Queenstown Journal & Photos - New Zealand

We headed of the Queenstown at about 10:00 AM and got to see the Red Tussock Conservation area which was the rolling meadow leading to the mountains of red grasses that look like the ones we have in the yard by the driveway. Very pretty and unusual looking. We got to Lumsden about an hour down the road and Scott had to pull over to switch drivers. He said he had had it which I can believe since he had just run 28 kilometers completely against the wind. I couldn't believe it when he jumped in the driver’s seat at Te Anau but I just figured he loves driving. The drive from Lumsden to Queenstown gets really pretty once you get to about 40 kilometers of Queenstown. You drive along Lake Wakatipu which is situated between two mountain ranges. The drive is very reminiscent of the road to Hana but a lot colder.

Queenstown From Skyline Gondola and Luge Ride

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Scott "aka The Terminator Of Luge" On The Queenstown Skyline Luge Course

Kea Bird At Kiwi & Birdlife Park Movie

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We pulled into the Queenstown Motor Park which is about 250 yards from the city center. The city is not that big though to begin with. We checked out a lot of tours and it was really too late to do anything so we headed to the Skyline Gondola and Luge which was between our camp ground and town. The gondola goes almost regularly cost $14 NZ and I got the travel agent rate of $6 NZ. I also purchased 2 luge rides for $7.50. Scott opted for the package of gondola ride and 5 luge rides for I think $26 NZ. I wasn't sure how I fit on the luge so I didn’t want to buy a bunch of rides I couldn't use. The gondola basically goes straight up it seems at about an 70 degree incline. It is incredibly steep. A strange thing was that there was no one assisting you at the gondola station. The gondola car comes down, the door opens automatically, you get in as the car is turning around, the door closes automatically and you’re off to the top. I hope I get to finish this entry, I guy in the bathroom this morning told me the rainy weather we are getting is just like last year when they had bad flooding and the town emergency siren just went off for awhile. It did go off but you never know.

Back to yesterday. As we go up this incline under the gondola are more sheep on the side of the mountain. They are incredible agile little things. They are amazing little climbers. We got to the top and it was off to the luge. If Scott was worried being in a gondola car with me he really should have been worried being on the mini ski lift to the top of the luge run with me. The ski lift is very ingenious. They have a conveyor belt that takes that you put you luge sled on which leads to an attendant at the ski lift. The sleds connect to the bottom of the ski lift chairs by their handles and at the top of the lift another attendant puts them on another conveyor belt which takes them to the beginning of the ski lift. You wait in line and grab a new sled without having to carry it ever yourself. The sled was red or black four wheel cart with a bicycle like handle that acted as your steering and you braking though I don't think Scott braked ever. The sled had three settings. Full forward was park which the luge instructor told us never do on the course because we will crash. The middle setting was neutral which you held the handle at to roll using gravity and your weight for speed. The final setting was pulling all the way back for braking, which would slow you down but wouldn't stop you., They had two courses beginner and advanced but the advanced course was closed much to Scott's dismay due to the rain that never stops. Which again gets me to thinking about that alarm; I can't believe I am in a trailer park with an emergency siren going off. No good can come of this. Anyways, the luge was a blast. I struggled a bit the first ride but cruised pretty good the second. Although on one of my turns I was up on two wheels for awhile and on another hairpin turn I had this kid do a Speed Racer move and jumped the rubber median on the corner and I swear went all four wheel off the ground of the corner of my sled. Scott was a demon needless to say. I was off and running on the first run and I would see him on the chairlift or course throughout his runs. He was so fast in fact that I couldn't believe when he was done. I thought he had only done four runs but he had completed five. He said his third run was his best and when I told him of the daredevil kid who pulled his Speed Racer move he told me nobody passes him. He told me later that he had lost his helmet twice. Once on the ski lift and once on the course. I had actually taken a picture of the one on the course because it was right underneath one of the walkways from the top of the luge run to the the restaurant/gondola station. When he lost the one going down the course the attendant at the bottom got a little pissed off and started radioing the guys at the top that someone showed up at the bottom without a helmet and that they had to check everyone. Scottie gave the girl a woe, woe, woe to stop her and told her it had fallen off on the way down. We enjoyed the view and decided to eat in town. Our original plans were to enjoy the view and make command decisions in the restaurant but they served no beer or alcohol which was probably because they had a luge run on top of the mountain and didn't want any liquor head killing him on the luge or flying off the mountain.

