The Remarkables

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There is a gondola* in Queenstown that takes you up to a mountain behind the city. The view is incredible, and we picked a great day for this activity. Queenstown sits at the top of a lake, with the Remarkables mountain range along the left hand side. A picture is worth a thousand words in this case.

J's little friend from the Lord of the Rings Jetboat trip told us that we had to ride the luge (gravity powered go-karts) at the top of the lift. So we each did a couple of runs. J caught air, skidded the tires on corners and even sort of had an accident in one. CM got some good pictures with the telephoto lens.

Arrowtown is a short drive from Queenstown, a cute little "pioneer settlement" complete with main street shops and eateries. We enjoyed a nice afternoon strolling around and exploring this area. New Zealand is of course known for its wool products. However, it is difficult to find merino wool gloves, scarves, etc. Much more prevalent is something called "merino silk." This is a blend of merino wool (from sheep) and fur from opposums. Yes - opposums!! The New Zealanders insist their opposums are cute, cuddly, and have wonderfully soft fur. I tried to explain to the shopkeepers that to us opposums are ugly, noturnal pests that wind up as roadkill. I'll admit it was pretty soft, but I could not bring myself to buy anything made with the stuff!

* We haven't established the proper term for this. Ski-lift type gondolas go by the names tram, gondola and cable car in different parts of the world, however each term also refers to another method of transportation in another part of the world.

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Photos

Magic Show
This guy was pretty funny - here he's throwing a card over a 3 story buiding.

Comments

[angela]

oh that looks awesome!! so much fun!! i wanna do that!

[angela]

forgot to say that i love the portrait of you guys too!