In a nutshell- Coober Pedy to Road Train.  Road Train to Glendamboe.  Charter flight to Aideliade doesn't matter.  Being on the late flight to Melbourne doesn't either.  Melbourne to Christchurch.  Christchurch to Queenstown.  Another Blake-scheme goes down in flames.  Jet Boats fast forward you to the pit stop, while the words "high-wire platform" do not sound appealing to acrophobics.  New Zealand is the motherland of bungee jumping.  Also Phil.  Some teams chase sheep... some teams whisper to them... some teams talk to them nicely.  Get some sleep counting sheep at Inverary Sheep Station and get ready to battle for the final three.

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     Another leg of the Amazing Race begins as  Chris and Alex open their route info at 3:35 AM.  They find out they are headed to Queenstown, New Zealand.  To get there, they must first drive a 4x4 to some awaiting "Road Trains," which will tow their vehicle to Glendambo.  From Glendamboe, they will book one of two charter flights to Aidelaide, each of which can carry 2 teams and they leave 45 minutes apart.  From Aidelaide, the teams will be responsible for booking their own flights to Queenstown.

      Chris and Alex take off with about an hour and a half lead on the other teams, who are all close together.  They find the Road Trains with little trouble.  They load up their vehicle, climb in the cab, and go to sleep for what will be a long drive on desolate roads.  Blake and Paige leave, followed closely by Tara/Wil and finally Oswald/Danny.  Blake/Paige load up their vehicle and take off just ahead of Tara/Wil.  Oswald/Danny are a little bit later leaving, but eventually get going.

     In the morning, Chris/Alex are the first to arrive in Glendambo.  Instead of heading directly to the airport, they get on the phone and try to go ahead and book their flights from Aidelaide to Queenstown.  Alex quickly discovers that there a no flights leaving that afternoon, so it does not matter who gets which charter flight.  They book their flights all the way to Queenstown for the following day as Tara/Wil and Blake/Paige arrive.

     Blake/Paige scramble to get directions to the airport.  They provide the reasoning that, even though Chris/Alex think that it will not matter which charter flight they are on, they want to be on the first one.  Tara/Wil follow Blake/Paige, but eventually decide they must be going the wrong direction.  Tara/Wil turn around and head back to the gas station where Chris/Alex are waiting.  Tara asks him if he wants to try to book their flight to Queenstown or try to find the airport.  Then, for no apparent reason, Wil throw a fit and says he's quitting.  He sits down in front of a gas pump and pouts.  Tara goes to the phones and makes the reservations herself.  Oswald/Danny arrive and also make their reservations.  Tara/Wil book the second spot on the first flight.  Chris/Alex and Oswald/Danny will be on the second flight.

     Once in Aidelaide, Blake is shocked to discover that his flight is leaving later than Wil's.  They scramble to try to find a quicker flight, but are stuck with a flight leaving 45 minutes after Tara/Wil.  The teams are all first heading to Melbourne.  From there, they will fly to Christchurch, New Zealand.  Finally, they will fly to Queenstown.

     Blake/Paige wait in Aidelaide as the other teams start their journey.  They leave soon after.  All the teams make their connections without problems.  As the leading 3 teams wait for their connection in Christchurch, Blake/Paige's flight arrives and they catch up.

     As the teams board the flight to Queenstown, all of the teams check their bags except Blake/Paige.  Blake explains they want to take their bags on the plane to save time when they land.  When they are asked if they have any bags to check, they say "No," and board the plane.  This angers the other teams.

     As the plane lands in Queenstown, Chris, with the permission of the stewardess, gets on the intercom and says they are going to be held up for a few minutes.  Chris falls on the floor and feigns a broken leg.  Wil and Tara stand at the stairs waiting for the luggage to be unloaded before they deplane.  Blake/Paige, in the back of the plane, realize their plan has backfired.  Finally, the luggage takes off toward the terminal and the teams race to pick it up.

      In the end, it turns out that Blake/Paige were the last team to get a taxi.  What started off as a pretty strategic move ended up backfiring and costing them time.  Also, I'd like to point out that maybe its not such a great idea to break rules about bringing luggage onto planes in this new post-9/11 era.  Anyway, Blake/Paige seem a little bit disheartened and decide they want to pursue the fast forward pass.