Next to the gondola run was the Kiwi and Wildlife Park. The lady was cool there and gave us both a travel agent discount from $10.50 NZ to $9.10 NZ. We finally got to see a Kiwi. They only come out at night so you never see them. They had a Kiwi dark room set up for them. You walk in and it takes about 5 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark and then you can see them. We had one right at the front of the glass. I had no idea how big they were. The one I saw was as big as a football and Scott said there was a bigger one in the back. It's dark so you can't get a real good feel for coloring but the beaks are really gunny looking. Ours was using his to root under leaves I presume for insects or whatever Kiwi's eat. The next room was the room that had the Tuatara. This is a lizard looking creature that is a direct descendent of the dinosaurs. Only the juvenile ones were out so I couldn't get an idea of how big they were. There were two more birds that stood out for me. One was the Kea which makes a sound like it is laughing at something, maybe us. Second was the Black Stilts which it looked like they had at least four. The Black Stilts is the world's rarest bird numbering I think the sign said either 150 or 200 left in the world. They are in these wire cages though so I couldn't get a picture but I do have the brochure and it has a picture. That was about all we could do in Queenstown for the day. It was now about 5:00 PM and we really hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours so we headed to town.

First stop Red Rock. Terry would love this place. Wood stove inside and a guy on the outside with an old iron oven that was built as a cart. This guy was for some reason using it to sell potatoes. Another first for us. The vendor told me it was a Victoria Stove and was built in 1863. Another couple of things. There was a dog in the bar which for overseas I think is cool. At home not so cool, I don't know why I think that. Scott felt special because I was sitting at a table while he as standing because there was only one chair and the bartendress brought him a chair to sit on. Next we went to The Lone Star which apparently is a chain since we saw one in Invercargill also. Why a Texas theme restaurant in New Zealand, who knows. Scott ordered some fairly funky Judge Roy Bean Nachos. One thing I did like was they brought us jelly beans with the bill. We next went to Pog Mahones an Irish Bar who’s the name means Kiss My Ass in Gaelic. A nice touch was the confessional in the bar with a Guinness is Good For You sign over the confessional sign. I caught up on my post cards here. We looked for Abbey Road which Scott liked the review of but it had closed and was a Belgium Beer Bar now and all I could think of was that nasty Belgian Beer, Rodenbach so we passed. We went to Winnie Bagoes which was a nice looking and big bar that also had a nice fire going but for some reason had the bathrooms behind a locked glass door. Scott asked if I could figure it out and I couldn't so I went and asked the bartender if there was some trick we didn't know. He said he'd buzz me in. I didn't know what the hell he meant but went back to the glass door and all of a sudden a light went on and the lock buzzed and I could open the door. How bizarre is that. We didn't even ask the reason for this and headed to our last stop of the evening where we hung out the longest. The Pig & Whistle had a great outdoor deck with the gas heater towers all over. It was nice to sit outside even though it was raining and enjoy their view which looked down a little river that ran under the bar and of the gondola at night which is really strange because you have all this black then the spotlights on the restaurant at the top of the mountain. Scott got Squid Rings which were the same as in Invercargill and I got a plate of Bangers & Mash which were sausage, mashed potatoes, peas and gravy. We did stop and get one more beer at Red Rock which is the closest bar to the campground. We got back here about 11:00 PM when I loaded pictures from the day into the computer.

