I want to go to New Zealand.

After reading several articles in last Sunday’s Enquirer, it seems like the ideal place to go.

The geography looks fantastic! There’s a variety of awesome landscapes, from glaciers and mountains to vast plains and beaches, all within close proximity to each other. It’s a great place to go backpacking, cycling, etc. The weather seems like it would be perfect, too, with temperatures rarely falling below freezing or rising above 86°F.

There’s so much more than just the beautiful landscapes, though. It’s also arguably the extreme adventure, adrenaline-junky capital of the world. Not only did New Zealand give us bungee jumping, but now they’re giving us Fly By Wire.

For Fly By Wire, you’re secured in a “personal little rocket ship” 350 feet above a canyon in Queenstown. You have full pilot control of a high-speed tethered plane for the seven minute flight, which starts out going from zero to 81 mph in 2 seconds, and reaches speeds up to 106 mph. Whoa! Did I mention you have full control of this thing? You steer and you adjust the throttle over the course of your flight.

It doesn’t stop there, though. New Zealand also has many other adrenaline sports, such as:

Tandem hang gliding - Self explanatory…

Heli-bungee - Yep, that’s bungee jumping from a helicopter.

Canyon Swing at Shotover River - Jump off the cliff-mounted platform 360 feet above Queenstown’s Shotover River, then freefall 200 feet into the canyon before the ropes smoothly pendulum you into a giant arc at 90 mph.

Zorbing - I’ve seen this one on The Amazing Race and other TV shows. The zorb is a clear plastic sphere inside another, inflated sphere. The rider steps inside the ball and then tumbles down the hill. There are plans to take the zorb onto New Zealand’s swift rivers and over waterfalls, which would be absolutely awesome!

An added bonus is that New Zealand was the location for the filming of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It would be awesome to visit those sites as well.

Maybe I’ll skip my vacation this year and save up for NZ next year…