We realized early why TrollActive rafting was half the price of other companies.  The length of the river that they use for the rafting is minimal and we even walked back and did the main rapids again.  Nevertheless, it was fun and the guides tried hard to make it fun with games and stopping to jump off a small cliff into the river.  We did have a good time and it really wasn’t our fault that we couldn’t do another rafting trip but the lack of tourists.
After rafting, we drove down to Kristiansand from where we planned on taking a ferry to Denmark the next day.  We checked into our hotel which was pretty much next to the Ferry port.  We went to the grocery store to buy some Norwegian treats such as the brown goat cheese for Hendrik’s parents and “smash” which is a snack like bugles but they are covered in chocolate and also taste a bit of peanut butter.  We then wanted to find something to eat and wandered around the cost which was surrounded by some brilliant apartments, lovely playgrounds, and a beach.  It looked very pretty compared to some of the other parts of town.  We found one restaurant near the marina which had open air seating, a great view, and was reasonably priced, considering it was in Norway.  At least the portions were quite large as well.  Of course we did not have any alcohol or our bill would have been double.  On our way back to the hotel, we followed a walking tour outlined in one of our many guidebooks.  The center of town was rather cute so we were glad we went.

McDonald’s in Kristiansand

When we were about three blocks away from our hotel we saw another playground.  There was no lack of playgrounds in Kristiansand.  There, there  was a swing which was more like a ½ a basket in which you could practically lie. Hendrik swung me on it and I noticed I had to keep my legs stretched out as after all it was meant for children and even though I’m short, my legs would still scrape the ground.  Since it was quite fun Hendrik had a go.  He is quite taller than me and in one swift moment he let his guard down and in one rapid swing he let his legs drop and his foot got bent the wrong way.  I’d never seen Hendrik in so much pain.  I immediately stopped the swing and he just laid there turning a bit green.  Eventually, he managed to make it to a nearby bench with my support, which was a good sign since it meant it was probably not broken.  He sat there and I went to get the car since he would not be able to make it back to the hotel.  I went to get the car and he was able to hop into it on one foot which was impressive.  I didn’t know he was such competition for kangaroos.  In the lobby, I asked if they had ice, they did not.  I quickly went into the store next door and at first couldn’t find ice so I debated getting a bag of frozen peas but then noticed that the ice was right next to the peas.  I was able to buy it just before the store closed.  We iced his foot a while and the next day he was feeling slightly better and was even able to drive his share of the 10 hour drive through Denmark, Germany, Holland, and finally Belgium.

We were back in town by 7:30 the next day and the boys were off to book their tour and Beata and I went to the tourist office to se what we wanted to do.  I knew I wanted to do the Shotover Canyon Swing since it looked unique.  I had already bungee jumped and been white water rafting and wanted to do something new. I had never seen anything like it, so I knew I wanted to try it.  Beata wanted to try bungee jumping but since everything was so incredibly overpriced in Queenstown she decided to only do one thing and that was also the Canyon Swing since she could bungee jump elsewhere for cheaper.

Me hugging the Queenstown Kiwi

So we paid an exorbitant amount and got ready for our jump.  They weighed us and drew pictures on our hands to symbolize our weight instead of having a number and being embarrassed.  My picture was of a decapitated stick figure falling into a canyon with blood pouring from the neck which made me feel very secure.  Beata’s was a snail, so apparently light people (since she is half my size) got cheery pictures, and I was jealous.  They took us by bus basically back towards the campsite and then to the location of the swing.  We had to walk to the platform and along the way were garden gnomes with little sayings, it was cute.
We put on our harnesses and when it was our turn we got to choose which style we were going to jump since there were many different ways.  I chose the “pin drop” which meant that I was just supposed to step off the platform and fall straight down feet first.  I had a very hard time forcing myself to step off the edge to plummet down since it is so unnatural to hop into a canyon.  The attendants refused to push me and kept making jokes which was good because it was stress relieving.  I finally jumped and it was over way too soon, I hardly knew what happened.  It was way worse just standing on the platform.
I wanted to do my second jump upside down where you would hang upside down and they would cut you loose and you’d fall but when I came up to the platform for my second jump I was told I was doing the “Chair of Death.”  I asked whether I could chose my own method of jumping and they said, ‘no’ and brought out the chair which was three plastic chairs stacked on top of each other and I was seat-belted to them.
“Won’t I look ridiculous with a plastic chair dangling from my ass down there?” I asked the attendant.
“Yes, I don’t know why you chose the death chair.”  I was supposed to lean back in the chair and topple over backwards.  Again, I couldn’t do it on my own and had a bit of help to tilt me over the edge and I did a back flip off the platform with a chair seat-belted to my bum.  I enjoyed the second jump more since I knew falling wasn’t too bad and it was cool to flip.

Then we went to Ferg Burgers and I don’t usually write about food but this is the best burger place ever and I had an amazing tofu burger, so when we met up with the boys and learned they went to McDonald’s I couldn’t help but make fun of them, but they didn’t care because they were too busy gloating because they thought they were superman after doing the Nevis bungee jump.

Beata Canyon Swinging

Coincidentally, they were white water rafting just when Beata was doing her Canyon Swing.  I had taken pictures of some of the rafts but since we thought they were rafting in the afternoon I didn’t pay too much attention to them, so I had every raft photographed but theirs because I was taking pictures of Beata just when their raft was going by and they still hold a grudge.

Unfortunately the next day was overcast and the dark clouds looked as if they were about to let the rain fall, but luckily they didn’t. I had packed my new hat in hopes of a sunny day and before I even got on the boat the string on it broke, and they wouldn’t even give me a new one later because I had thrown away my receipt.

We spent some time at Whitehaven Beach where there was the whitest and softest sand I’ve ever touched. Apparently it is good to polish jewelery on which I can attest to since I polished my old tarnished earrings in similar sand on Fraser Island, and they really did shine. The tides were really remarkable and the changes were dramatic. We were on the beach until the tides started to change and the water receded from the banks creating a stream. We had to leave or the boat would get stuck in the sand. But before we did I took a walk in the “creek” and on my way saw a stingray.

Our boat on Whitehaven Beach

Me on Whitehaven Beach as the tide goes out

Next we were going to go snorkelling amongst the coral and on our way there we saw a whale. We didn’t get very close but we could clearly see it breaching. I’ve never seen a whale in the wild before so I thought it was pretty spectacular. Then at the end it dived into the water and its fanned tail stuck out of the water and slowly sank like I’ve always seen in movies. The sun had even come out when we arrived at our snorkelling site which was nice, but the water was still cold. There were some beautiful fish and I spotted another stingray. There was a lot of Staghorn coral which is coral that looks like daggers and sometimes I’d follow a fish into the shallow end and realize that only a few inches bellow me were only spikes which was a bit frightening since the coral is sharp. Nevertheless, I avoided being stabbed.

When we arrived at the dock we noticed that instead of one flight of stairs (which we had climbed down) to get up to land we had two. The tide had uncovered a whole flight of stairs, with shells growing all over them. I thought that was pretty remarkable.