Day 11: Chillaxing in Queenstown

A free day always starts with laundry – and here in NZ there is no problem.  The hostels have laundries and other places I stayed had the option also.  How come Finland hasn’t caught up??

I uploaded some blogs, got things charging by finding a small corner in the common room and snaring the 2 power-points there.  There never seems to be enough power points in the dorms – which in this age, with so many gadgets to charge, it’s always a hassle.  Usually the person whose bed is closest to the point seems to take possession – which included unplugging my phone and putting hers in, without so much as a please or thank you.  Well, some people don’t know about manners I guess.

Once I got things in shape, I made myself a big cheese sandwich with some rye/walnut bread I bought in Wanaka.  A peach and an apple went into the bag, water bottle filled up and Maggie rescued from the container.

I thought I might go for a pedal out to Glenorchy.  Not that I am a Lord of the Rings fan, but it was up that way that a lot of the filming took place.  So away I went.  But it was too soon after the Crown Range and going up just wasn’t on my radar.  When I got to the top of the first hill and saw there were more to come, I turned around and sailed down again – much more fun.

Looking down from the top of that hill - walking track below

I could see there was a walking track, so thought I would check that out, but it was really a walking track, with steps cut into the path.  But there was a nice shady, rocky beach, so I sat under a huge old pine tree and had lunch.

A great place to eat a cheese sandwich for lunch

The old ferry that chugs around the lake, cruised by leaving a very dark trail of charcoal smoke…  Does it still have a steam engine?  Should it really be belching out such mucky smoke?  Who knows!

The ferry - smogging up the bay

So I decided to ride through town and see where the path led to on the other side.  After getting past the straggling tourists in their hoards, walking through a small market which really didn’t have anything that appealed (and that’s saying something!) I eventually left the people behind and pedalled on along the gravel path that is called a bike-path.  

A diver just went under the water - missed him!

A nice beach for swimming - if avg temp of water was higher than 12C

The lake was a clear green/blue and looked so inviting, but there weren’t many people swimming, except for a guy practising some dives and a couple of kids – but they don’t feel the cold.  One man was trying to get his little fox-terrier to chase a stick in the water, but it just stood knee-deep and barked at the stick, telling it to come nearer.  

Looking back to the town centre

 It was a really pleasant ride (ignoring the gravel) sometimes out of sight of the houses, just lake one side and a bank of trees on the other.  

The Path

I am still saddened by the lack of birds.  Apart from an occasional group of sparrows on one side or sea gulls on the other, there was little to see in the feather department.  No songs, no twittering.  

The remarkable Remarkables

The path eventually led me out to the dam or bridge which I rode over. 

The Kawarau dam/bridge

Looking back to Queenstown, past Frankton

Kawarau Dam - was built to assist in gold mining 1926

I was going to continue along the other side, but a check of the time showed the afternoon fast slipping away and there were a couple of things I thought I might do.  So I turned around and pedalled back to town.  

A nice place to munch on an apple

There's always seagulls to brighten one's day

High above the town the cable cars slide up the mountain, so I thought I would have a ride in one.  Truly, I am not that happy in these flimsy things,that just roll along a wire.  Agnete introduced me to a ride in Sweden and it was sorta fun being together, but this time I was in the gondola by myself and my imagination could get away…  It slowed down and jerked, swung a bit then took off again.  Eventually it clattered its way into the docking station and I was happy to jump out as soon as the doors were opened.

On my way up the Skyrail....

There’s a restaurant there – and for a mere $51 I could have had lunch.  But it was getting a bit late for lunch, should I stay for dinner?  Only $76 for dinner.  You know?  I am not that hungry just yet.  I saw an ice-cream van with real fruit ice-cream, so I thought I would just have a look at the view then come back and indulge in one of them.  

Looking down on Queenstown

The breeze up there was pretty brisk, but it does give a good view of the surrounding mountains and the lake zigzagging up and down the valley.  I took some photos and returned to ice-cream van, only to find that it was all shut up for the day – no one home… probably didn’t need one anyway!

Fun to look down on the road from Arrowtown

Back into the gondola, it creaked away from the station then plummeted at a rapid rate over the edge, causing me to start to cuss a little, but soon it settled down to grinding its way down to the bottom.  I found I could handle it much better viewing things thru the camera lenses.  What a woos!!

Now why would someone jump from here - with just a rubber-band around the ankles?

Sky divers coming into land - another popular extreme sport in Queenstown

At the bottom, there is a bird park and I checked that out.  It was closing in 30mins and it would cost $40.  As it was a 5 acre park, I didn’t think I would have any chance of seeing anything much in 30 mins, so regretfully I turned away.  There were kiwis in there apparently – the feathered variety – but one day it would be really good to see them blundering around in the wild, rather than caged… probably never going to happen.

YHA Lakefront, Queenstown - very nice hostel

So back on firm land, I pedalled off to the hostel where I blogged a little more.  Then Maggie and me went back to town to Cow Lane to The Cow and ordered a vegetarian pizza and guzzled a glass of wine as well. 

The Cow

Yummy Pizza

Thought I would take some home for later, but somehow there was none left on my plate.  Thanks Em & Michael for the tip off – it was quite lovely there.

Another day over on this holiday!  They are starting to slide away rather quickly now – the end is starting to rear its ugly head…  But tomorrow is the trip out to the Milford Sound.  I am hoping to see at least some native forests there – surely!

My stats for the day ended up around 27km with a leisurely 12kph average (curse the dozy tourists!) but a 45.3kph max, sailing down that hill to Glenorchy!