If you're looking for an adrenaline high, there may be no easier place to find it, but New Zealand, after all, this is the country that invented commercial bungee jumping pioneered right here at the Kawarau bridge.

 

For more ways to just feel glad you're alive, wander into the mountain resort of Queenstown, New Zealand's epicenter of adventure.

 

“We're quite proud. We called ourselves adventure capital of the world. There're so many adventures to visit. In fact we worked out, if you did one of every type of activity, you may need 60 days.”

 

It's tough enough to jump at Kawarau, but at other sites in Queenstown, the drop is enough to make adventure seem like lunacy.

 

“People who have really tried hard to jump are the ones who get the most out of it.”

 

At least that's the theory.

 

That's great.

 

To see Queenstown's rivers from another perspective, try rowing down one in a jet boat. There's no propeller, so the boat can operate in just a few inches of water.

 

Jet boats were invented to navigate New Zealand's shallow rivers, but it turned out they were just as effective scaring the daylights out of customers’ paying for the privilege.

 

Queenstown has enough adventure activities to easily fill a week. And you can often get your thrills on a budget by booking several adventures at once. And while Queenstown offers one-stop adventure shopping, there're plenty of other places in New Zealand to get your pulse racing.  On the north island, the volcanic area of Rotorua is home to gizers, rate hiking, and an odd orb called the zorb.

 

“Just rolling around, not knowing where you're, which way you're going, sliding over and under each other.”

 

David Aker, his brother and another New Zealander invented the Zorb in 1994.

 

“There're some people that just did bungee jump, that may be gonna do anything we're going to introduce on earth and it's terrifying for them.”

 

“Well, it seemed like a good idea at that time. But I'll tell you at the bottom.”

 

First timers often feel anxious as the zorb heads down hill but just about the time you think this is an activity better suited to hamsters than humans. The zorb literally knocks you off your feet. You can't steer it, or stop it, yet you can't help but enjoy it.

 

So if you are headed to New Zealand and you got a little spare cash and a fairly strong stomach, you too can do something crazy and live to tell the tale.