In and around Queenstown

We had a bit of a lie in this morning, thanks in part to the amount of alcohol consumed the night before.  However we still managed to set out by 10am to see a couple of places of interest around Queenstown.

Our first stop of the day took us to Arrowtown, an old goldmining settlement that survived after all of the profitable gold had gone.  The town still preserves a lot of its original shop frontages, giving the atmosphere of an American wild west frontier town.  Aside from the bank, grocery store and post office though, many of the old buildings now house a mix of designer, gift and art and craft shops.  These modern intrusions were not too offensive in the grand scheme of things - the town still had a good amount of charm.

We didn't linger, as we had other destinations to visit.  Next up on the list was AJ Hackett bungy at Kawarau river, the world home of bungy jumping.  The platform is suspended off an old bridge spanning the river, which has stunning turquoise waters within a mountain valley.  Jumpers can choose between a dry jump or a wet jump, the latter dipping you up to your midriff into the aforementioned river.

We watched a couple of brave souls make their jump, one tandem and a couple of singles, but none of it inspired either of us to make a jump ourselves!  After taking a few pictures of the action and the scenery, we headed off for our next destination.

Our final stop outside Queenstown was the handsomely-named Lake Hayes.  With a name of that quality, we felt obliged to have our picnic lunch by its shores.  The lake attractively mirrored the nearby hills and mountain terrain and made for a very picturesque setting for lunch.

After lunch, we drove back into Queenstown for a further investigation of the city's amenities, as our lengthy pub-stop the day before had curtailed our earlier attempt to do so.

We took a ride on the gondolas up the nearby hill, which lifted us 750 metres above sea level and afforded spectacular views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.  After that, we took a walk through the streets, which uncommonly for New Zealand, were bustling even on a Sunday afternoon - plenty of shopping, live.music and pub going was available.

Come the evening, we returned back to our motel room for dinner and got ready to head out for a few drinks and a visit to the casino.  The evening was quite profitable, as we won NZ$135 on the fruit machines and roulette, which paid for one of our two nights accommodation here in Queenstown.

We have a couple of long drives ahead of us from tomorrow, starting with a 5 hour drive to the Franz Josef glacier, which will be our next stop.

TTFN