Scott is now at the campground office trying to book the jet boat ride so let me catch up on my morning. I woke up at 6:00 AM and it is still raining. I went to go take a shower and can only find the women’s bathroom but someone in the kitchen sent me in the right direction. I was talking to an older gentleman about how I doubted we would get to Milford Sound again today and our problems of yesterday. He, like many before him, tell us how beautiful it is there when it rains. This doesn't help me any. He also says that the locals are starting to worry about flooding as this was how there flooding from last year was. It started raining and just didn't stop. Hence my worry about the emergency siren. I got back to van and typed some of my journal before heading out to check if our flight was cancelled which we were supposed to do at 7:00 AM. On my first trip to the office I found they were closed but noticed that they did have some pay phones outside. I checked the phone book but couldn't remember the company name so I trudge back to the camper for the brochure and change. I get back and dial the phone then look up to put in my change and realize they are credit card phones. I've got to go back again to the camper and get my wallet to get a credit card to make a local phone call that I know is going to be bad news. I get back to the phone and follow its direction 3 times without luck. Dial number, put in credit card, pull out credit card, phone should ring but I get the message to hang up the phone so I'm figuring they don't use my credit cards. Before I completely lose my mind I decide to reverse credit card and dialing procedures which make more sense and the call finally goes through. I get the news I expect that no one is flying this morning because of the weather. That catches me up to this moment. Scott just got back complaining about the strange phone system. Everyone he called to do something, anything, told him to call back later. The news did say it is supposed to clear up this afternoon but I am not holding out much hope at this point. Scott wants to get some goggles with wipers on them and go back to the luge. I am obviously now am just typing to beat the boredom of sitting in a rainy camper with a million things we want to do not a possibility. I will end this now and hopefully finish this day’s journal with better news.

Kawarau Jet Boat Leaving Queenstown Pier

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Duck Feeding At Underwater World

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Kawarau Jet Boat In Mid 360 Degree Spin

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Well, the day didn't end up being a total loss. We wandered to the city center about 11:00 AM and couldn't find any companies doing any type of tours today, too rainy, rivers to high, clouds are too low. What a bunch of pansies. This is supposed to be the adventure capital of the world. We made our way to the bay front area to look for Underwater World. As we walked by one loan booth for Kawarau Jet Boats we asked one last time if they were going to run a boats today and to our surprise they had one out already. Their boats leave right from the pier at the bay front. The guy said the next boat would be at 2:00 PM. We held off on booking one right then because we were hoping for a break in the weather so we could go on one of the other boats that go up the narrow canyons. We asked how to get to Underwater World and he pointed 150 feet across the bay front to a little house situated overtop the bay connected by the pier for Kawarau Jet Boats. We were expecting something a little bigger than a one room house but we were now desperate to do anything. Surprisingly the one room Underwater World was pretty neat. They had windows into the bay where they had feeders dangling in front. The huge eels and brown trout were teaming in front of the windows to eat. The eels had to be between 3-5 feet long. They are really disgusting. The highlight of Underwater World was the diving ducks. These two ducks would dive underwater to the feeders to eat. Kelly, the attendant, told us they could dive for about 45 seconds each time. It was really strange looking, almost penguin like. They looked very silverish underwater, which Kelly explained was the oil in their feathers. While in the viewing area a girl came down stairs and said the 11:00 AM boat was going to be back and they were going to do a 12:00 noon. We decided to go for this one since we didn't have anything else to do. The travel agent discount worked out well here. Kelly had given us a child’s rate for Underwater World from $6 NZ to $3 NZ. When we decided to book she gave us the money back saying it was included with the Jet Boat ride since they were both run together. She told the girl who had come downstairs the discount she had given us and she did the same upstairs. The gave us the $39 NZ child rate instead of the $69 NZ adult rate, and gave it to both of us. Scott on had on shorts and a t-shirt under his jacket and looked in to buying a jacket. Kelly was great, first calling to their other location, to see if they had a large since that was the only size they didn't have and second giving Scott her jacket for the ride to keep warm. She also tried to find me a XXL shirt, which was waiting for me at the end of the ride.

