My Birthday
To cut a long story short (unusual for me I know), heres some pics of some of what I did on my birthday this year.
Having survived a bungee jump off a bridge the day before, I fell over a treestump in the dark (on my way to the pub, I hadn't had a drink yet) onto a rock and really bruised my left shoulder and right hand.
Because of that, I cancelled the cable car bungee (the Nevis - an 143m extreme jump) and was in two minds whether to do the skydive. As it happened, the skydive was cancelled due to bad weather, so I did this instead.
A 'Fly-by-Wire', where you get suspended in a canyon with a huge steerable aircraft propellor strapped to your feet, then get winched up the side, put the throttle on full, hit the release and fly like superman in big rings around the canyon!
After the FBW I felt I had to rest my arm, and where better to do it than in the open air Spa at Pinewood lodge? When the clouds lifted we got a beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains, as the hot water bubbled around us.
Then I did a night bungee off 'The Ledge' on a hill, high above Queenstown.
After my bungy, we went to 'Speights' for dinner. Chops is trying to hold me back so I can't blow out my candles, he underestimated how much hot air I can produce when I want to.
That night, we did a pub crawl through Queenstown. Much beer, wine and vodka was consumed and much rubbish was spoken. We ended up in Winnie Bagoe's, a Jumping Jacks type place which has a nifty trick of having the whole roof open outwards when it gets too hot (very nifty indeed in the ski season - apparently when they open it during a downpour, the entire bar gets a layer of snow on it...) Chops had a word with the band (2 guitars and a bongo player) about getting them to sing the classic 'Happy Birthday' song. They wouldn't with those instruments. Instead, they made up a quick happy birthday jig about 'a man called Mr Yellow...'
The highlight of the night though wasn't the roof opening or the song, it was the normally quiet and unassuming Mr White, who after having quite a lot to drink, started swinging from the rafters. He'd had a word with chops beforehand, who'd managed to persuade him to swing from the rafters with his belt and trousers undone and try to hook his legs up around the beam. Not realising any of this was happening, I just saw the final swing as his legs went up, and his white arse started swinging out into the crowd. I've had a good time here in New Zealand, and laughed a lot, but nothing prepared me for that. The fact it was Mark, Mr (Barry) White as well?!? It is without a doubt the single funniest thing I've seen in a long time.