Jet Boating

This is our crew on Wednesday morning at the Dart River, where we took a 3 hour jet boat tour.


This is a jet boat. It will go approximately 60 mph on as little as 4 inches of water depth. New Zealanders use it to take Australian and American tourists on tours of their glacial rivers.








This is Brendon (New Zealanders pronounce it "Brindun"). Brendon drives jet boats for a living. Brendon is the product of a society with very few frivolous lawsuits (see "Reflections"). He drives jet boats extremely fast and close to large stationary objects that would kill everyone in his boat, if he accidentally struck one.




This is a picture of the hillside along the Dart River. It was really pretty. I show this picture because it really shows how massive the mountains are. If you click on the picture to maximize it on your screen, you will see tiny white dots (for those, like my parents, who may have marginal eye sight, take my word for it, there are tiny white dots). These tiny white dots are sheep.

This is a picture of Rachel on a jet boat. We will refer to this as the "Before" picture.










This is the "After" picture. Did I mention that Brendon would periodically spin the jet boat, wetting the people on the ends of the back row?








It's ALL good!












This is a video that Tim shot on the jet boat.




Here are some more pictures of the scenery that we saw while out on the jet boat.




















































































The picture below is a great shot of the lake that the Dart River runs into. Since it was sunny on our way back to Queenstown, the water was beautiful.



















REFLECTIONS - My Favorite Thing About NZ

I have many "favorites" regarding New Zealand. The scenery, the weather, the people are all great. However, my favorite thing about New Zealand is its legal system, or should I say lack of one. Don't get me wrong... some of my best friends are lawyers. Some of them even read this blog (good time for a DISCLAIMER: the words written here are only opinion and are written mostly for entertainment purposes. Therefore, they should not be construed as the foundation for libel or slander).

We took part in many, many activities during this part of the trip (you will read about them in future blogs), and I only signed one waiver or legal document. Had we been in the United States, we would have been forced to sign 600 pages of paperwork and pay 35% higher prices to cover the associated attorney fees.

Someone (I think it was Tim) told us the story of a ski resort in NZ, which had a sign posted at the top of one of its double-black diamond runs - "This course for Experts only. If you are not an expert skier, you will get hurt. Attention Americans, you cannot sue us; it will be your own fault."

To demonstrate what I am talking about, I have 2 videos below where Brendon, the "Bo Duke" of jet boat driving runs the old jet boat right up next to a large boulder. If Rachel would have stuck her arm out of the right side of the boat, I would have a one-armed wife.