It was time for the ride now. Finally some adventure. Our boat driver was Ken who was amazing in that he did this whole hour long trip with no gloves, me hands were freezing 10 minutes into the trip and I was wearing the gloves they had provided. We go out to the harbor and he tells us what’s going to happen on the trip then does our first 360 degree spin. It is incredible. You get jerked one way then the other real quick when you come to a stop. Scott, who insisted on riding by the rail because he said he wouldn't be able to see over me, was getting slammed into the side of the boat. We head of down Lake Wakatipu at he said was 75 km per hour and every time he wanted to stop to show us something would to the 360 degree spin. We must have done ten spins overall. He pointed out a few fun facts. The lake is as deep as 400 meters in spots. We headed for the Kawarau River where we started to dodge everything Ken could point the boat at. Trees and logs in the water. You look like you are going to hit something and he cruises around it at the last second. These boats are incredibly maneuverable. From the Kawarau River we went up the Shotover River. The difference in rivers is amazing the Kawarau River is as blue as can be and the Shotover River is brown with silt and when the converge you get a combination depending on the stronger flow. The Shotover River, Ken tells us, can rise up to 5 meters in a day. The rivers had changed since he had been out with the 11:00 AM ride, pointing out where a sandbar had been an hour earlier. He would guide the boat next to canyon walls in almost no water then chase ducks and altogether just give us a great ride. He said the Shotover and Dart River Jetboats wouldn't be running for a couple of days because of all the rain and those parts of the canyon are real narrow so the rapids we were getting were eight times bigger in the canyons because the water had less space to come down. The ride was really amazing and made you forget about being pelted by rain while traveling up to 85 kilometers an hour which we did on the Shotover River. I was watching Ken steer once and he barely has to move the wheel at all to turn the boat. It was really interesting. He showed us the second way to stop the boat other than the 360 degree spin and that was the Terry sinking the Minnow move of plowing the nose into the water by throwing the boat in reverse. He said on the early boat water started coming in the boat and I chuckled remember our ill fated aborted trip. We got to the end of Kawarau Jet Boats part of the river where there was actually a stop sign. The companies have agreements of how far the can go. Along the way Ken 360'd to a stop and showed us some million dollar resort homes that people couldn't believe cost that much but it was all location. We got back to Queenstown did one last spin and departed. The ride was definitely worth it. They had taken our picture and had made them up into a poster with 4 postcards digitally for only $20 NZ so I got that and the shirt Kelly had delivered to the boathouse.

We went up to Red Rock for a beer and also got a hot dog from our potato guy from the day before. I can barely understand him but he's a nice guy and asked what our plans were, I think. My sweatpants were soaked, Scott had worn shorts so didn't have this problem, so I went back to the camper and dropped off some film to develop after downing our beer. We decided to meet at Pog Mahones. When I got there Scott had befriended the bartendresse who started giving us a hard time about being so gloomy that the weather sucked and was keeping out of Milford Sound. We had to come up with a plan and told her we were either going to take the steamboat ride to the sheep farm up the river or stay and drink all day. She smiled and tapped the glass, kiddingly saying drink, but then told us the steamboat ride was really quite good.

We went out for the 4:00 PM ride on the TSS Earnslaw with a couple hour stay at the Walter Peak High Country Farm. It is a neat little steamboat originally built in 1912 and has spent its entire life on Lake Wakatipu and is known as the Lady of the Lake. Scott mentioned that having a coal fed steamer is the most ungreen thing we have seen in New Zealand. When we boarded it was still raining and in the front of the ship they had a picture of the flood from November 1999. The water was halfway up the window of the ticket office for the boat. We hadn't died from the emergency siren yet and at 4:16 PM almost like a miracle we see blue sky. Things are finally turning our way. The scenery of the mountains and the lake are breathtaking. After kidding with Scott that we are in a place known for adrenaline activities and we are taking an old persons cruise to see sheep, we start to really enjoy the trip. You could actually look down on the guys working the steam engine. We were told that they need to shovel one ton an hour to keep the ship steaming.

