Bliss English Club

Hi Blissers,

Last Saturday, Stephanie Hong introduced some adventures and exciting sports to us.

1.   New Zealand

In Queenstown, New ZeaLand, adventure sports are usually fast, fun and sometimes dangerous. People come from around the world to do adventure sports in Queenstown –especially bungee jumping.

Kawarau Bridge was the first full-time bungee jump site in the world and is the place where adventure tourism began in New Zealand.

There’s more than just bungee jumping to do in New Zealand. Visitors can also go for a jetboat ride. The jetboat is another one of New Zealand’s adventure inventions. Jetboats were especially designed to get around New Zealand ‘s shallow rivers, but they’re also really good at giving customers a thrill.

In New Zealand, it seems that nearly every day someone creates another adventure sport. David Kennedy , who is from a company called “Destination Queenstown, talks about just how many adventure sports there are to do. You know, we quite proudly call ourselves The adventure Capital of the world. He says.

2.   Alaska Ice Climbing

This story starts in Talkeetna in Alaska. In the united States . It ends in an area called Matanuska. Near Denali National Park.

Colby Coombs and Caitlin Palmer are both experienced mountain guides. They run a climbing school. They teach beginner climbers and help experienced climbers to reach the top of Denali. Denali is a mountain that is also known as Mount Mckinley. It’s the highest mountain in North America.

Matanuska is a very big glacier – it ‘s 27 miles long and two miles wide. The name : “Matanuska ‘ comes from an old Russian word for the Athabascan Indians who in the area. The glacier is in a low area that has many trees around it. It formed 2,000 years ago, but it’s always moving and changing. It’s also always difficult to climb.

A group gets ready to climb one of the Matanuska Glacier’s formations – a 30 foot wall of ice. At the base of the wall, Caitlin explains how to climb it, and it’s not going to be easy. The most stable you are going to be is when you have all the points of your crampons sticking on the ice, says Caitlin.
The hike across Matanuska is beautiful, but it can also be very dangerous. One summer, a young man fell into an opening in the ice called a cirque, and died.

3.   Water Sports Adventure

This story is set in the United States. It happens in the Columbia River Gorge, in the states of Oregon and Washington.

A gorge is an area between two mountains, so there is usually a lot of wind there. Cory Roeseler lives in the area, and he loves new things and adventure.

Roeseler was one of the first people to really experience the sport of kiteboarding. He uses a kite to catch the power of the wind. This wind power has helped Roeseler to do new and interesting things. It’s been especially helpful in developing new adventure sports, like kiteboarding. But what is kiteboarding like ?How does it feel ? According to Roeseler, It’s sort of a rolly, wavy, free feeling ….

Wind power is something that’s easily found in the gorge which divides Washington and Oregon. That makes the Columbia River Gorge one of the best places in the world to kiteboard. However, for inventor Cory Roeseler the gorge is more than just a place to have fun, it’s a place where he can test his new inventions. Now, Roeseler is ready to test his newest invention for playing with the wind. It’s a new kind of wakeboarding (花式滑水)boat that has a sail on the back.

There are 2 new members joined the meeting.

They are Michelle Lin and Seraya Ling.

Other participants are Kathy, Ting Chen, Joe Kao, Frank Chong, Kevin, Selina, Natalie, Cara, Angela, Millie, Barkley and Daniel.

Here is the meeting pictures.

Notice: No meeting in September 22th because it is our 3^rd outing date.