Began the morning with a short run on bike path path which runs about ten feet from our back patio. Our hotel is right on Lake Waktipu and the bike path runs a mile or so along the Lake before heading out of town. It was quite a luxury to run early in the AM in shorts and a T shirt and be comfortable in late November. I'm afraid I'm in for a rude awakening next week when I wake up in the dark to run in the cold.
After breakfast we all headed off for a morning walk, then an early lunch since Mark, Pat and I were booked for a whitewater rafting trip on the Shotover River. The company offers two rafting trips and Mark and Pat chose the one billed as "grade 5 rapids, for experienced rafters only." The rafting turned out to be quite a lot of fun and not nearly as death defying as I feared. The bus ride into the canyon on the other hand was easily the most harrowing drive I have ever been on. Forty minutes of driving along a high mountain cliff with a road about a foot wider than the bus and at least a thousand foot drop into the gorge. After all the safety briefings they announce that anyone who is nervous can ride back on the bus and get a full refund. I was nervous enough to actually consider the offer until I thought about the alternative. I decided I'd rather take my chances in the raft than repeat the bus ride. In fact the rafting was great fun. We had an excellent guide and actually breezed through the rapids without incident. Between sets of rapids we were invited to jump in which was refreshing. (Everyone had a two piece wetsuit, a wind jacket and a lifevest). during the ride, 1 1/2 hours, we passed through some spectacular canyons and through some very exhilarating rapids.
Queenstown is different from every other place we have been in NZ. The downtown is just like Aspen, Lake Placid or St Moritz, a succession of high end shops selling brand name clothing and gear at top prices, but the outdoor offerings are quite unique and in some cases insane. You can bungy jump, para-sail, mountain bike down cliffs and so forth. Brian would get dizzy contemplating his options. I get nauseous just watching.
