28 December 2024 -New Zealand- South Island -Queenstown

It was a lovely day when we woke and I had a cooked breakfast which I have not have for a while. We had a nice coffee and left about 10.15am for the Sky Gondola in town.

The gondola has been running pretty well 24 hours a day as there is a lot of activities at the top and restaurants, bars etc.  We had seen many paragliders leave from the top and can watch them meander their way across the sky and then land at a park to the east of the bottom of the gondola. We walked to the bottom of the gondola and it was busier than I thought and we had to wait in the queue. This is another serious money-making operation. They take a few pictures of you before you get on the gondola and they you can buy them at the top. The people were going to multiple activities at the top and we had to wait whilst a number of paragliders got on with their large bags containing the parasail. In addition, there were many mountain bikers with their bikes with a special fitting they attach to the outside of some gondolas. The gondola’s themselves took 12 people at a time.   

The gondola takes you to 480 metres above Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu to the top of Bob's Peak, where there is a spectacular 220-degree panorama with breathtaking views of Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Walter and Cecil Peak and, of course, Queenstown. The picture of the day is a view from the top.

As we neared the top we saw some platforms for bungy jumping. There was a luge track where people sat in go carts and hurled  themselves around its track which criss-crossed around the gondola buildings. The mountain bikers set off on various tracks which disappeared into the woods and must go all the way to the bottom. You could see some of their tracks and they zoom down at great speed through the trees. What if they crashed??  There was no snow up here. There were lots of hikers as well and those just pleased to come and admire the lovely views. The paragliders went up higher and launched themselves off near the peak.

We were going ziplining and made our way to the meeting point. We had a safety briefing and were made to put on some special harnesses and a helmet. We must have looked like miners about to go down the pit!!. One of the guides was a guy called Ben from Glasgow. We were going to do 4 different zip lines and we walked straight into the trees on a wooden walkway and platform some 25 meters up to the first zip line. Essentially you are strapped to the zip line making sure your harness is adjusted properly otherwise you can get a wedgie!!  They took some group pictures at the top so you can of course buy them at the bottom.

The first one was probably about 90 meters long and once strapped in you walk down some wooden steps and then you step off and on your go gathering speed (a camera flashes taking your picture) and hurtling through the trees toward a platform high up in the trees and you essentially walk on to it and the guide slows you down a bit at the end. You are then unclipped and you go on to the next one. Whilst we were doing our lines there was a sustainability talk about not taking out of nature what it cannot sustain and that we can all play our part in sustaining nature. This was a good thing to do and to remind us about this issue and to think what we do and how we can play our part to preserve this wonderful world. It made me reflect on how much I had seen this year in terms of wonderful wildlife above and below the water and how we must preserve this.

During the first zip line we were told to keep our hands and legs below the zip line. At the second we were told we could take our hands off and go upside down if we wanted by letting go with our hands and leaning back. I certainly took my hands off and this felt freer but I was not keen to go upside down. At the third there was a gap in the trees and we had a fantastic view of the lake. For this one we walked down the steps backwards and then leant back and off we went where you have to have faith you will be caught by the line. The view was great and the lake stretched out for miles.

The final zip line was 240m long and went through the treeline and you gathered quite a bit of speed. We had a good group and we all enjoyed the experience. Jules had never done it before and enjoyed it and the challenge of just stepping off. We had come down some way and we then walked down the wooden steps to the ground and then had to walk back up the mountain to the start.

After our adrenalin rush we walked and had a look around and then took the gondola down with a lady who had been on a scenic flight around the lake and a lady who had been sky diving. We decided to reward ourselves with an ice cream as we had spotted an Italian made ice cream shop called La Mamma de Gelato (the Mother of Ice Cream or the mother of all ice cream!!). Whatever the translation the ice cream was delicious and they had some unusual flavours –I had chocolate and almond (with whole almonds) and peanut butter and white chocolate.

We wondered down to town and came across an indoor Heli fly machine. This is basically an indoor sky diving cone. You can go in and watch which is what we did.

This is a large hard see through plastic cone about 3 meters in diameter and it has a large fan at the bottom under a net you stand on and the cone rises about 7-8 meters to the top where there is a another vent. People put a flying suit on and helmet and go into the cone with an instructor who holds you in the right position so you essentially are floating in the air as if sky diving. After a while they increase the power and with the instructor holding on they spin round and go up the cone and round and round. It looked quite fun but if your position changed so would you in the cone as it was very sensitive. We pondered about doing it and may go back tomorrow.

By this time it was getting quite late and we decided to get a pizza between two of us and shared one. We did not realise how big it was when it arrived some 20 inches radius!! We ate as much as we could and we felt stuffed and walked around the shops and the town before heading up to our villa. This seemed to be hard work with the extra weight for the pizza we were carrying. Jules had never seen such a big pizza.

We chilled in the sun in the garden and played games and read. I had no supper ( as I could not even think about food) and we watched a film.

We have our last day tomorrow as we then fly back to Auckland on the 30th. We were lucky with the weather today as well as the day we went to Milford Sound.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from April to September so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com