Sandymount

Saturday 12th November
Before leaving Queenstown we wanted to ride on the cable car which goes to the top of the hill where there is a café and of more interest to us - a luge track. Janet wasn’t at all sure about going on the luge, but her reputation was at stake as her family at home did not believe she would do it and she wanted to prove them wrong! Arriving at the ticket office at 9.30am there was no queue and we were able to board the cable car immediately. Being on the edge of the city the cable car gives a fabulous view of the whole of Queenstown. We were surprised at how small Queenstown actually is. For some reason we thought it much larger. We strolled around at the top, taking photos of the view before wandering around to catch the 2 person chair lift up to the luge which was higher up the mountain and ran down to the cable car station. Rummaging in my pockets I realise I have lost my ticket, when I took out my phone to take photos it must have fallen out. Luckily the ticket office believe me and honour my ticket. Before we get to the ticket office we walk past the track – it’s a boys own dream! Windy track with hills, tunnels and steep banked bends with the riders in a 4-wheeled cart steered by a central handle that you pull back to stop, otherwise it just gains speed and momentum as it bombs down the track. There are two tracks, the blue starter track and the fast red track. All first timers have to go on the blue track to begin with. Getting into the cart was the first challenge, they are so low to the ground and unless you are either 18 or possess super supple joints it was not an easy or dignified sight. Once in you are given rudimentary instructions then, having passed the ‘test’, off you go! Well what super fun! Despite there being notices in BIG letters saying ‘no racing’, ‘no bumping’, ‘no overtaking’ and basically no fun, we went for it! Pete took an early lead but I was hot on his tail, Janet gallantly trundled along behind. Pete then made the fatal mistake of doing an emergency stop by pulling back on his handle and nearly jettisioning himself out. Taking full advantage, I tore past whooping loudly (no racing! Not likely), he was cursing and getting his luge going again. Just before Janet also overtook him he got going again and was soon right behind me but I wasn’t giving up that easily and didn’t allow him room to manoeuvre (no overtaking rule!). All too soon the finish was in sight and it was over. I was jubilant with my first place. We had one more go left. Peter and I opt for the faster red track, Janet preferred to stay with the blue. Peter was far more confident than I and raced away, leaning into and whizzing round the corners and actually taking off as we went over the steep hills, I was far more cautious and braked quite a lot to slow me down. We all agreed that the luge was huge fun and as we were leaving stopped to watch a group of twenty something guys tearing down the track, bumping, racing and overtaking but all having great fun – that’s what it’s all about.

We stopped again at Arrowtown as previously we had not visited the Chinese settlement where there are the ruins of huts – they could hardly be called houses, and stories about the migration of Chinese settlers to the area in the time of the gold rush and their subsequent mistreatment and isolation by the locals. Their living conditions and existence made harrowing reading at times.

Just outside Queenstown we came to a big bridge over a river with a bungee jump platform on the middle of the bridge. Never having seen anyone actually bungee before we were interested to stop and have a go, no not really, just to watch!  It was quite fascinating really, we saw one guy back out, he was strapped in the harness and standing on the platform but just couldn’t go through with it, and another older guy around 60 who did it for the first time. A young girl swallow dived off whilst others just jumped or fell forwards. There was an optional hair wash as well which involved your head dipping in the water which some of them took up. Once they had done their jump a dingy, tethered to the bank hauled them on board and took them to the bank. All seemed jubilant at their achievement. Not for us though, far too scary and risky! Next to the bungee was a zip wire, this looked much tamer with seated harnesses and a short run alongside the river, not like the 2km zip lines we did in Costa Rica where you held onto a bar and were hooked on with just a mountaineer’s carabiner and a leather strap round your waist. That didn’t look challenging enough for us!

The drive to Dunedin was a long one so Peter and I shared the driving. It was through fairly deserted areas with an occasional shop, looking very sleepy and not very inviting. The roads were more or less deserted so we had no hold ups. We drove through rain showers and back out into sunshine, eventually arriving at Dunedin at 5pm. The final place we are staying on New Zealand is Lanarch Castle which says it is the only castle in New Zealand. Tired out we decide to have dinner at the castle which was an interesting and enjoyable affair. All the guests sit around a long table together whilst their chosen food is served. We were opposite a pleasant couple from Essex. Talking about our journey out we discovered they too had flown Emirates and enquired how they had found them. They looked a bit blank then the guy said they thought Emirates were ok; his wife had found a shower thing for her feet that she enjoyed and kept her amused. She laughed in agreement. At this point we realised they must have been upstairs, clearly not travelling cattle class like us!!Read more