Queenstown Tourists

We made a leisurely start to the day after all the recent excursions. It was another beauty and we were keen to actually see the town. Susan had the morning off work so offered to show us the sights of downtown Queenstown. It really is a cool town, and we had a great morning soaking up the sights. Easy to do when this view is a five minute walk from your house!

There were plenty of 'outdoor shops' for us to peruse through as well as quirky other ones. There were plenty of places selling extreme days out (including climbing, canyoning and gold panning ha ha!) and there was a real feel good buzz about town. We'd decided that we needed to buy a tent so we could spend some time in the mountains up by Mt Cook later in the week. Amazingly, we managed to find one for thirty dollars! It was already reduced by 70% and we then got more money off as we'd got Clare's surfboard from the same chain, and had been given a introductory voucher! Bargain indeed! (But let's see how it survives the southern Alps before we get too carried away!).

After a coffee break by the waters edge, Susan introduced us to the famous (famous in Queenstown) 'Fergburger' which had a que right down the street of people keen to eat seemingly all day. (She used her local knowledge by phoning an order so that we could continue shopping then just turned up and picked up our burgers, rather than queuing for an hour!).

Needing a little afternoon leg stretch, we hiked up from town to the Gondola station up on the hill side. It took about an hour to hike up through the forest past all sorts of zip wires, tree top trails and funky wood calvings.

There was also a downhill mountain bike track near the trail and every now and then, someone would fly past at a terriffic speed. Up at the top, the views opened up in all directions.

Down the lake, we watched a squall approaching, but amazingly, we were spared a soaking, and were instead treated to a few rainbows before it blew itself out. 

We sat on top for a while watching the views and people on the luge course. The skyline was a range of mountains called The Remarkables. We had hoped to go climbing there, but the access road has been closed for the summer, which basically makes them unreachable. Another time then...

We skipped our way back down though the woods and after dinner went to the Casino! Yes, that's right all within walking distance of Rob's house, you can be lakeside, downtown, up a hill or out to an all night casino! Queenstown! What a place! We actually went there to take part in a quiz night and amazingly we won! (Although, I can barely take any credit for the performance!), Anyway, to cut a long story short, we were duely presented with sixty dollars of drinks vouchers! Needless to say, it was quickly cashed in on some very tasty cocktails to toast our last night in town!