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I was aware, every so often, of a shadow passing over my tent. I was lying there, reading my book, watching as the shadow passed overhead, flicking little black and white patterns on the fabric...
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camping
activities
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The man with the grey beard said he had done everything before, heights didn't worry him, and hang gliding would be a piece of cake.
"I was once a paratrooper," he told me after first...
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hanggliding
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I must admit, I felt a little bit like Sam the hobbit. I had my pots and pans, my special little box of salt and spices. I even had some fish and "tatters" (Po-ta-toes). All I wanted now was for Gollum to catch me a brace of "conies". But I don't think my Gollum was up to that. My Gollum was...
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camping
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My guide was a tad confused. He claimed to be a Lord of the Rings specialist, but kept referring to "That wizard guy, Randalf", and "Gimpy the dwarf". When asked about the making of the film he was...
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lordoftherings
tours
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I have heard lots of stories about bungy jumping. I have heard how people have been too scared to jump, how they have frozen solid with fear on the platform, how their life has flashed before their eyes while Barbara Streisand sung "The Way We Were" with a full orchestra in their head. And, I...
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bungy
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The piano player looked almost as old as the boat. Her grey hair was tied up in a bun, her glasses reflected the sunshine coming in from the windows like the bottoms of two milk bottles. "Plinkety...
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boats
water
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I sometimes wonder what the attraction is. Why do they do it? Is it to stand out from the crowd, to be remembered by those racing past in their cars? Or is it art? I'm talking about towns that...
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fruity
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I'm like a big kid when it comes to trains. Especially old steam trains. Now don't get me wrong, I'm no trainspotter. I don't even own an anorak. But steam trains take me back to my childhood, when...
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trains
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It was like one of those TV shows you see late at night sometimes, which show the crazy things people get up to when drinking at nightclubs and bars. Everywhere I went was full of loud music, dancing, flashing lights, bare flesh. And to think that this goes on in one of the most beautiful corners...
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fun
vibrant
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Have you ever had the feeling that a painting's eyes are following you around the room? I definitely did at in Wanaka, about an hour from Queenstown in New Zealand's South Island. But I wasn't just...
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puzzles
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It looked dangerous. So how could I resist.
The safety equipment I was issued with consisted of a standard bike helmet, not really a lot when I was about to reach speeds of roughly a zillion miles an hour on a small kart, my bottom a meer inches away from skin peeling asphalt. But it was...
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luge
fun
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The guy sitting behind the front desk looked strangely familiar. We nodded at each other and exchanged "Hellos" as the cogs in my brain tried to place where I had seen him before. He was obviously...
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warbirds
aviation
aircraft
museums
wanaka
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I never thought a meal could beat me. I never thought I could sit down to a plate of food served at a public restaurant and not see the other side. Ever since I was a child and Dad told me I would...
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queenstown
lonestar
restaurants
food
extremedining
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My paraglide pilot, the guy I was going to be strapped to, looked like the perfect man. Damn, why do these guys always look so good? Tanned and muscled, speaking with a slow "No Worries" New Zealand accent, greeting everyone and everything with a lop-sided grin. For a moment jealously made its...
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paragliding
queenstown
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