Queenstown, Tuesday

Cool morning, but we are not deterred. Steep downhill walk into the city after breakfast. It was a real treat not having to have suitcases out at 6am! Took a leisurely 30 minutes to stroll down to the main town centre.

Had a look in a few touristy shops and then went and booked in for our Shotover jet boat ride. I did this about 35 years ago when I first visited NZ and remembered it as being fantastic. I talked D and G into doing it too so was hoping it lived up to expectations. It certainly did! I was gob smacked at how close we came to rocky edges and cliffs at speeds of 85-90 km an hour! We were all very pleased that we didn't even get as wet as we expected. It was a thrilling ride and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Back into Queenstown and we headed to Ferg Burgers where people queue in the street to buy them. We had been given vouchers so joined the long line and eventually got to the front of the line and placed our orders. I had a Cockadoodle Oink which was a chicken breast and bacon plus salad and avocado burger. It was huge and no way I could eat it all. Mind you, you have to eat it in the street as there is only a tiny dining area that was choc a block. We then made our way to the entrance to the gondola which took us to the top of Bob's Peak. As the weather has been great again, we had fabulous views of all of Queenstown. It cettainly is a place for adventure types. You can go on the luge, bungey jump, para glide or mountain bike down the mountain. I was happ to just sit in the gondola!

Back down the mountain and the Fer Bar for a much needed wine, although D and G each had a pint of Guinness. We had the best of intentions of walking to the nearby waterfront to go into the Ice Bar, but we were all still so full from our lunch burgers, and tired from all the walking, that instead we wandered into a couple more touristy shops and then walked back up the hill to our hotel. We could have used more of our vouchers to buy something for our dinner tonight, but we three decided that all we wanted was to finish off some of the cheese, dips and bikkies from last night so that is exactly what we did. Definitely an early night tonight as we have had a very full and fabulous day. Would have been nice to have one more day here, but sadly it's not meant to be. Terrific view as the sun set over the mountains and Lake Wakatipu.