queenstown v1.1

finished reading an englishman abroad. interesting to note that becks was voted first in a british poll of the person most admired in history. jc came in at 123. on to reading wellington - the iron duke.

the day after "the" jump, lyds and i decided to take it easy by spending the day horseback riding through the glenorchy region. again we were lucky to be the only two riders for the trip. note on glenorchy: the region is 50km nw of queenstown and is amazingly beautiful and remote. the town itself is at the head of lake wakatipu, and the surrounding countryside is boxed inside mt. forbes and mt. humboldt. the area has become famous for being the location for several key lord of the rings sets, and the horse our guide rode was even featured in the film.

we rode across the river flats on to the rees valley station, and then acended onto the richardson mountain side to take in the views overlooking paradise, diamond lake, and the dart valley. we cantered across fields and up hills, slipped along muddy tracks, and crossed rivers engorged with rain. as we cantered up the richardson mountain side we ran into a flock of sheep and herded them with us. no orcs, hobbits, elves or rings were spotted.

the next day lyds and i ascended bob's peak which overlooks the town on the skyline gondola. at the top we took yet another ride on a chairlift to the very top to try luging. after two runs on the introduction track we switched to the advanced and cranked up the intensity and fun. we both flew down the courses in the light, plastic carts. bunny hops and two wheel turns. bumps and passes. but mostly laughter in the nice weather, the biggest of which was when lyds put her luge into the wall at the bottom of the track.

unfortunately, we have had to cancel our plans to hike the routeburn track solo. we had been looking forward to the experience, and had felt confident with all of the tramping we have done so far. however, the rising cost of the expedition and the weather report killed that adventure.

no death defying stunts. off days i guess.