I'm up early and out the door. I'm doing something I've always wanted to try. I have to get up to the top of Bob's peak, which is accessed by a gondola. What a lovely way to start the day. Just look at these views:
Ziptrek Ecotours offers a 6 line, 3-hour excursion down the mountain. I'm beaming.
I check in and start to talk to the people who will be going with me. There are 9 of us. Anne and her husband from Melbourne, a mother, her two sons, and their grandmother! awesome. We also have Sunny from South Korea, and Dora from Wales. Everyone is excited. We joke with each other while being fitted with our harnesses.
The fifth line is the most spectacular. It's' 3 times the length of anything we've done. It's high above the forest, but suddenly opens up to give a breathtaking view of Lake Wakatipu.
Afterwards, Dora and I agree to meet for lunch at Fergberger (you need to click on their website - it's just fun), which some people say is the single greatest burger that they have EVER had. Everyone is telling me about it. Now, perhaps I'm more of a sushi gal.... OK, there's no "perhaps" about it... BUT, I just don't understand what all the fuss is about. But to be fair, I rarely eat burgers, so who am I to judge.... They are huge.... ) NOT the greatest picture of me....
I bid adieu to the lovely Dora, who is off to Te Anau for Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound. I'm off to jet boat trough Skipper's Canyon!
I'm picked up at 3:30 PM and our driver, Dion, makes his way to Skipper's Canyon about 1.25 hours outside of town. As usual, the scenery is breathtaking:
We have to drive on the side of a mountain on a two-way road that only has room for one car. The drive is quite scary. When you look out the windows it's straight down the mountain. DOH!
There are 5 of us: 2 gals from Australia, a newly wed couple from India, who have no interest in socializing, and me. Up the mountain road we go making a sharp turn on what is called "Bus-scratch" corner because you can quite literally see all the paint from the buses that have to hug the wall tightly so they don't fall down the mountain. What have I gotten myself into?!
Dion points to two pieces of rock jutting out of the canyon:
Look familiar? Are you sure? If you super impose the rocks on top of each other, add a lot of special effects, and the genius of Peter Jackson, you get Mordor the layer of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings.
We finally get to the canyon:
where we see a jet boat flying towards the pier with what looks like a dog on the front... Meet Rusty, the Fearless:
We meet Kevin our Jet Boat driver who tries his best to scare the hell out of us.
Hugging the canyon walls at high speeds, doing 360 turns, we have a ball.
We get back to the dock, load back in and prepare for the treacherous ride back to town. We stop along the way for a bathroom break and I get to take these:
We finally make it back to Queenstown and part ways.
I'm hungry, but I'm not in the mood for anything heavy. Across from my hotel I stumble across Yakitori Daruma Japanese Sake Bar. How did I miss this? The place is packed with a big Christmas party going on. Everyone is screaming, "Sake Bomb, Sake Bomb, Bomb!" They slam their beer on the table, which makes their sake shot fall in and they down the drink. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! :)
The food is great. Exactly what I wanted. And I say it again.... Another Great day.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
My day of zip lining and jet boating has caught up with me. I wake up with chills and a fever (and it wasn't the sake bombs!!) I hope that getting dressed and forcing myself up will help me feel better. I finally make it out the door for lunch at a place called Brazz. It's a nice enough upscale pub. Downside was sitting next to a table of young guys discussing their conquests from the night before....
I decide to see The Hobbit - the Desolation of Smaug at 4:30 PM because if you get a chance to see one of the Lord of the Rings or Hobbit movies in New Zealand, you take it! (and I'm a nerd) I have time, so I go back to the hotel and sleep for the next 3 hours.
Surprisingly refreshed, I get to the theater by 3:45 PM to get in line. There are already people line, but I should get a good seat. 2.5 hours later, I am thrilled. This movie is so much better than the first Hobbit.
I'm not sure what to do, but it's drizzling and a bit cold, so walking around is not an option if I want to avoid pneumonia. Across the way I see an old English Restaurant called The H.M.S. Britannia. It's upstairs and seems to have quite a bit of character. It's perfect. Meal was great, the owner was a flirt, and my dessert was AWESOME:
I am very happy, which is a feeling I've had the entire time in New Zealand.
After dinner, I decide to go to ICE BAR. I've heard of these bars, and even heard about an Ice Hotel. It's insane. You check in. They give you a coat and then let you in. The bar is made entirely out of ice. The glasses, the lights, the chairs, everything. It's between -5 and -7 degrees Celsius. (between 19 - 23 degrees Fahrenheit) It's great!.
Say it with me... It's been another phenomenal day in Queenstown! :) I need to move here.
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