Last Saturday was my 33rd birthday and to celebrate Mike and I took a short road trip to the central Otago region for Easter long weekend. Here is a short movie of our trip:
We left Friday morning from Christchurch and headed south to Lake Tekapo. The weather was very nice and we enjoyed some gorgeous views of the very blue water and a quick walk near the lake's edge.
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| Beautiful Lake Tekapo |
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| First day of our trip - Lake Tekapo |
After passing Lake Pukaki we headed north on #80 towards Mount Cook Village. Unfortunately the clouds rolled in and covered our view of Mount Cook. We enjoyed a quick bite to eat and a game of pool and then headed back south and found a quiet spot to set up our tent next to Lake Pukaki.
The next morning we continued towards Wanaka and much to our surprise there was an air show. We stopped by the side of the road and enjoyed some free aviation acrobatics! Happy Birthday to me!
When we arrived in Wanaka the long weekend was in full swing and the town was crawling with tourists. Wanaka reminded us of any stereotypical tourist town, such as Whistler, BC or Banff, AB. Not really our cup of tea, but the sun was shining, so all was good.
We did a bit of a tramp in the Stack Conservation Area. There we enjoyed some beautiful views of Glendhu Bay. We never did make it to the top of Roy's Peak, so we will have to try again another day (~ 5 hours round trip).
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| All hail the birthday Queen! |
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| Beautiful view of Lake Wanaka |
After our very sweaty tramp down the mountain we took a quick swim in the nippy waters of the lake. So refreshing!
To round out the birthday celebrations Mike and I shared a pizza dinner and birthday brownies. We then left Wanaka in search of quiet camp spot. We didn't choose our route very wisely because we ended up taking a very winding and steep road in the pitch dark. The Crowns Range road runs through the Crowns Pass and is the highest road in New Zealand reaching 1121 metres above sea level. Mike did an excellent job of navigating the hairpin turns and we made it down the other side safely and managed to find a decent camp spot for the night. I must say the stars in the southern hemisphere are absolutely amazing when you get outside of the city.
Sunday was our most fun day! We walked along the edge of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, watching the jet boats zoom around. Queenstown is known as the adrenaline capital of the world with opportunities for sky-diving, bungee jumping, mountain biking or thrilling jetboat rides down river canyons. This is a great place for young people to go if they have money burning a hole in their pocket.
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| A bungee jumper seen from our gondola window! |
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| But of course, a SHARK BOAT! |
For our adventure we took the Skyline Gondola up Bob's Peak and then did two runs on the luge. To ride the luge you must take an additional chairlift further up. If you have not ridden down the luge before you must take the 'scenic' course first. The luge personnel give you great instruction on how to start and stop your cart, which is gravity powered. Once we did our scenic run we went down the 'advanced' course. Why don't they have something like this at Whistler??
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| Luge = Smile |
I LOVE THE LUGE!! This was the most fun I have had in a long time and a great way to celebrate turning 33. WeeeeeeWeeeeee! I recommend everyone to try the luge! Folks of all ages were coasting down the luge track and everyone was smiling. The total cost of the gondola and two runs on the luge was $43 NZD/person.
After we grabbed a quick bite in Queenstown and watched some local entertainment (a very inebriated twenty-something wearing a santa suit run through the creek in the park) we decided to make the journey home. I think next time I go back to Queenstown I would like to bring my mountain bike and check out NZ's only gondola-assisted bike park and maybe brave the 1-2 hour line up for a Fergburger.
There is always my 34th.......
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