Climbing in Queenstown

Although Queenstown is far from famous for it's rock climbing, we thought we ought experience what they've got before  we left town. After dismissing the Coronet Crags as really not worth the bother, we tried our luck at Gorge Road. Here we did a fun little two pitch climb, but had to agree with the consensus that the rock really is better at nearby Wanaka. It's a schist that is basically just softer than the stuff around Wanaka. At Clare's belay, the rock virtually turned to mud! Still, we did the starred route on the crag, got the views, abseiled down then got on the road.

Shortly after leaving Queenstown, we stopped off at the original AJ Hackett bungy jump. It was an impressive set up! There was a purpose built building that had live screens of people jumping, a bar, pumping tunes, a coffee shop, photo studios and then a terrace to watch people jump. We were even allowed to stand on the bridge right next to them! Amazing marketing really - having had no inclination to try, we almost found ourselves wanting a go! Old and young, big and small, there was a steady flow of folk keep to jump!

Eventually, we dragged ourselves out of the spell, and headed off towards Mt Cook, some 200km away. It was another interesting drive, with more changing landscapes, starting with the Piont Noir vineyards by the lake shore, then rolling out into wide barren plains.

We stopped a the Lindis Pass for a breather an to take in the views. The rounded hills had nothing on them except very dry grass. As we got to the town of Twisel, we excitedly saw huge snowy peaks in the distance!

Instead of driving all the way up the dead end road to Mt Cook village, we opted to stay by the lakeshore at Twisel (for free). 

It was a beautiful spot right next to the waters edge and gave us plenty of space to sort out our climbing and camping kit ready for our next adventure up into the big mountains. 

Without a breath of wind, the reflection on the lake was incredible.