Saturday, 18 October 2025
The weather forecast for today was cold and wet, so we decided that we had no need to be up early. There was also an activity here in Queenstown that we were unable to do, because the hire car company said – No – so that left us with time to indulge in a sleep in. Bernie had planned for us to do the Scenic Drive & Animal Encounter at Deer Park Heights. HOWEVER, the hire car company had other ideas and told him, in no uncertain terms, that we were not to take the car into the deer park. Apparently, the deer jump on cars and dint them with their hooves so … you can no longer take hire cars there! I have also noted in the touring atlas that there are other roads near Queenstown that are endorsed with a Rental Vehicles Prohibited! notation, so having a hire car is a bit limiting around Queenstown.
The weather was true to the forecast. When we looked out the window this morning the clouds were hanging over the city and the rain was falling. We thought we might have to stay in all day and read our books. Fortunately, after a leisurely breakfast the rain had stopped so we decided to complete the Harbour View Walk.
We walked down the very steep hill outside the apartments and turned right at the lake to walk along Park Street to the Queenstown Gardens. We walked around the perimeter first, between the water and the pine and fir trees, before venturing up into the more formal part of the gardens. The shelter that the trees provide creates a microclimate for a beautiful formal garden, filled with blossom trees, beds filled with flowering bulbs, colourful rhododendrons and deciduous trees just bursting out in their spring foliage. In summer, the rose gardens will be gorgeous.
The sky had cleared and the sun on our backs was making us hot in our warm weather gear. Me especially, since I had opted to wear my ski coat. I was glad that I hadn’t decided to put on my waterproof overpants too! With the weather so much improved we decided that we should try out the Skyline Luge. Since we were half-way to the gondola terminal, we decided to walk. It would have been a bit mad to go back for the car because then we would have had the hassle of parking it near the gondola terminal.
We slogged our way up the hill and purchased tickets for three rides each on the luge. Making our way through to the gondola boarding point, we were pleased to see that there was no queue, even though the weather was looking glorious now. Today we decided that we might as well have our free photo taken at the boarding point. Arriving at the top, we fortified ourselves with a quick lunch before taking our rides.
Skyline is undertaking a HUGE expansion/redevelopment at the moment, so we had to negotiate a circuitous, temporary route up and down stairs to the bottom of the chair lift. We collected our helmets and we were ready to make our way up to the top of the ride. There was yet another photo point part way up the chair lift. Arriving at the top we joined the First Ride queue. Well, not really a queue because it was not very busy, despite it being a Saturday and the sun coming out to play for the afternoon. Good for us though.
As first timers, we were shown to our luge carts and given some basic instruction. Push forward to go/pull back to stop. We had to demonstrate that we could accelerate, brake and steer and then, we were off on our first 1.6km run down the track. Actually, there are two tracks and on our first ride we took the track on the left. It was great fun, zooming down the concrete track, although I didn’t zoom quite as fast as Bernie. Have to say though that I was nowhere near as slow as some riders, even if not as fast as the go-faster boy!
We clambered out of our carts at the bottom, which was actually the hardest part. They are low to the ground and it’s not as easy to get upright from that low down as it used to be, ha, ha. On our second ride we decided to go on the right hand track at the split which gave us another exhilarating ride down the hill. All too soon, we were taking our third and final run (right hand track again) on the luge.
At the end of our third run we checked at the Photo Booth BUT these photos are not free, they are ridiculously expensive, so we decided that we really didn’t need photos of us riding the chair lift or hurtling down the luge track. At this point we could have departed via the stairs, but we decided to ride the chair lift to the top again and walk down the hill. Before we turned our helmets in, we took a selfie with the luge track, the lake and the mountains behind us. Cheapskates!
We ambled back down the mountain, collected our gear from the locker, then made our way to the gondola. Riding down to the lower terminal, we were accompanied by a young woman from Dunedin in Queenstown for a Hen’s Do and a tour guide with three members of his busload of Sri Lankan tourists. Conversation ranged from cricket, to the school system in Sri Lanka vs New Zealand and Australia, pine trees and possums, that dastardly marsupial introduced from Australia. I think the Sri Lankans were a bit lost at this point, but the Kiwis were astounded to learn that we have two types of possum (they only have brushies here) and that we can’t shoot them in Australia because they are protected.
We alighted from the gondola and started our walk back down into the CBD. We only had a small lunch, because we knew that our route this afternoon would take us past ANITA GELATO. A shop in this chain opened recently in Melbourne, so we had sampled their flavours before. What can I say, not as good as Piccolina Gelateria in Degraves Street because their coffee flavour is sweetened with artificial sweetener, so that makes it a no-go. Honestly, if you’re going to have ice-cream you might as well have it with all the fat and all the sugar that goes with it. Anyhow, I opted for vanilla and Bernie went rogue with a pistachio/vanilla combo. Still better than a Tip Top Trumpet!!
Back in the main part of town, we could see that Ferg Burger was still ridiculously busy. We wandered past last night and it was busy on a Friday night and it was till packed mid-afternoon on a Saturday. Apparently, Christchurch is famous for its Ferg Burger and it’s considered one of the ‘must do’ highlights of a visit to the city. There are so many other places to eat, we will be skipping the queue for a burger.
With it being the end of winter we had a browse through the outdoor gear stores (they are well represented in Christchurch!) in case there were any crazy bargains to be had. We have enough outdoor wear, so we weren’t looking for anything in particular but would have snapped up good buy if we had seen one. Having managed to avoid spending any more $$ we walked up yet another hill to return to our room to take it easy for a couple of hours. All-in-all a more active day than we thought it was going to be.
Despite us having achieved all our exercise goals already today, Bernie chose the steeper (Bernie edit – shorter) route down to town this evening. ALL of the cloud had cleared from around the mountain tops and it was a glorious, if somewhat chilly, evening. Tonight, we dined at Japanese restaurant, Kappa. Edamame beans, miso soup, a sashimi platter, whitebait tempura and chicken teriyaki with rice. It was quiet tonight but our waitress told us that last Saturday night was crazy busy. And we walked back via the steeper route too, to finish of our day!
Steps: 17,366 (10.81kms)
