Queenstown

On the shores of Lake Wakatipu, this is a major tourist town on the South Island.   It has a major airport that brings in flights from all over New Zealand, as well as from Australia.   It is a happening place, and perhaps not my favorite.   Yes it is beautiful, and there are a ton of things to do, and some really nice restaurants and bars along the shoreline.  It is a favorite of the young, as they are everywhere.   Perhaps it is all the adrenaline rush activities around Queenstown that brings them in.    The crowds are just not my thing.
For example Bungy Jumping.
                                                                 

                                                Bungy Jump at the Kawarau Bridge.
This is the original spot from which A.J. Hackett started this enterprise.   You too could jump off the bridge and down to the river below for a mere $195.   They were lined up out the door to do it.   I was tempted actually.  I know Bob Speckman would have done it, and if he did I would.   Shelley....not so much.   We watched quite a few, mostly girls, jump off the bridge.   I have some neat videos, but this blog won't accept a video.    Too bad.
                                                               

 These two guys come to get you when you are hanging upside down over the river.   See the pole they grab your line with.   Pretty water,  huh.  Seriously this is a big business.   The parking lot has spots for large buses, all kinds of camper vans, and many hundreds of cars.  Who knew so many would pay $195 for an adrenaline rush.    Add to that the Zip lines, Jet boats that fly up the river at 50 km/hr., sky diving, hang gliding, Four wheelers out into the mountains, Jeep trips, and they even have this really cool jet ski built like a submarine that dives under the water and shoots up like a North Korean missile.

As I said, the city is a bit too touristy for my taste.   I love the views of the high peaks surrounding Lake Wakatipu, but after one night, we moved on.
                                                                     

Shelley checking out the people on the waterfront.

OK, we are really dating  ourselves, but here is what we actually found interesting.

Lawn Bowling

As we walked the Queenstown park, we happened upon the local Bowling Club.   There was league play going on, and these folks were taking their game seriously.  As we were watching the games and trying to figure out what the rules were, a nice Australian couple came up by us to watch as well.  Shelley struck up a conversation with the lady, only to find out that she was the National Bowling Ladies Champion of Australia.   We only found that out after asking every dumb question for 10 minutes before this lady quite humbly told us who she was.   We had a good laugh later, as we realized that Shelley first asked her when she walked up, "Do you know anything about this game?"  

I'd put my money on Allen Valliant for this game.   There is an idea.  He needs to put one of these in his side yard in Austin.  

One last experience today was pretty cool.   As we drove down the Lake after departing Queenstown, we ran into this local rancher moving his sheep along the major highway.   They were being moved down out of the high country, to this road that got them to lower fields for the fall and winter soon to come.    The sheep were literally falling off this steep slope down to the road.  Never one to be left behind, as soon as they would smash into the ditch, up they went to catch their leader.  

 It took us a bit of time, but we finally made it by the flock.
The older rancher was driving the truck in front of us.  It looked like he had his young son up on the hill "shepherding" the last few sheep to follow the leader.   The sheep were pretty considerate as they stuck to the far left side, to let traffic go by....slowly.

I'll leave you with some random shots as we traveled south and west from Queenstown along Lake Wakatipu.  We are headed to the Fiordlands, just over these mountains.