A Great Day with Little Distance
A lovely blue sky and a whole 16 degrees C.
Plan for today was Skyline Gondola to the top of the mountain over Queenstown; ride the luge; frisbee golf and change location to another campground close to tomorrow morning's jet boat activity.
First change of plan was hearing that frisbee golf only operated in winter months, April - August.
Our campground Creeksyde helpfully pointed us to Brunswick Street parking which had motorhome spaces and after some consideration we paid $12 for 6 hours so that we wouldn't be thinking about it. When all said and done, we pay £6 in the UK for ridiculously brief parking so it was good value.
Skyline Gondola
At just after 9am, we were pleased to find everything very quiet and had a 10 seat gondola to ourselves for a great ride up the steep climb with amazing views over Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.
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| Heading up to The Skyline gondola |
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| Here we go! |
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| It's a long way down to Queenstown |
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| Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu from Skyline summit |
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| Lookout |
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| Lake Wakatipu |
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| Mountains in most directions |
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| Skyline panorama |
Luge
After enjoying a coffee in the restaurant we made our way over a maze of scaffolding staircases and platforms. The building is undergoing major changes and one of the two luge tracks was closed for upgrade. We had been worried that Saturday morning would be very busy, especially with one track closed but there were only about 20 of us waiting and the ski lift to the luge summit still hadn't started.
After not too long all was moving and we were excitedly but apprehensively waiting for the ski lift seat to scoop us up and deliver us through the air to the start. Our first lift was felt a bit uneasy but subsequent lifts were relaxing and we enjoyed the views.
When we bought our tickets we weren't sure how many luge runs to buy but decided on three which was just about right. The track was far longer than either of us expected and was great fun. First run getting used to the cart, including me lodging on the side at one point (embarrassing), the second run we both just enjoyed and took it all in. Final run, chance to give it some welly.
We both came off the last run buzzing. No photos good enough to spend $18 on and we headed for a last ride on the ski lift to exit via the shop and take in the views before joining the gondola to descend back to Queenstown.
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| helmets on ready for the Luge |
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| Ski lift ascent to Luge |
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| nearly our turn |
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| top section |
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| luge again |
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| luge finished; last ski lift to summit exit with Lake background |
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| Part of luge track from ski lift ascent |
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| para gliding take off point view |
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| luge from gondola during descent |
Mini Golf
Having missed out on frisbee golf, we had a game of mini-golf not far from the terminus. The sun was warm now and the course was the most beautiful we've played set in lovely late summer - early autumn garden with pools and roses. The course itself was really good but Lynne won, as usual, 6 holes to 4 with 8 drawn.
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| mini golf |
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| beautiful garden mini golf |
Mono Lake
Because the day had run so smoothly with less queuing than we had anticipated, we had a couple of hours on our hands and the chap running the golf suggested Mono Lake about 20 minutes drive away as a favourite of his. It was everything he had suggested.
The last 4km was an unmade road leaving a dust cloud behind and when we reached the DOC campground and parking it was stunning. Wide grassed areas sprinkled with bushes running down to the lake shore. Every direction was attractive hill or mountain views.
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| Mono Lake |
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| Mono Lake and DOC campground |
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| Mono Lake campground - parking view 1 |
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| Mono Lake campground - parking view 1 |
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| 'Fozzie' at Mono Lake |
Mono Lake had a wonderful peaceful feel and we enjoyed a great relaxed picnic in the sun by the van . After just chilling and people watching we ambled lazily around the grass and lake shore before heading back to Queenstown and our next campground a few km out of town.
Early site arrival 4:30 and settled with rose outside the van for a while. Evening meal courtesy of chef Lynne; minute steaks, garlic potatoes and mushrooms followed by blueberry pancakes. All in all, a lovely day.
Queenstown Skyline Gondola and Luge
DOC parking & campground Mono Lake
campground Top10 Queenstown
Statistics: Miles today: 23 ; Miles so far: 1,563 ; Fuel added so far: 221 litres ; South Island; Time Zone: UTC +13 New Zealand Daylight Time (NZDT )
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