Blogs from Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 135

An alarm at 5:30 is never received well but with the promise of a great day in the mountains the edge was certainly taken off of it. I set off in the dark and headed straight through town and up to the one mile creek track. I followed the track up through the forests until I reached the open ground of the Ben Lomond Saddle. From the saddle I climbed up into the mist, snow and ice until I reached the windy summit (1746m). The cloud was still obscuring the view, so I hung around for 15 minutes until I couldnt feel my hands, and decided to head down. My cataract view of the scenery was returned to normal as I dipped back down below the cloud line. My walk then took me north along the ... read more

Jumping out of planes isn't enough for me, I would like to fly one with no previous experience. Ok, so it's not quite the same, but I'm flying a plane of sorts and the only thing holding me up is wire. Aman and I do Fly By Wire!!!... read more

We had a lazy morning strolling around Wanaka before I caught by early afternoon bus to Queenstown. On arrival Queenstown appeared to be a prettier than average resort town, with all the normal fixtures and fittings (except for a bizarrely high number of Japanese restaurants). Queenstown sits perched on and above the banks of lake Wakatipu, and faces the imposing 'Remarkable' range of mountains. On the waterfront I found the Patagonia chocolate shop where I bought a divine cup of hot chocolate to sip while watching the sun set over the remarkables. After utilising the hostels hottub I headed out on the town with my dorm mates - two aberystwyth cum worcestershire sheep farmers, one random english bum, and three californian girls on a school trip. At $7.50 for 3 pints the drinks were free flowing ... read more

For those of you who were extremely jealous of the warm weather I was having while you were suffering with winter....well have a chuckle to yourselves now. While I was driving out of Queenstown I encountered this!!!!!! I went to a great fun place called Puzzling World in Wanaka. The two pictures are just a slice of what they have there. These pictures demonstrate how Peter Jackson designed some of the sets for LOTR. One minute I'm perceived as a hobbit, the next a giant! I thought it was pretty cool. They also had a room where it's all tilted, things seems to defy our perception of gravity. A ball on a pool table, a chair on a rail and water seem to all go up a slant. This room also makes you dizzy. I just ... read more

Sunday 23rd April. After a very sleepless night (torrential rain and high winds) we awoke to a sunny morning in Fox, ready for our journey through the Mount Aspiring National Park - destination Queenstown. After about 60 miles we arrived at Haast, the last town before the climb up through the National Park, a trip of about 50 miles to the next town Makarora. Unfortunately all the previous nights rain led to a mudslide on the road about 30 miles ahead and we were forced to spend 2 hours in Haast while waiting on news of the situation. It was pointless turning around as the only other way to Queenstown was via a 500 mile (?) detour back the way we came ! To kill some time we decided to head down to a little fishing ... read more