Queenstown the first few days

Well let's see we arrived in Queenstown on the 7th and it has been pretty much full on since our arrival. After checking into our Motel/Apt we touched base with Melissa and then went to get some groceries. We met Melissa later in the afternoon down town and she showed us the downtown area. Let's see how best to describe Queenstown, small European style village, tourist spots every 5 feet, right down on the lake waterfront with cafes every 2 feet.


It has a great feeling to it and I can see how it could easily be described as a happening place. Now fortunately for us it is the fall and their slowest time of the year so we have not had to battle the masses and have really enjoyed walking the town. Just prior to our arrival Queenstown was under water along the waterfront. Heavy rains had raised the lake level to the point that they had to sand bag most of the businesses along the waterfront and the bags were still in place upon our arrival, but you could see that things were slowly coming back to normal and the bags were being removed by the town workers on a daily basis. Apparently this is unusual for Queenstown. Since Melissa had to go to work that left Dianna and I on our own for the night so we decided to have supper at Emily Flemmings workplace a restaurant called Bella Cucina. We had a great feed and chatted with Emily who was flying off to Wellington to meet up with her mom the next day.

Queenstown from ontop of the Gondola .








We had a good night's sleep and as Melissa was going to be working a double shift, we decided to head up the Gondola to get the bird's eye view of Queenstown, and it was not disappointing. We hiked the upper trails along the hills and watched the Paragliding take off from the top of the hill and swoop around the airspace till they landed in the park below. Looks like a lot of fun. From here we decided to stop at the Old Mans Cafe where Melissa was working and have a quick bite and a coffee. Service was pretty good as well I might add.

Chico's Bar & Restaurant








After leaving there we headed out to see the famous bridge where Bungee jumping originated called AJ Hatchett's. We got to watch and video a couple of young girls who were brave enough to take the plunge. There was a lot of screaming going on but they had fun. We found a nice winery Amisfield on our way back to the Apt and stopped in and sampled the finer wines of the Otago region and then went home to make a nice supper for the two of us.

Mothers day, what do you do for your mother on mother's day. Dianna already got her gift of a nice hand blown necklace on the West Coast so we decided to have a nice breakfast and then head out and do a little hiking on the Queenstown Walking loop. Before heading out we were able to reach Betty up at Donna's and had a nice chat with her. The hike was about 2 hours long and took us to the same level as the Gondola across the valley and boy it got the heart rate going as it was a steady climb the whole way up. We met a number of people along the way and then sat and watched the para gliders take off from above the Gondola sight. It was amazing to watch them as they just floated along in the air over the town, so we decided it was time for us to take the plunge and join them. We headed down the mountain and made our way over to the Gondola and up we went. Dianna was nervous at first as she is not a lover of heights to begin with and it has been over 30 yrs since I did anything like this. After a short talk with the guys at the top we paid our two bits and decided to see the fat lady dance. I went first strapped nicely in front of soon to be pilot of this light weight piece of fabric. We had to change sides as the wind shifted on us at the top of the hill but once were set we both struck out running down the hill till the next thing I knew the legs were running but only catching air. There we were floating across the sky line of Queenstown like so many others that we had watched. Dianna and her guide Gavin who turns out to be from Toronto had to change sides three times to catch the right wind. Gavin was willing to make the ride interesting for her by doing lots of turns but she only wanted the gentle ride down. It was fantastic that she did it , what a way to spend mothers day floating across the skies. She is still reliving the flight over an over again and is really happy that she did it.

It is supper time and we are going to head out for supper with Melissa at Chico's the restaurant that she works at down on the Mall. Tomorrow morning we are heading out for an overnight boat trip to the Doubtful Sound where hopefully we will see some dolphins , seals and great fiord scenery. I will fill you in more on that trip when we get back. Have a great Mothers Day to all you mothers reading this.
 
Photo's to follow. I do not have access to the Para-gliding photos at the moment as I do not have a disc drive. Will put some on after we get to Australia.