Sky riding and boating

Oh the joy of not having to be up by a specific time, breakfast just after 9am and caught shuttle bus into Queenstown. It has quite a small year round population but has loads of visitors to mountain bike, para glide, jet boat and raft in summer and has 4 ski areas in the winter.

It has a beautiful lake of which I toured a small part that's nearest the town and because of the bays many properties have water front access, quite often not used, so I guess expensive to keep a boat moored. The water is very clean and has trout and salmon for fishermen.

Managed also to get a photo of the old steam ship belching smoke, a jet boat and someone parasailing, if you can spot them! 

There are a number of mountain ranges the most famous of which are The Remarkables, quite stark.

Town has lots of outdoor activity, shops and cafes, bars and restaurants and weather kind to us so very pleasant to wander around. In the early evening we went up the sky ride gondola to a large restaurant with stunning views of the town and lake. Food not bad either although drinks inevitably overpriced.

Fortunately we are up fairly early tomorow so I won't be tempted to try para gliding off the mountain, some of their manouvres look pretty scary

but we are going to Milton Sound where we are spending the night on a boat and may see dolphins and penguins, followed by 2 nights on Stewart island in the far south which Stephen Fry visited in search of an almost extinct parrot. I suspect internet access minimal so will be a while before next blog I suspect.