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Adventure Day in Queenstown
Making sure that your inner child continues to play is seriously easy in this town. A gondola ride to the top of the mountain overlooking Queenstown starts the fun. The views and the walk around the summit are to die for. Mountain bikers have a paradise laid on ....bike being transported up by gondola and then miles of downhill ! Some hardcore tracks. For the more fainthearted amongst us ...or those without the necessary equipment the two luge tracks give a small alternative to a bit of adrenalin ....depending on your greed for speed.
The day would not be complete without a Jet Boat ride ...our choice was Skippers Canyon, in the heart of gold diggers country. The drive to the canyon via the very steep and narrow access road was nearly as exhilarating as the Jetboat ride. Driver of the boat, originally from Durban (who got stuck in Queenstown after backpacking) had amazing skills to manouvre the boat through very narrow passages and very shallow water. I did not think it was possible for a big boat to move over this water....where I am sure kayaks would get stuck on the rocks. Really really amazing and such fun !
The topography something to marvel at, the skill of the roadbuilders....nothing short of spectacular and the hardship endured by the early gold-diggers just heart-wrenching. So many young men lost their lives in this remote area, where the harsh winters, terrain and lack of food took their toll.
My penchant for graveyards was also satisfied here in Queenstown, where an old graveyard is next door to the Holiday Park. It is so sad to see the family gravestones from the 1800s, where few people made it past 50 and so many mothers lost 2 or more children. So much sorrow - especially for these immigrants so very far from home. One can only but have the highest regard and respect for these pioneers.
And to end off the day...burgers at Fergburgers ....me indulging in a Sweet Bambi Burger (!) - seeing that deer is a delicacy in this area.
Oh yes ...and we also realised that the huge South Africans that looked oddly familiar at the Burger place the night before were actually Cheetahs players practicing in Queenstown before their game in Invercargill on Saturday.
Here we are again ...at the end of another amazing day in this country full of surprises.
Tomorrow our journey continues.....
Poem from Skippers Canyon
It wasn't easy work to do
Though you smile when I say it now
It is easy for you to ride the track
That's cut through the mountain brow
It's easy to stand on the lone bridge
And look at the stream far down
It was harder to tackle it hand in hand
But easy enough to drown
For these were the men
Who led the way
To the quiet valleys we know.
The hero band of the morning land
The diggers of long ago.
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