten feet, the bike flew over my head and past my body another five feet.

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As I flew, I plowed my way through dirt and grass and nearly hit a sheep. I had dirt in my mouth, I scratched up my face, bruised my ribs, bruised my left leg and hurt my right hand... it still hurts alot actually and am worried that it is broken or something. But we weren't done yet. I still had some more downhill to do... all battered and bruised. So I got back on the horse and kept going until we got to the bottom.

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I forgot to mention that the views from the mountain were just amazing as well. we were up 4.5Km and could see for miles. The ridge along the top was nice and rolling and then it dropped down onto the town with craggly rocks and mountains in the distance. When we got dropped off by the plane... there was even snow at the top. We were high. After the ride, we grabbed a drink at an old goldmining bar -- a congratulations for accomplishing the mountain ride.

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Yep, so after canyoning and heli-biking, I was pretty torn up. We had another nice dinner in which I could barely eat as my chin was thrashed and it hurt to chew or smile or laugh.

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Still recovering from by bruises and broken bones, we had one more VERY IMPORTANT stop to make before we left Wanaka for good. We had to stop at the Toy and Transport museum. Some guy spent his entire lifetime collecting, collections of things. Plus cars, planes, bikes, and military gear. He indiscrimanately collected just about everything.

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The rest of the canyoning was rather uneventful after that. Mostly just fun. There were a few more jumps, lots of fun slip and slides, and alot of abseiling. I think that I would have enjoyed everything alot more if the water weren't so cold. Another fun one was a tandem slide that Josh and I did together. It was very bumpy though and I somehow bruised both my hips. I guess it is a dangerous sport.

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By the end of the day, I was very tired and a little beaten up. It was nice to take a shower, and get cleaned up and get something tasty to eat.

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Of course this place was like a dream for Josh and he spent hours and hours taking pictures of everything. I wandered around and found myself a nice shady spot underneath a bomber in the grass to rest my broken body. There was no point trying to leave before Josh had gotten to study every article in the museum.

Journal Continued:
By the end of the day, I was very tired and a little beaten up. It was nice to take a shower, and get cleaned up and get something tasty to eat.

Journal Continued:
By the end of the day, I was very tired and a little beaten up. It was nice to take a shower, and get cleaned up and get something tasty to eat.

Journal Continued:
We also stopped at one other place after the museum. It was a fun land for kids. It had all sorts of optical illusions and perspective things. There were kids everywhere running around in the playhouses.

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Well, and Josh and I had some fun too, taking pictures.

Journal Continued:
By the end of the day, I was very tired and a little beaten up. It was nice to take a shower, and get cleaned up and get something tasty to eat.