The mountains have sprouted waterfalls everywhere, especially right at the Colonel's Homestead at Walters Peak. On a day when I thought I would slow down taking pictures I am shooting away at a furious pace. The site of Walter Peak is in a valley between to mountains and they have built the quaint cottage that Terry would love for there are fireplaces everywhere. We had a group of about 15 people that got off with us; half Asian who couldn't speak very good English so we pretty much had our guide to ourselves. He took us up to see a deer and 2 doe that they farm. We got to feed them by hand which was incredible knowing the deer at home bolt as soon as they see you. One reason they farm the deer is for their antlers which when the start to grow them are very velvety to the touch as we found out by petting out dear. Our guide told us the antlers are coveted in Asian countries. Next we headed down to see some Scottish Highland Cattle which are remarkable in that they are long haired. As we approached they all started mooing at which Scott claimed they were calling me. Next it was off to the main house to have tea. The scones were very good. When we were finished we were allowed to roam around the gardens and house some. They have converted the house in to a dining area so they can serve a nightly dinner for the last cruise of the day. The area was landscaped beautifully with flower everywhere. Our next stop was to watch the sheep dogs Jim and Jill round up some sheep. They are absolutely amazing dogs. They run up and make these sheep do whatever they want. They had very different styles the younger one was aggressive and got the sheep down in a second but the guide told us that was not necessarily great since it overtaxes the sheep. The older dog went up and took his time getting the sheep down. He was just incredible. At one point he had a straggler that wanted to go the other way and he almost was watching three with one eye and the renegade with the other. I was thoroughly impressed. After sheep herding we went to a open ended barn looking place where the guide brought the Scottish Highland Bull over for us to sit on and take pictures. This huge creature was as gentle as you could get (the bull not myself). Scott said it didn't even flinch when I boarded him for my turn. Our last stop was petting some lambs and watching the guide shear a sheep. That was hilarious. The sheep fought the guide until his feet were lifted then he just was limp when he was turned over. The guide said he was sulking. Scott compared it to Steve Sweeney giving in to Terry when he is jumped on and is having his hair pulled. We were told to make a living you have to be able to shear about 240 sheep per day and really good people do 350. He knew a guy who could do 400 but he cut the tendons across his hand while shearing and quit the game. The day kept getting clearer and clearer. Their was even some clear skies over Queenstown. During the tour we met a girl from Ireland and talked to her on the cruise back. She agreed that New Zealand reminded her of Ireland. They had a piano player trying to get a sing a long going but could only get a mother and young daughter from Michigan interested.

We got back to land and I picked up my pictures which cost about $19 NZ per roll which is about $8 US. I was very happy with most. The only disappointment being my penguin picture and Anna Kournikova bathroom shrine picture didn't focus. Ones I know I don't have digitals of. We headed out to town about 10:00 PM. Scott had done some research and made our first stop McNeill's. People were actually out. I had my second wager on myself here. A guy came up and asked where I was from and I said Maryland in the US and he won a beer because his buddy thought I was from Canada for some reason. Another friend of theirs got real excited and came over to talk to us. Ends up he was in Maryland near Washington for four weeks last year, he just couldn't remember the name of where. A younger kid, he was telling us things to do. He worked for a sledging company which Scott wants to do, but he said the rivers are just way to high. He suggested dirt bikes and told us they were Wicked A. We still are holding out for Milford Sound. I just remembered the full name was McNeill's Cottage Brewery. Next stop was Chico's where we met Scott's bartendress friend from Pog Mahones and another bartender from there. We talked to them for awhile and bought them some drinks then were entertained by a lounge act of a guy with a huge head, a Maori guy and a female singer who was wearing a plastic hula skirt. One particularly bad selection was Oh What a Night by Frankie Vallie. I like the song but all of sudden the large headed guy starts rapping impromptu. Scott gave me his Walt Williams fingers over the head and we left. Started heading back towards camp ground since it had been a real long day. We had a beer at Shooters Sports Bar then went to the upstairs bar at Lone Star name the Rattlesnake Room. I've noticed overseas places want to make one bar into 2 or more. They had a neat bar contraption. The liquor was on a spinning holder so the bartenders could get anything quick. They have far superior drinking technology down here than back home. We finished our beers on the balcony then had one more at Lone Star before calling it a night.