Tuesday, March 3, Queenstown

Today we had to decide what exciting adventure we would do in Queenstown – After all Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world. We could bungee jump, jet boat, sky dive, para-sail, kayak, 4x4, Luge, among just a few adventures.

We chose to start the day with jet boating on the Shotover River. We took their bus to their dock at the river, donned our “splash coats” and life jackets. It was a beautiful 75 degree day, so the thought of needing a splash jacket seemed silly, but we learned otherwise. The boat held about 16 of us and away we went. The water was usually no more that a couple inches deep, but these are jet boats which have no propeller, and can run in very shallow water. They took us through a beautiful gorge which steep rock walls. Of course the driver’s job was to make this as adrenalin filled as possible, so at about 60 miles per hour we zipped past vertical rock walls at only mere inches away. Then, with little warning the driver put the boat into a full 360 degree spin. The whole trip was quite exciting. We bought the video of our boat trip and intend to post it on YouTube. When we get it posted, we’ll let you know the address.
(Might be a while since when we got home we discovered they gave us the wrong video)
Back in town, we took a gondola ride to the top of a local mountain. Up there we opted to do the luge ride. It really wasn’t much, but it was fun. Kind of like a go-kart but on a slope. From up there we watched several parasailers. Looked fun, but too $$$.

Back at the bottom of the gondola, we decided to do a less adrenaline rush activity and took a drive to a little town called Arrowtown. It was a very cute gold mining town. On the return drive went via the local ski hill. Actually, we had to drive up about 2000 feet just to reach the ski lodge. From there the lifts carry skiers up about another 500 feet to the summit. While that doesn’t sound like much, it was all wide open like one giant bowl, not really a ski bowl, but like an inverted bowl. Not a single tree. Most of the area was intermediate to advanced, with just a small beginner area.

Tonight had dinner at Chico’s (not the women’s dress shop). It was very good, New Zealand food. Tomorrow we’re thinking of a 4x4 tour of the Lord of the Rings area and maybe a bungee jump!