A New Year, a new me, in Queenstown, NZ!

The view across the lake

On New Year’s Day, Brian, Avis, David and I went to Arrowtown to visit Wayne and Raewyn at Wayne’s brother Ross’s holiday home. We had met Ross and Pauline, his wife, when they visited Istanbul, so we were very pleased to see them again. David, Brian, Wayne and Ross were planning to climb Sawpit Gulley above Arrowtown, so Avis and I decided to power-walk along the banks of the Arrow River. We did a 4.5 km loop along one bank and back along the other. One day of exercise down and 364 to go - if I am to stick to my plan of doing some sort of exercise every day! When the men returned, Pauline treated us all to a splendid lunch and it was with great reluctance that we finally dragged ourselves away, tired but very happy!

The following day I walked with David beside the lake for an hour of continuous walking (only 363 more days to go!). Later in the day, we went up in the gondolas to the top of the mountains overlooking Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. You can see the stunning view behind Brian, Avis and David in the photo. Everywhere you look there are activities to do – parasailing, paragliding, a luge, bungee jumping, water-skiing, jet-skiing, mountain biking, sailing – almost every type of outdoor sport you can imagine. I was very tempted to paraglide, maybe I will – I’m seriously thinking about it!

On Thursday we began sorting our things and packed ready to return to Invercargill on Friday, but I still managed to walk – this time the other way around the lake and for one-and-a-half hours – Avis thought we had got lost! We will be sorry to leave this magnificent place. The scenery is simply stunning and everywhere you look you can’t help seeing the range of mountains called The Remarkables – so called because they are… quite… remarkable!