Day 25: Shotover RIver Canyon

Thursday, Mar 1, 2012

This was a “WOW” morning. Though none of us knew what to expect, we were whisked off to the Shotover River Canyon for a jet boat ride, a ride like none of us had ever experienced. This was like jet skiing on steroids. The pictures give some idea as to the action. This was a 40 MPH river skimming, canyon brushing thrill ride, with radical turns and 360^o spins. For those Disney fans of many years ago, this was an “E Ticket” ride.

From the canyon gorge we moved on to a helicopter ride ascending to the local mountain ridge, great views from the chopper but a short ride.

Once atop the local mountain we moved on to the luge, that would be “land luging”, a new event for most of us. This group of “60 something’s” were like kids on a go-kart track. The “speed demon” side of Pat came out on the track as she careened downhill at breakneck speeds, taking advantage of the banking and rapid descents to attain her breathtaking speed. Five rides down the luge track later our lap leader and speedster was clearly Pat Price. Our morning was coming to an end but not before taking the gondola lift down into Queenstown.

Once downtown, we headed directly to Fergburger’s; we had been told that this place served the best  burger in all of New Zealand, the menu was varied, the burgers were big and they were GOOD!






The afternoon was quiet; after another walk up our "mini-Mt.Everest" few wanted to return to town and face the climb back up again. As such we had dinner at Lombardi's, a restaurant in the hotel overlooking Lake Wakatipu. A favorite of the night was lasagna though for variety some of us had fish. We also tried Alpaca as an appetizer, something different that none of us had ever had. It's fair to say that the Alpaca tasted like olive oil and capers, the sauce in which it was prepared. Lastly we again found a source of good ice cream. 

This was a busy day, we're now ready to strike out for Doubtful Sound tomorrow.