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Published: January 10th 2008
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When Graham and I thought of coming to Queenstown, we thought it would be just the place to come to do all the crazy adventure stuff, we just did not expect how beautiful a location it would be...the scenery is fantastic. Plenty Scenery, Plenty great walks to do, loadsa activities, and tons of great bars, and shops. Two days is simply not enough to take it all in.
You could easily come here on holiday and just base yourself here for the duration. In fact G and I have spoken to loadsa ppl here that came here on there travels meaning to stop for a month or two and three years later they are still here!!
Last night still buzzing from our jump we went to the minus 5 bar, which is basically a big walk in freezer that sells you absolut vodka cocktails in ice glasses while you dance around the ice sculptures. Dancing is a must when under the big parker they provide you, you are just wearing shorts and a vest as it is 27 degrees out!!
Afterwards we went for what Graham callled the best burger he had ever eaten in his life, which
was named a tropical swine!!! Basically pork burger, beetroot and pinnaple on a bap.....I know - very weird!!
So this morning we had an early start to go on our Ride of the Rings tour by Quad bike, we did it with 6 other tourists and our speed did not exceed 30kmph, putt putt putt....unlesss G and I hung back then ripped it up ""to catch up ". What a fright we got when we came round a bend to see that a lady got her brake and accelarator mixed up and had tipped down a hill and landed under her bike in some Bramble bushes!! She was okay though!!! The slow speeds were worth it when we finally got to the top of the hill and had great views over where they filmed LOTR stuff.. When I took my helmet off I was covered in dust - it looked like I had a tash not a good look when I had to walk through town back to our van!!
In the afternoon we went to see Kiwi birds in a bird park - too cute for words!! Then another quick tour of the Township of Queenstown....I love
love love this place ......
About four we headed on the road to Glenorchy and nothing prepared us for the scenery to follow, it is quite a bendy road and every corner you turn you take a sharp intake of breath as the beauty of the place just got better and better, Then came the point when G pulled in sharply as we could see the mountains where Peter Jackson had filmed Issengard ( or however you spell it ). I am not ashamed to say that I was so amazed by how stunning it was that I blubbed and blubbed and blubbed......which G thought was hilarious ( but did give me a cuddle eventually after he had stopped guffawing at me!!)
You know the saying life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the number of moments that take your breath away....well this was one of those moments....I could go on, and on, but hope to upload some pictures which will probably not radiate as well I wish people could see what I saw through my eyes!! WOW
Its not hard to see why there is actually a place just north
of Glenorchy called Paradise which is next to a Lake called Diamond Lake , oh yes it is.........((Bill Gates just checked out last week, and they are currently filming the new Wolverine film there ))
We sadly had to move on to our next destination of Wanaka, and what was to be the beginning of a really cool road trip.
When we Left Queenstown it was 6pm that night, I had a wee lump in my throat as I took my turn to drive. Graham really settled down for the trip, supping straight from a bottle of red, kicking his shoes off and selecting The Rolling Stones on the Ipod. Once again the drive took us through some truly stunning scenery, changing as we ate up the miles. We were driving through big valleys with orchards and vinyards while the sun was setting and the sky was a lovely hazy colour.
When we stopped of at a viewpoint to look at a big waterfall G gave me a big hug again, and I heard a weird noise in my ear - the cheeky b***er was supping on his wine over my shoulder.
LOTR Country
Right in the middle of "middlearth" When we arrived it Wanaka the sun was setting over the Lake - It was a really really cool roadtrip!!
*****Update****** look over our previous blogs as we have added some pictures***
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