     As the other teams race off toward Wentworth Station, Blake/Paige are headed to the Shotover River.  Phil explains that to claim the fast forward, the teams will have to spot a route marker flag from a speeding jet boat.  Blake/Paige strap on their life jackets and their driver speeds off.  They look intently for the flag, which is not as easy as it sounds.  The jet boat goes very fast and sends up a lot of mist.  Finally, they spot the flag.  They claim the pass and head off for the Inverary Sheep Station, the pit stop for this episode.

    The other teams, meanwhile, have arrived at Wentworth Station where they each got a 4x4 vehicle and a driver to take them to the Nevis High-Wire Platform.  Wil worries about the sounds of "high-wire platform," and almost turns green when Tara informs him that it is the site of the 2nd highest bungee jump in the world.

      Tara/Wil are the first team to arrive, followed closely by Chris/Alex.  Both teams suit up and take a gondola out to the platform.  There, they are presented with this week's detour.  The options this week are Quick Jump or Long Hike (very similar to the Batoka Gorge detour in the first episode of season one).  Quick Jump requires teams to bungee jump from the platform.  The 450 foot fall is the second highest in the world.  The Long Hike option requires teams to get back off the gondola and hike to the bottom of the canyon.

     Tara says they are going to bungee, while we watch Wil turn more and more pale.  Chris/Alex, on the other hand, look over the edge and almost jump for joy.  Tara coaxes Wil out onto the platform.  Wil pulls tara back into the gondola, but eventually Tara gets Wil to jump.  Afterwards, Wil seems much happier.  They find out they are to take their vehicle to Inverary Sheep Station on the Cantebury Plains, located over 300 miles away.  They climb in their vehicle and take off.

     Chris/Alex, self-described as adrenaline junkies, make the jump in no time and also take off.  Oswald/Danny have arrived and Danny wants to jump.  Oswald is not so sure.  Finally, Oswald says they'll jump, but says jokingly "I'm hating you right now Danny."  Ha.  Oswald/Danny eventually jump.  Oswald buries his head and doesn't look.  But they make it down and take off.

     Blake/Paige arrive at the Inverary Sheep Station in first place.  They are told that, as a reward, they will recieve a trip to Puerto Rico after the race is over.  Oddly, they dont' show much of a reaction.  I imagine at this point in the race, the last thing you want to do when you finish is do more travelling.

     Tara/Wil are the next to arrive at the Sheep Station.  They, however, have to complete the road block before they can check in.  This week, the teams will have to climb into a pen with 22 sheep.  Three of the sheep are black.  They will have to separate the three black sheep into a separate pen from the white ones.  Wil decides to perform the road block.  He climbs in and starts requesting that the black sheep gather together in the other pen.  After determining that no matter how nicely he asks them, they don't pay attention, he begins chasing the black ones around.  Tara laughs from the sidelines.  Tara then suggests that he herd all of the sheep into the smaller pen and then force the white ones out.  Wil opens the gate and notices that the sheep actually go into the pen wihtout any coaxing.  He climbs in the smaller pen and begins letting the white ones out.  Finally, he gets the last stubborn sheep out and they head to the mat.  Phil tells them they arrived in second place.

     Well, as all of this has been going on, the other two teams have both made a wrong turn.  Chris/Alex explain that the road markers are few and far between, so if you make a wrong turn, you're not going to realize it for a long time.  Both teams get turned back around and headed in the right direction.

     Chris/Alex are the next to arrive.  Chris jumped into the pen and started chasing the black sheep around.  As he struggled, he pulled out the road block information to check if tackling sheep was allowed.  He perservered, and remarkably, he was able to get 2 black sheep into the small pen using this method.  The third sheep also went into the pen, but a white one got in with it.  He pushed the white one out and they headed to the mat, with Chris saying "I was a sheep whisperer."

     Oswald/Danny finally arrived and began the road block.  Oswald performed it, all the while shouting "Danny, I hate you!"  After wandering around asking the sheep to go in the pen, he decided he was going to have to chase them.  He managed to get one black sheep in the pen, but couldn't get the other two.  Danny pointed out that the sheep were willingly going into the pen.  Danny closed the gate and pushed the white sheep out.  Finally, with one left, Danny improvised and opened the back gate letting the white sheep out that way.  I'm not really sure if that was legal, but it worked.

     They headed to the mat and arrived in last place.  Phil informed them that it was a non-elimination leg though.  They will have to battle back into the race next week if they want to make the final three.

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