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Published: June 23rd 2008
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Queenstown
Queenstown is in the south west of New Zealand and it is built around an inlet on Lake Wakatipu. Queenstown is a centre for adventure tourism with many companies offering skiing, jet boating, bungy jumping, and mountain biking, just to mention a few. It is where commercial bungee jumping first began and probably offers more extreme sports than anywhere else in the world and for the longest time. It has been coming under competition now though as it seems that pretty much anywhere in New Zealand and even the rest of the world, the extreme activites can now be undertaken. It's still the original and best though and still has some unique sports. We really liked Queenstown and it reminded us in a way of a much bigger Aviemore, particularly since skiing seasons was just beginning.
With so much to do and see in Queenstown, we booked into a central caravan park for a couple of nights providing us with ample time to explore the town and try out some of the adventure sports on offer. We had to really pick carefully as we obviously didn't have funds to do a lot of the things on offer. On our
first night in the town, we wandered around the area exploring some of the nice shops. It is definitely one of the nicest places we've been to in our 10 month trip.
Horse Riding
I have had my heart set on horse riding throughout the duration of this trip so as you can imagine I was in my element when we finally got around to booking a trek with Moonlight Stables. The trek itself promised to provide spectacular views of the mountains, fields and rivers around the magnificent Wakatipu/Arrow Basin. The property itself is set on 800 acres of rolling land, allowing you to ride amongst the animals found on a typical New Zealand Deer and Sheep farm.
We were picked up from Queenstown centre and driven out to the farm, on the way the owner pointed out various points of interest and told us stories about her Scottish ancestors. The staff at the stables were really friendly and due to another couple cancelling at the last minute, it was only us on the ride. Two members of staff came with us so that we could split up at various points allowing me to canter while Gary
remained at a steady pace. He did really well considering it was the first time he had been on a horse. He even managed to trot, however I think that his legs were a bit sore when he got off the horse. Gary was eager to try a little canter so on our way back to the farm we pushed on a bit in order for Gary's horse to follow, however I don't think that he liked it too much as he shouted for us to stop half way through. He said that he felt like he was falling off, but he did really well and managed to stay in the saddle for the duration of the ride. I think he really did enjoy it!!
Fergburger
Returing back to Queenstown after the horse riding, Gary decided that we were in need of the famous Fergburger!! We had heard so much about this burger back in Australia, from various other travellers, and Gary's mouth had been watering at the prospects of it ever since. He was not disappointed, and enjoyed every mouthful of this huge burger, although he did appear to be struggling towards the end. Needless to say
he has not stopped talking about it ever since. New Zealand has certainly proved to be a good Burger country with the phenomenal Velvet Burger in Dunedin.
More than satisfied after our dinner we headed to the internet for the evening in order to catch up on our blog and put our pictures onto DVD (finally, most places don't offer this) before heading to bed.
Hang Gliding
The heavens opened and the rain poured down throughout the night, crashing off the side of the van, resulting in an interrupted nights sleep, however it did provide the van with a much needed clean. As the alarm was ringing in our ears, we peaked out of the curtains in anticipation of the weather. We had been told that the Hang Gliding was only going to go ahead if the weather conditions were good. We had chosen to do Hang Gliding as our Queenstown sport, although we were very tempted by the Canyon Swing. Thinking it was a bit too close to bungee jumping (watch this space) we opted for the Hang Glide as we really wanted to give flying a go! The rain had stopped however there was still
a lot of cloud hanging around. We checked out of the campsite, parked the van and headed down to the booking office for an update of the weather and operations for the day. Unfortunately for our trip, it was too early to tell, so we headed off for a walk around town before heading back around 12pm for the next weather update.
Luckily the Hang Glide was going through, the rain had stopped and the clouds had lifted making it perfect conditions to carry out our Hang Glide. We were the only two booked for the 12.30 session and we were very surprised how DIY and low key it was. We were picked up by three men and a van who took us to their starting point up 'The Remarkables'. While one member of staff got us suited up the other two me, who were our pilots, built the Hang Glides and decided on the best possible position to run off the cliff.
Shortly after brief safety instructions we were set to run off the cliff. It was totally surreal running off the cliff. The flight itself was very calm and although did not provide the same 'rush'
as skydiving, it gave the sensation that you were flying like a bird. From the sky I could see that Gary had landed in one of the fields in the distance. He looked so small. The views were amazing and I only wish that the flight had lasted slightly longer. As I came down to land there was some turbulance resulting in me losing my stomach a number of times. The landing was probably one of the best parts for me. We circled around a field full of sheep, giving them a slight fright and then went skimming along the long grass before coming to a halt.
The whole experience was great, and we were both so pleased that we had been able to do the Hang Gliding, although not as thrilling as Skydiving. Definitely something we'd recommend to people though as it is probably the closest feeling to flying and the views are stunning. Plus, how often do you get to actually run off a cliff at full speed?
Back in Queenstown we grabbed some lunch and jumped back into the van for a long drive ahead to Fox Glacier via the Crown Ranges, which is the
highest paved road in New Zealand. As we progressed further up the coast the weather began to deteriorate. Undeterred and eager to get the Fox Glacier we continued over the winding roads with our window wipers at full speed. It was absolutely torrential! Eventually arriving in Fox Glacier around 8pm we slightly annoyed to discover the campsite reception closed at 7.30. Having passed no freedom camps on the way into Fox Glacier, we decided to head further north towards Franz Josef, which was only a further 20km therefore we didn't think that it would take us that long. We did not anticipate that the roads would get worse, due to the sharpness of the corners and steeper inclines we arrived in Franz Josef around 8.30, where we were able to finally find a campsite that was still open. After a quick dinner we settled into our van for another night of rain.
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