Queenstown is my kinda town. Not that I'm the bungee jumping type, but I am the outdoorsy, fleece-wearing, latte-slurping type and Queenstown's got all that and more. It reminded my very much of Whistler but with even more going on - if that's possible. Oh, and did I also mention the stunning scenery, world-class skiing, great shopping, killer restaurants, 5 star accommodations and wicked dance parties? It's got it all...but more on the dance parties later.
With the weather continuing to be wintery, our extreme sports window was appearing to be quite limited. I was immediately disappointed that the low cloud cover would postpone my paragliding lesson, but with steely resolve I...Not! There would be no paragliding, ever, but after a coolish swim and a slightly warmer sauna, we decided to scale the local gondola - straight up the side of Mt. Crumpet - or something like that, to take in the view and perhaps a little concrete luging.
Even on this cold and cloudy day Queenstown was hopping. I would need my most aggressive parallel parking tactics just to snag a spot remotely close to the gondola. Actually, the gondola is more like an elevator and my mind played "Spot the engineering fault" all the way up. Just as we miraculously neared the top, we whizzed past the AJ Hackett Bungee Jumping thingy and our/my hearts/heart lept at the mere thought of being on the same mountain as that obvious suicide machine. I don't know what my price is to bungee jump, but on this day a million dollars didn't seem to be nearly enough.
The luge is this very unique and way cool combination of toboggan, water slide, go kart and bicycle and its very addictive. You sit in a sort of sled-like thing holding onto a bike handle bar contraption, using it to break and turn. It is a tonne of fun and after Lint had pealed Alex off the wall in Turn 2, you couldn't wipe the smile off his face. After we all went once, with Bill leading the way, the boys and I "had" to go three more times, just because. If my helmet had even come close to fitting I might have agreed to a fifth run.
Extreme gondolaing and mountain luge were deemed to be enough wild activity for one day, so we headed back to our condo for a little grub and a dance party. We have this family tradition that every once in awhile we turn up the music and jump around the house. For whatever reason the boys were set on working up a few numbers on this night. Thankfully, the back-up dancers (aka parents and grandparents) were relegated to the role of spectator and we sat back to watch, giggle and drink wine as the boys performed 7-8 dances complete with costume changes and lighting effects. Sometimes the best moments are on top of a mountain and other times they are right in your living room.
In the morning we bade goodbye to our spacious accommodations and incredible view, caught a latte at the local Starbucks and got in the queue for our next big adventure - jet boating! All for the low, low price of a year's tuition we had booked tickets on the Shotover jet boats that run mere minutes outside Queenstown. Maybe the best known company in the country and with 2.5 million satisfied and still living customers in the last 35 years, we figured we were in good hands. And as we were soon to find out, we would want expert hands on that steering wheel!
While we had all planned to go, Pat decided that with a rough water warning, the river would do her back no favours. So, it was with heavy hearts we boarded our boat, met our driver "Telly", took a few snaps, and were gone. Two things that struck me immediately were how comfortable I was with padded seat and warm handrail and how friggin' close Telly could get us to the walls of the canyon. Of course, I kept saying, he's done this a million times but still...With incredible skill he slung and flung this boat up and down the river with 20 screaming passengers aboard. We did at least 3 full 360 spins without ever coming off plane and many times Lint, on the port side, could have easily touched rock. The boys were in heaven, including Grandpa Bill who had the front seat, and we all agreed, through wide perma-grins, that this once-in-a-lifetime treat came too quickly to an end.
And with that, we had officially "done" Queenstown. Not in a really extreme, risk-your-life-on-a-dare way, but still, in a kid, grandparent and family friendly way that we will all remember for a very long time. I was sad to leave and I guess the paragliders will have to wait for my return...
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