Queenstown and the like

The journey to Queenstown was punctuated by a stop at a bungy jumping centre. Here you could watch poor souls fling themselves off a bridge and, if they were lucky enough (eh hem) get their heads soaked in the freezing cold river that ran below. Even watching them gave me the jitters. Not for me thanks. So not a good start to entering the 'adventure capital of the world'. Oh well.

Queenstown itself was lovely - it very much reminded me of an Alpine town in Europe. It hugs the shores of the second largest lake in NZ (the name of which currently escapes me at present having had only one glass of beer - is there no hope?) and is surrounded by mountains (one range called the 'Remarkables' which I'm sure is a film). I spent three nights there and generally chilled out as I was stricken with my second chest infection of my travels. So much for NZ being the 'healthy' leg of my jaunt. A trip to the doctors and $125 later, and I was well equipped with enough tablets to fell a horse - this is good (see below). Apparently these fees are normal here... and I have the cheek to complain about the NHS.

I decided that 'gentle' pursuits were the best way forward - I could hardly visit here and do nothing - so I booked in on an afternoon's horse trek which was fantastic. The scenery was so overwhelming that I lost the power of speech and could do nothing but sit back and soak it up. The ride itself was good, but as my horse riding skills are a little rusty (by 20 years or so) it took me a while to remember how to stay on when going anything faster than a trot. I was the lucky one however, as my fellow 'trekkers' were particularly inexperienced and struggled to maintain their dignity when even walking briskly. This was good as it made my skills look much better than they actually were. Never a bad thing. My horse was an ex-racing pacer (if you know what that is) rescued from it's previous owners - it also had a part in Lord of the Rings. There's my claim to fame then. I always thought it might be more earth-shattering than that but beggars can't be choosers I suppose!

The proceeding days were spent walking like Jon Wayne - you forget how unforgiving a saddle can be!

Other than the trek, I spent time convalescing (yes - sleeping!) and trying to sort my tickets out as I had word that, despite it being a struggle, work were able to just about manage without me for a bit longer (actually, ' stay as long as you like' was the exact phrase, but I know what was meant). I also took a brief jaunt up on the Gondola (bubble cable car affair) and a speedy trip or two down on the 'luge' (go-kart affair) which was good fun. The views from the top of the hill overlooking queenstown were fanatstic - as are most of the views in NZ. Sorry - is this getting repetative?

No pics from Queenstown unfortunately as camera out of action - pah!