Queenstown and Jet Boating

3/11/18

Drove to Queenstown. Walked around the touristy town and had some fish and chips by the lake beach. After lunch we hiked up the Tiki Trail which takes you to the top of the mountain that the gondola also goes to. From the top, there were fantastic views of the blue lake, Queenstown, and the Remarkables (the jagged mountain range outside of town).

We had signed up for a jet boat tour, one of those cool high adrenaline activities popular in Q-town. So after the hike we quickly made it over to the tour company where we boarded a mini bus. We were going to be jet boating on the Shotover River, but first we had a really cool drive on a super narrow dirt road with steep drop offs (rental cars prohibited) to get to Skipper Canyon. We began the road by going over a pass, and the dropped steeply into the canyon. Our driver was funny and tried to scare us while on the road. This area that were were driving in was used a lot for the Lord of the Rings filming. Once down into skipper canyon and the shotover river, we boarded the jet boat. It's a super fun ride that is also scary. They drive really fast through the narrow canyon, going over impossibly shallow areas, through rapids, and purposely driving right at cliffs and other obstacles before turning sharply at the last minute. And then there's always the fun 360s too. We camped outside of Queenstown that night

3/12/18

In the morning we drove up over Cadrona Pass (highest paved road in NZ) to Cadrona and then to Wanaka. After arriving in Wanaka, we visited the NP visitor center and then hiked to the top of Rocky Mount, which had nice views of the large lake near Wanaka. We had lunch at the lake, and then did some library time to work on my paper. Camped along the shore of the lake overnight