4 February 2014 –
What a gorgeous morning for a jog! The town is still fairly quiet so early…although, there were travelers milling about and waiting for various busses to come pick them up. I jogged on a trail next to the lake.
I turned around at this sign (we're going to head to Glenorchy on another day):
and spotted some lovely wildflowers blooming:
I find this sort of scenery very soothing to look at:
Heading back to the campground…and here's the entrance to it (I'm glad I've got a fairly good sense of direction because I wasn't at all paying attention to where I was going):
These little buildings house the restrooms and showers (can you see they've got a rather artistic/fanciful/crafty look to them?):
They recycle EVERYTHiNG here!
The light crawling over the mountain top:
Check out this interesting looking common area right next to Beth and Ray's camper:
It's a kitchen/dining area:
And here are our two campervans- filled with sleeping people! Seriously, you guys aren't up yet? (LOL…really, I'm the crazy one…not them):Time for breakfast! You know what I want? I want to go out and have somebody else cook my breakfast. :-) Plus, today we will want to get a good, solid breakfast in our tummies 'cuz this afternoon we're doing something exciting & fun: we're going on a river rafting trip with Family Adventures. We booked the trip through the front reception desk at the campground. I should have taken a photo of their brochure stands (yes, plural). You wouldn't believe how many adventure packed activities are available in Queenstown area!!!! It's astounding! You can go bungee jumping (aren't Kiwis the crazy people that invented it???!?), river rafting, horse back riding, kayaking, wine tasting, LOTR sites tours…and on and on and on the list goes! The theme should be: if you're not having fun you're not doing it right….'cuz there's no way you can be in Queenstown and not have fun!!!
But first. A latte for me.
and I can't remember…did Annika and Ava get decaf mochas here?
Breakfast of champions! Eggs benedict. Yum!!!!
A stroll down to the lake:
Pausing to take in the lake and all its glory:
After wandering and browsing the souvenir shops it was time for us to head back to the campervans and put on our togs*. Why?? Because it's time for the rafting company to pick us up in their van.
Want to see why I'm more than happy to let somebody else do the driving today???:
Yep. The road was really like that! Cliff on one side and mountain on the other…so either you bash into the rock wall or go tumbling into the canyon below. Yikes! I think I read somewhere that the road into Skippers Canyon is one of the world's most dangerous roads. Ah, yes…I found the article. You can read it here.
*swimming togs= swimsuits
HAHAHAHA!!! Simon (left), Mark (right) took a selfie with our camera.
Simon had us laughing on our bus ride…telling stories about the local history. And Big Bertha. How could anyone forget the story about Big Bertha???!?
We were on a bus with a pretty big group of Chinese – I think one extended family? Anyway, we practiced our tiny bit of Chinese on them and they practiced their English (which was better than our Chinese!) on us.
At our destination our guides had us put on different layers (to keep us mostly warm and dry). Here's Gregory modeling his very chic layers for us:
Our group…we're ready to go!
First – the demonstration. Basically – what not to do. Or what to do should you fall out of the raft. Which isn't likely to happen as the river is Class I (very gentle with tiny rapids).
The Mearses are rearing to go!!!
Ready to get wet??? Annika and Ava both are ready! Marshall is our rafting guide. He's from Alaska. We Alaskans are an awesome bunch!!!
Hey! What's up?
A couple of times on the rafting trip we had a splashing contests with the other two rafts. I think we won. (of course we did! ;-)
Hi, Mark!
During the rafting trip, which was a gentle and fun ride, Marshall told us a little more about the history of the area (mining operations, etc). Oh, have you noticed the color of the river. Surely you noticed the color of it??? right??? (only because it's like my favorite color. Ever.) The color of the water is due to a mineral called mica.
We've pulled the raft out of the water and we're making a pit stop here along the river:
Guess what time it is? Time to climb up the rocks and jump! (Marshall demonstrates how it's done:)
Naturally, after Marshall can you guess who went next? Just guess.
Gregory!
LOL!!! That boy cracks me up! I love his adventurous can-do spirit!!!
I think this is Annika (hard to tell as everyone is wearing the same clothing/gear):
That might be me (followed by Beth):
I think this is Ava:
Annika:
Okay, this is definitely Lily:
This photo is taken by Mark….it's his turn to jump:
And there he goes!
Me again (can you zoom up and get a closer look at our faces…they're rather funny!!!!):
Beth:
Some of our munchkins climbing over the rocks (and followed closely with moms and dad begging and pleading with the munchkins not to end up in the ER!):
Timing. It's all about timing. Now I know why we pulled over…to make darn sure we were well out of the way as this speedboat came blitzing by:
ZOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!! (I cannot imagine being on that ride! I bet it's the kind of ride that makes your knuckles turn white from clutching on to something…we couldn't do it as the age limit was too high):
More climbing on the rocks ….here's Ava:
And Annika:
And the three Mears kids…obviously having a fantastic time!
And the Mears family:
Here's the *entire* group:
with our goofy poses:
Time to head back to the starting point, drop off our rafting gear, dry off, get a snack to eat and head back to our campground. Here's Beth:
Me on the bridge over looking the gorgeous river. I think Simon or Marshall mentioned that they used to do bungee jumping from this particular bridge (but moved it to a different location):
Oh. Wow. I'm not leaving!
The gang drying off, warming up and getting a snack to eat:
Heading back down the insanely crazy road:
With more mountains to look at (I'm looking at the mountains. I'm not at all focused on the extreme drop that we're driving *right* next to. YIIIIIKES!). I think there's a shape in the rocks you're supposed to see. Maybe a gorilla? I can't remember:
Look at the mountain! Don't look at the cliff we're not falling down…look at the mountain!
Ahhhhhh….we're finally off that freakishly crazy dirt road. I think I can open my eyes again!
Time to head back into Queenstown and figure out what we're doing for dinner. Seriously, I can't remember…what did we do for dinner? Does anybody remember?
Well, regardless of dinner plans…there is one thing to remember. We're going on a different outing tomorrow morning!
PS. Oh WAIT! I completely forgot …. our little family got voted as (hmmmm….can't remember exactly…oh well) The Best Rafting Team for this trip. LOL!!!!! We're the cool Alaskans.
Alaska= Awesome.
Don't argue with me….you know it does!