This morning we went on the Shotover Jet Boat. Nathan, our driver, graduate of the Del School of Black Humour, let us know that he had been driving the jet boats for at least a couple of days. Although coupled with the long screed you have to read about you or your next of kin not being able to sue them if anything went wrong, his comments perhaps weren't well judged.
Anyway, here are a few photos, which you are very lucky to get because there is also some warning about dropping your camera over the side and them not going back to get it.
Right, that one is a bit of a cheat, because it's not us. It's the people who went after us and it was then I realised that I hadn't actually got a photo of the boat. It's blurred, but that's not because I am a crap photographer; it is because they are going fast.
Right, this is us...
We got closer to the rocks than that. Again, small photo not really doing the thrill factor justice. That's Edith Cavell Bridge up ahead. As with Scott, I feel that I ought to know more about her... What was she famous for? Someone enlighten me...
I do have a short bit of video of the trip, including their infamous 360 degree turn, which he started off giving us warning that he was going to do, and then kind of didn't. I'm trying to find some webspace to upload it so you can see, but no such luck so far.
Anyway, here's a bit more speed...
It was very cold and the heated handrails that you have to hold onto weren't working yet, as we were the first trip of the day.
Here's one more. I know they're not very good, but you have to appreciate that my fingers weren't really working properly...
We can apparently access the Alton-Towers-esque souvenir photos they take of you on the web. If I can find it, I'll share it with you at a later date. They fleeced us for $39 for the photo pack anyway, so you can always see it when I get back...
4 comments:
Edith Cavell, the daughter of the rector of Swardeston, Norfolk, was born in 1865. After training as a nurse at the London Hospital she became the first matron of the Berkendael Medical Institute in Brussels.
After the German Army invaded Belgium in 1914, Berkendael became a Red Cross hospital for wounded soldiers regardless of their nationality. On 5th August 1915, she was arrested by the Germans and charged with having helped about 200 allied soldiers to escape to neutral Holland.
Cavell was kept in solitary confinement for nine weeks, during which time she was tricked by the Germans into making a confession.
Edith Cavell was tried by court-martial, and along with her Belgian accomplice, Philippe Baucq, was found guilty and sentenced to death. Cavell's execution by firing-squad on 12th October, 1915, received world-wide press coverage.
Nice to be able to educate the teacher for a change, even if I did have to look it up myself!
xx
Thanks Ann! I got as far as finding out she was a nurse, so yours is a vast improvement. If you can now find out exactly why this particular bridge was named after her?? Not like you've anything else to do! Thanks again, it's really appreciated!!
x
History lesson continues....
The bridge was constructed in 1918 replacing two previous wooden bridges. An admirer named the bridge after Edith Cavell, the WW1 heroine. This admirer simply took a paintbrush and daubed the bridge with her name, which stayed like this for some time till made official.
One of the Canadian Rockies is called Mount Edith Cavell - she obviously stuck in people's minds when they were naming things!
I'm going to catch up with your Action Man exploits now........
You are a star! Thanks Ann! x
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