Day 7 - Te Anau to Queenstown

Left Te Anau at about 9:30 this morning.  It was not a very early start as the drive today is only a couple of hours to Queenstown.  The drive was very leisurely, and  very spectacular, with mountains and lakes everywhere you look.  Queenstown is a resort town famous for skiiing in the winter and bungy jumping, jet boating, white water rafting, paragliding and a whole heap of other adventure sports in the
summer. We arrived in town at about 12:00pm, so we thought we go into town and have some lunch and a look around before checking into our accommodation.

We entered the information bureau, and saw advertising material all over the place for every activity possible!.  There sure is a lot of stuff happening in Queenstown, and we couldn't decided what we wanted to do.  Josh was not keen on Bungy Jumping, and Daniel wasn't all that interested in a canyon swing.  Eventually we decided on a Gondola trip up the moutain followed by a couple of luge rides down, and a trip on the Jet boat.  Even the Jet boat decision was a difficult, as there are about 5 different options to choose from.  We grabbed a handful of different brochures and headed out, deciding that we would do some research over lunch, and then book something for tomorrow.  

After a quick bite to eat (and a milkshake from Starbucks), we decided to see if our accommodation was ready.  Lucky for us they had another apartment that was already available, so we were allowed to check in early.  We walked inside and were very impressed with our accommodation.  The apartment is situated on the lake and has views across the lake to the mountains across the other side, which were lightly dusted with snow.  Its also a very comfortable apartment, with all the comforts of home.  Mazz says she is very impressed and would be happy to spend the rest of the holiday here gazing out at the view across the lake.

After making ourselves at home (code for spreading our junk everywhere!), we reviewed the tourist brochures and decided that the KJet was the jetboat ride for us.  The appartment is about 1km out of town and the day was clear and sunny, so we decided to walk into town and make a booking for the KJet.  The walk was also spectacular, beside the lake, through a park and across a river.  By chance we came across the main pier where the KJet leaves from, and the day was so clear, that we decided to ride the KJet today, rather than wait till tomorrow, as who know what the weather would be tomorrow.

After a short wait of 30 mins, we donned raincoats and life jackets and climbed onboard the big yellow jet boat along with approx 12 other people.  The jet boat ride was exhilarating and exciting, and lasted approx 1 hour and covered 64 kms.  It included 360 degree spins, swerving turns near the river bank and weaving in and out of trees and submerged branches.  We arrived back at the dock very wet, a little wind burnt and with crazy hair styles, but with big smiles on our faces.

After making our way back to the apartment, Paul and Daniel enjoyed the 30 degree heated swimming pool while Mazz and Josh went shopping to get some items for dinner.  Mazz says she will have to check the earthquake statistics, but if everything is clear she may have found her new favourite holiday destination.