Hydro Attack, Queenstown

Hi there

Over the last few years, when I've been in Queenstown, I've often watched the Hydro Attack 'shark' on the lake.

The shark looks like a jet fighter without the wings.  It sits the 'pilot' and a passenger.  Across the water it has a top speed of 80 kms per hour.  It dives down to 5ft under the water, going 50 kms per hour.  And, oh, it jumps up to 18ft out of the water, rearing up onto its tail.   The shark was invented by a New Zealander, it's sold to very rich overseas people and before Covid-19 lockdowns, several resorts around the world were offering the ride to the public. 

"I'm interested," I said timidly to the guys behind the counter at the wharf.  I had many worries:  Would I have a heart attack?  Would I faint?  Get claustrophobic?  Die?

It took a while, about twenty minutes of my going and returning to the counter, trying to make a decision, but in the end I handed over my $129 for the maybe-twenty five minute experience.  

My young pilot led me to the wharf edge and I peered down into the cockpit of the shark.  It was so cramped inside.

After half-a-dozen embarrassing attempts I finally - phew! - dropped down into the back seat of the cockpit.  The pilot drew back the hatch cover and we were off -

Wow!  It was fabulous.  We raced speedboat-like across the water and every so often shot, nose-down, under the lake where the water was the most beautiful blue-green.  We jumped up out of  the lake to all but stand high on our shark's tail. 

A couple of times we stopped, and  the pilot opened the hatch for a breather and a view. 

When we returned to the wharf, the pilot hopped out and asked me to hop out, too.

Hop out?  Hop out!  I couldn't.  To all intents and purposes I was stuck in the shark. I'd be there forever.  

At the beach when I'm sitting flat on the wooden deck, I have to turn around and push myself up on all four limbs.  There was no room to do this in the shark.

"I can't do it!  I can't do it!  I can't!"  I couldn't get leverage to pull myself up from the narrow seat.  There was a rope pull attached to the back of the pilot's seat but that didn't work for me either. 

In the end, after about 15 minutes, I pretended  I was in my bathtub at home, gripped the edges of my seat and heartily pushed myself up and out but, oh goodness, I only just made it.  I shudder to think I could have been the first person to capsize the shark  It hadn't helped when the pilot announced loftily that a 91 year old man had had no trouble getting in or out -