Queenstown

This morning we awoke at Kāmana Lakehouse a beautiful little hotel perched high above the side of Lake Wakatipu the crystal clear alpine lake upon which Queenstown sits.  We started the day off with a phenomenal breakfast (the boys and I got blueberry pancakes which were infusioned with orange zest and a hint of rosemary, Sharyl went for Eggs Benedict) which was included with our stay.  The view from the restaurant was pretty unfortunate.

Queenstown does not appear to lack for high end accommodations, fine dining, or every version of casual food option.  It’s certainly the most developed tourism location we’ve been to on the South Island - it would easily fit in with Vail, Telluride, Tahoe, Park City, or other similar ski towns in the US.

After breakfast Sharyl took 45 well deserved minutes to relax in the hotel spa & hot tub.  After that we checked out and headed toward the Queenstown Skyline Gondola.  We met up with Bubba, Seun, and Ola at the nearest public parking lot and walked ten minutes up the hill to the gondola.  The gondola climbs a ridiculously steep mountainside with ever improving panoramic views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.  At the top are a variety of adventure options - Zipline tours with Ziptrek (a company founded by a couple friends David & Charles in Whistler 6 months before we started Skyline), mountain biking, or as our crew chose to do the Luge!  

The luge offers two tracks a beginner run which everyone starts on and a more advanced run.  For those riding the Luge there is a chairlift which takes them further up the hill from the top of the gondola.  River and I hiked up the hill to get a good view of everyone coming down the run.  Reef seemed a bit tentative when he cruised through the tunnel near where I was standing, but apparently by the end was having a blast.  Sharyl was right there with him throughout.  Next down the track were Bubba then Ola and Seun.  Ola, like Reef was taking it cautiously, but honestly in the US you’d definitely need to be twice the boys ages to even be allowed your own luge - so both guys did great.

After the first Luge run we had to take the gondola back down and race to the Shotover River where we had a booking for a 1:30 pm Jetboat ride.  Sharyl & Reef were the last two on the boat right at 1:30 with Bubba, Seun, and Ola doing their best to hold the boat for them.  The McLeans driving a normal sided vehicle had a quicker exit from the parking area in Queenstown and drive to the canyon, fortunately because otherwise Sharyl & Reef would likely have missed the jetboat.

Jetboats are a New Zealand invention, they are essentially a jet ski scaled up to boat size.  Because of the different way they propel themselves they are able to operate in just a few inches of water, and make incredible turns, spin 360s, and race through places normal speed boats would never dare.

The Shotover Canyon is a sheer sided, narrow slice through the rock and at the speeds the boat was going it was all screams and laughter the whole ride.  Seun said she was “white knuckling” it the whole time grabbing on with all her might.  Sharyl on the other hand had her arms up in the air like she was on a roller coaster!  It was awesome to watch!

After the jetboat ride we walked the 100 yards over to Canyon Brewing, a brewery perched right above the River.  The food and beers were great, I especially liked the fresh hops they had growing along by the entrance and the outdoor beanbag chair tables, which the boys loved lounging in for a bit after lunch.

Tonight we are camping at Moke Lake, just 20 minutes outside Queenstown, but what looks to be a gorgeous site with hiking options around the lake.  Since there is no phone reception or internet out there I’m posting this Blog earlier than usual and will likely just update the end of this Blog at some point tomorrow with how the night’s camping went.