And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

Roald Dahl

I have to admit, in the last few months, I’ve been sucked back into the ‘online world’, and feeling the need to constantly be posting somewhere, reading blogs, and seeing what everyone else is up to.
For a good while, I didn’t feel like this. I had it down, and I was pretty stoked just to live my own life and roll however, whenever I liked, and not feel the need to be so god damn connected all the time.

I’m a huge advocate of getting offline and off the screen as much as possible, and finding inspiration in experience, and life itself, but lately I feel like I’ve been breaking my own rule on this one.

Sometimes it can be pretty damn overwhelming consuming so much info. And more so, I find myself comparing my work and my lifestyle to other people, which ain’t such a good thing either. Its a crazy cycle, and over time, you feel although you’re starting to loose yourself, as you live vicariously through all of these other people.

All in all, this has happened to me before, and the only thing I found that worked was to ditch Bloglovin and all the blog checking, and just be a hell of a lot more aware of the time I spend online, and use more wisely.

I’ve also been brainstorming for a side project or something that involves getting out and exploring, and discovering new things, offline. I have a habit of jumping into things too quickly sometimes though, so I’m really taking the time to think over new ideas & projects before I start working on them.

So to anyone feeling the same way, it’s time to let go. Let go of the pressure, let go of the need to be connected 24/7. Go easy on yourself friends.

What do you usually do when the same thing happens to you?

photo: Lou Mora

So most of the photos pretty much speak for themselves, but here’s a few deets of where I went, incase you ever find yourself down around Queenstown and you want some sweet places to check out!

Glenorchy. This one can be pretty touristy, as its about 45min from Queenstown, at the head of Lake Wakatipu, which Queenstown is bang next to. The drive up there is amazing, and out of the few days I was there, it was cloudy most of the time, but for my drive up to Glenorchy the sun came out!

Milford. I never actually made it right to Milford, which I was kind of gutted about, considering I drove about 280km of the 300km or so from Queenstown… The road was closed due to some rockfall, but none the less, the part that I did was damn amazing. The road was closed at Hollyford, and it just so happened that there was a sweet backcountry road right next to the closure, that lead about 20km into the bush… Of course, I had to suss it out. (There was Campervans and other people heading down there so I wasn’t too scared or anything!) It was pissing down with rain, but I found a few pretty sweet waterfalls + rivers.

Treble Cone + Mount Aspiring National Park. Treble Cone is a ski-field in the Winter, but come summer, it seems like the ski fields down there are pretty damn desserted. The road up to Treble Cone was closed, but the road out there, and the road beyond Treble are pretty amazing. Heading past TC is an unsealed backcountry road, that leads up to Mount Aspiring National Park, where a lot of hikes depart from. I didn’t do any hiking or anything while I was there, but if you love a good roadie & are up for some 4WD-ing, get amongst this road. Amazing scenery, and I barely saw one person the whole time.

The Remarkables. Another ski field, this one’s pretty much right next to Queenstown. And this one was pretty much deserted too. I have some kind of strange fascination with ski fields in the off season. They’re like these completely forgotten worlds… But they’re still so awesome. The road up to this one was pretty intense, I think you could drive up there with 2WD if you wanted, but driving 13km on an unsealed road up the side of a mountain defo calls for 4WD if you ask me! The views up there are amazing, and they beat what you’d see up the Gondola any day… And hey, zilch tourists too!

I spent the better part of last week down in Queenstown, for a much needed getaway.
Queenstown is pretty much the adventure capital of New Zealand, if not the world… Every crazy thing you can think of, you can probably do it in Queenstown. Jet boating, bungy jumping, sky diving, paragliding, rafting, etc etc…
The thought of doing a bungy had never even crossed my mind until the week before I left. For some reason I felt the urge to do something extreme, and I told my pal Tara that I was heading down to Qtown, and she used to work at the Nevis Bungy, (which is the one I did), and she told me to hit it up.

Next thing you know, I was doing the Nevis Bungy + Swing a couple of hours after I got off the plane from Auckland.

It’s an experience you can’t really put into words or photos… Its one of those things you just have to do to really know what it feels like, and how fucking amazing it is. It was hands down, the best experience of my life. Sure, it was scary as shit, but the adrenalin + the sheer FUN of the whole experience outweighs the fear any day of the week. Any. Damn. Day.

They have a swing at the same site, so I figured I may as well do both. Most of us did the bungy first, and then headed over to the swing on another platform.
I think shit only got real just as I was standing on the edge, ready to jump. I really didn’t think I was going to be able do it, but then somehow, all I thought was ‘Okay, time to do this shit’. Once you get over that initial fear of jumping off the ledge, its the most awesome feeling in the world. I loved every second of it. And I’m pretty sure I’ll do it again.

They have sweet tunes playing on both platforms, which as you can imagine, adds to the awesomeness of the whole experience a shit load. I think I jumped off to some ACDC, and I some Calvin Harris was busting out when I was being lifted back up.

The swing happens to be the biggest one in the world (!!), and that was just as insane. You don’t have to force yourself off a ledge though, you just sit in your harness and then they drop you, and you fly face first towards a cliff face!
They we’re both equally as scary, but the swing was SO much fun, since you get to literally just chill in a giant ass swing for a while.

One of the many reasons the Nevis was so baller was that because its in a semi-backcountry canyon, they have to take you up there in one of their 4WD buses. It’s on private land too, so no annoying ass tourists watching, unlike the other AJ Hackett sites around NZ. (You can pay to be a spectator, but really… why would you bother…) The only people there are the staff + the jumpers. Everyone is shitting themselves, but it just adds to the radness. You’re all in the same boat.

A lot of people had said to me they’d never be able to bungy, but I think anyone who’s willing to take the risk, they’re the only ones who deserve the sheer amazingness of what’s on the other side. You can’t get that feeling through words or photos. You have to do it yourself. You have to throw yourself off the fucking ledge. If any of you peeps are considering doing a bungy, or something equally as extreme, I say do it. Don’t think about it, and just do it.

So now that I’ve got the bungy down I’m pretty damn keen to keep rolling on the ‘extreme’ sports front… Nothing beats that rush of adrenaline. Absolutely nothing.

Stay tuned for some more Queenstown goodness.

A few snaps from my weekend. Saturday the 1st was ma 23rd birthday!
I headed up to Piha for the day with my mum, which was sweet since we’d never been there before.
And Sunday involved cruising with my bro + having some much needed chill time.

I’m heading down to Queenstown for a few days tomorrow, for a little getaway + some adventuring. I’ve even managed to book myself for a bungy jump here, on Thursday morning. (Yep, I’m scared as shit, but I figure I may as well get amongst it! I’m not usually an adrenalin junkie, but for some reason I didn’t think about it too much, and I just BOOKED IT. I’m pumped.)

So needless to say I shall have some stories to tell upon my return!