Today is Thursday and the body is due for a rest day, so I drove into Queenstown for the first time and enjoyed waking around for a day. The first stop was a 2 hour walk in the city’s botanical gardens, free admission to this gem but you will have to hunt for a parking spot outside of the gardens and pay for it, anywhere from NZ2 to NZ12 per hour – 24×7.
The yellow pine trees were massive! It must have taken 100’s of years for them to reach this size. There were varieties of roses and other flowers in the gardens all in vibrant color now that summer is here.
The garden has several paths criss-crossing through its grounds, but the main one is the coastal path that circumnavigates the gardens on all 3 sides that touch the lake. There are benches and rocks for people to sit and contemplate the scenery.
After the walk I decided to take the gondola ride up the side of the mountain to gain a sky high view of Queenstown, the lake and the surrounding mountains. After searching for my next parking spot, and failing I eventually followed the signs to the gondola ride and their newly built multi-storey car park. Their prices were NZ$6 per hour which was better than some of the other private lots around town. It was certainly the most convenient location for this attraction.
The city are in the last few years of a major renovation and modernization of this mountain attraction, having already stabilized the rock face, and replaced the gondola systemi and chair life system for the Luge ride at the top. They are currently constructing the new services building at the peak while still being open for visitors.
At the top there is a Luge, on a concrete track and you can race others down hill, before jumping on the chair lift to ride to the start of the Luge and repeat the experience. You can get a package deal for a gondola ride and 3 Luge rides. This was very popular among the visitors. Due to the construction you had to navigate across some scaffolding and down a lot of steps – feeling like a construction worker as you are walking on scaffold flooring and stairs, all open as you are outside the building! This was actually a fun experience that eventually will be replaced with an indoor elevator down to the Luge level.
The Luge were steerable and you could brake if you wanted to… You can get the Luge going so quickly that in the corners it lifts the inside wheels off the ground. I guess that’s what the “SLOW DOWN” signs are for on the fast descent sections 🙂
There is a restaurant and a gift shop (of course) in the building up the mountain with all the usual souvenir type “stuff”. The restaurant has huge windows so you can sit inside and marvel at the view outside, or you can put on a jacket and go outside on the walkway to capture the view.
All too soon it was time to ride back down to the lake level, which is actually about 1000 ft above sea level. The view of Queenstown and the surrounding countryside is unique, and on this lovely weather day, absolutely stunning!
The Queenstown airport only has a single runway and its a tricky approach flying down the valley for the airlines that have scheduled flights in and. out of this airport. I saw some flights from Australia coming and going as well as a lot of local New Zealand flights. Most flights daily belong to the charter planes ferrying visitors over the glaciers and into Milford Sound for a cruise.
Another enjoyable day, helped me stay in a relaxed mood without a care in the world :-).
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