We got up early at 7 and headed south to Queenstown. Queenstown has a reputation for both its natural beauty and its being the adventure capital of NZ. Things like bungy jumping originated here.
We followed the Crown Ridge Road south and made a brief stop for a photo of the historic Cadrona Hotel. It is the oldest surviving building in the area. Of course this area has only been settled for a little over 150 years. Upon arrival we stopped at the I stop which handles info and bookings. I had talked Deb into trying a lower level white water rafting trip but there wasn't enough people to book it. So the second choice was to try ziplining.
We booked for noon so we had some time to explore the waterfront and get some breakfast. At 11 we headed for the gondola to take us up the mountain. It was of course a beautiful view rising up over the lake and town with the gorgeous Remarkables mountain range rising on the other side of the lake. At the top we went to the zipline station. It turned out that this is a new business that just opened 3 months ago. It is an eco tour so it includes ecology related talks between zips.
So we were equipped with our harnesses and helmets and hooked up with our guides Morgan and Tom. We started on our first trip off a platform high in the Douglas Furs on the side of the mountain. We then zip across a cable to the next platform. It was quite safe but pretty exciting to shoot through the trees. We did this 5 times with eco talks in between. I managed to turn upside down on one of them (yes it was intentional). On the last trip, the trees were opened for a better view of the lake so I took a video that is posted here on the blog. So our first adventure was great fun and we would recommend it.
After some ice cream we decided to try another adventure so we signed up for paragliding. We had to wait for an hour so did 2 luging trips down the mountain on wheeled luge carts. After taking another ski lift higher on the mountain you took these luge sleds down a concrete track with a brake control. We had done this in NH years ago but it was fun.
We headed over to meet our paragliding our pilots Thomas and Brady at the starting point. We got on a ski lift to take us part way to the top of the mountain. We then found out we had to hike up the rest of the way which was a bit of a challenge. When we reached the top it was a beautiful view out over the valley. Our pilots then set up their paragliders which are basically a rectangular parachute with control ropes. We then got set up with a tandem harness with our pilot. Our instructions were to run off the edge of what I thought was a perfectly good mountain and not to sit down (which is what you want to do as you go down off the edge). Deb went off first with Thomas and lost her footing as she took off but her pilot didn't have any problem getting them off. Brady and I followed and got off pretty well too. It was a fantastic experience soaring out over the town and the lake, catching wind currents to take us back and forth over the area. Our pilots also took cameras to take photos which were included and videos which they sold for $20. So they made a great souvenir to remember a great experience.
We headed back towards Wanaka with a stop for dinner in Arrowtown. This was an old gold mining town with some quaint old buildings and of course tourist stuff. We had dinner at a restaurant developed in an old horse stable. We then took the longer route back to check out the town of Cromwell and some of the local wine country. This area does have an international reputation for their wine. A veterinary consultant that I use gave me a rundown on some of their wines before we came. Cromwell is apparently the fruit capitol of the area since they have a huge statue of fruit at the entrance of town. The other interesting observation was that we could drive the highway in the evening and not see another car for miles (kilometers) at a time.
So it was a very full day of adventures.
Steve
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