Adventure capital of New Zealand

We had four nights booked in Queenstown. Our route here was longer than expected due to the weather issues on the West coast. But by skipping the night at Fox Glacier and driving for the day instead, we got to Queenstown as planned.

Day 1, we went up the gondolas and Bruce, Zak and Emma played on the luge. It was very popular and the lines started out a bit long. Emma was particularly pleased with how fast she could go. She only gave Bruce one worrying moment when she went off track and was close to tipping the cart over.




Second event for the day was jet boating on the Shotover river. Again, not a sport for me, so I checked out the shops while I waited. They had a ball and pronounced it the best thing ever.



Day 2, we took a trip on the Earnslaw to the Walter Peak farm and had a farm tour and BBQ lunch there. They had pork spare ribs, a family favourite, and since it was all you could eat, we had a lot of spare ribs! The weather was now extremely warm, and we hung out at the motel for a while before heading back to the wharf for paraflight. But it was too windy and the flight was cancelled.

Day 3. First up paraflight. This was something I could do, so Zak, Emma and I went as a triple. Bruce just took photos of this one. For paraflight you are harnessed under a foil which is dragged behind a speedboat, and you took off and landed in the deck, so we didn't get wet. Perfect since I am not supposed to get my cast wet. We were last to have a go, as the only ones going triple. The kids watched the ones before who had their feet dipped in the water and decided they wanted to try that. Zak got his feet wet, but Emma being shorter and lighter was not so fortunate. It was not too scary and there were lovely views on yet another beautiful hot day.

Lastly for the day, we drove out to Arrowtown. The kids were keen to try gold panning which was part of some if the aborted activities planned on the West coast. So we have done that, looked around the historic chinese settlement from the gold rush days. Now they are just building dams in the river to cool off.

Leaving tomorrow for Te Anau.

- Posted by Cathy using BlogPress from my iPad