April 9 - It's official - my family has finally exceeded the maximum allowable limits for bizarre. Just when I think I have them nicely figured out, they end up completely baffling me. We had a well organized day set out for us - we were going to enjoy some of the adventure activities for which Queenstown is justly famous, but nothing too adventurous, as some of our (OK, my) aged body parts just couldn't stand the strain. Queenstown itself has been a real experience.
It
is like Banff on speed. Actually, in my opinion, it has all of the worst
elements of places like Banff, Whistler and Aspen, with none of their redeeming
charm. It is a very youthful, backpacker kind of place, and the
surroundings really reflect that. The whole town is geared entirely
toward adventure tourism, and the number of tour operators here is quite
staggering. This is very much a party town and the number of bars and
pubs probably outnumber the permanent residents. One of our guidebooks
said to get out of Queenstown as soon as you could, and I completely understand
that bit of advice now. However, it is situated in a gorgeous spot, and
we quite enjoyed touring the areas surrounding the town. (Photos again courtesy of Google images.)
The day started off with some luging - on concrete, of course, but just as cool. Unfortunately, I was now under the weather so Pete and the kids headed off without me. They took a gondola up the mountain to the track, and each had five races in their luging carts. I am led to understand that there was quite a bit of competition (what a surprise) but that everyone managed to win some bragging rights over the others and a great time was had by all.
I managed to recover in time for us to head out for our afternoon's activity, ziplining at the site of the world's first ever bungee jumping at the Kawarau Bridge. Unfortunately, when we got there, we found out that all of the ziplining spots were booked for that day and the next. So what does my slightly insane family decide to do? Sign up for bungee jumping, of course!! All three of them are quite looking forward to it. I opted to decline - my neck is bad enough as it is and I do not want to make it any worse so I will give this one a miss. Although, I have to say, it does look like a hoot. Anyhoo, it will be very interesting tomorrow to see all of this go down (so to speak). I think my family are all completely crazy!!
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