By Alexander Goff ’15, Staff Writer 

Keith Snyder is a 2009 Newark Academy graduate, who recently ventured to the far off continent of New Zealand. He now attends the University of Denver, and this year he spent a term hiking, exploring, and bungee jumping on the Southern Island of New Zealand. Keith recently came back to Newark Academy to share his adventure with the Outdoors Club.

Keith and his fellow travelers drove and hiked all the way along the Southern Island in New Zealand doing all sorts of things including the highlights of his trip: exploring the site of the filming of the Lord of the Rings, and bungee jumping from insane heights. Keith emphasized how exciting it was to be on the set of the Lord of the Rings and standing where some of the characters stood. The set was so natural, pure, unpolluted, and lush that he believes the creators needed to dim down the ‘greenness’ while editing.

Many people bungee jump, and many people bungee jump from heights that seem terrifying. However, few people have bungee jumped from a whopping 134 meters (440 feet) at the second highest bungee jump in the world, the Nevis. Keith experienced 8.5 seconds of free fall until the cord tugged and he began to stop his movement. He said, “We were told just to count to 8.5 seconds and that’s you falling the whole time.” As he fell, he saw a green hilly scenery free of civilization, thus creating the perfect atmosphere.

Keith also participated in walking among sleeping sea lions on a beach in the South Island. New Zealand was a surreal experience because so much of the nature was untouched and undisturbed by humans. Keith said, regarding the event with the sea lions, “In the U.S. you don’t get to do that, there are fences everywhere preventing it. But that’s all New Zealand is, going around and doing your own thing.” His reasons for going on this trip were twofold: It was far away from Denver and New Zealanders speak English. Perhaps his most important motivation for going on this exhibition was that the trip was outdoors. Dating back to his middle school days and his time at Newark Academy, Keith was always infatuated with doing anything that would put him in the midst of wilderness.

As it was described to the Outdoors Club by Keith, New Zealand resembles almost a utopia distanced from human touch or pollution. It is a direct opposite from the mostly urban United States because of the absence of humans in some places and supplemented by the reverse season cycle in New Zealand. Its natural ambiance is clearly what drew Keith and about 2.5 million other tourists to New Zealand in this past year.