A few years ago, my son, Aaron, planned what turned out to be the vacation a of a lifetime to New Zealand. I’m generally okay for going a bit beyond my comfort zone and so when he said we’d be doing a “some”white water rafting, some hiking, some hang gliding and some rappelling and canyoneering (I didn’t know what this was at the time), I cautiously agreed. I figured that since we’d have private guides with each adventure, they’d all be relatively safe.
True, we had private guides with each adventure, but little did I know that nearly all of them were considered “extreme” and some of them fell into the category of the world’s highest, or longest, or most dangerous commercial tour. I’m not sure what possessed me to just go with the flow, but reflecting back on the experience, it was truly the most amazing and exhilarating trip I’ve ever taken. I mean, after taking a running start, I actually jumped off a 500 foot cliff with just some “wings” that probably were originally envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci. Is as in the air for 8 minutes flying over some of the most scenic hills in southern New Zealand. (It was Christmas time there, hence my flying partner and guide was in a Santa suit).
And it certainly didn’t stop there. My son didn’t tell me that we were going on the world’s tallest white water rafting adventure in the world. He reassured me that it was “safe”. See for yourself:
Nor did he indicate that our “hiking”adventure” would start with a 600 fold rappelling drop into a cave and then proceed for SEVEN hours though chest high waters lit only by glow worms and our head lamps. At times, we had to crawl and squeeze head first along narrow passages where it was so tight we could barely breathe:
This last photo is where we finally reached the exit of the cave. Never had I ever been so relieved to see daylight!!
The beauty was simply breathtaking and danger or not, I would do it again in a heartbeat!!!
Then there was the 
