Today I decided to explore Queenstown, which started with sleeping in! Because New Zealand is so far south (and I’m even on the south island), it’s still light out at 10 PM and the sun comes up at 5-something. This morning, since I didn’t have a specific schedule, I put my pillow over my head and slept until almost 9 AM.
I decided to head up to the Skyline Gondola, and on the way there I passed the Kiwi Birdlife Park. It was about 9:52 and the next posted kiwi feeding time was 10 AM, so I decided to check it out. The kiwi house had two birds, a male and a female, and it was kept dark (with an infrared light) to simulate nighttime. The kiwi were really cute! It was hard to see them clearly, of course, but they were like little puppy-sized balls of fluff with really long straw-like beaks that they kept poking into the ground after bugs. They walked around on two legs like drunken old men. It was pretty neat to watch them for a while.
Then I continued up to the gondola station and rode up the hill. The view was gorgeous! When I got to the top, I walked the Loop Trail, which wound through the pine woods on the peak. The forest smelled so good! And I didn’t meet another single person. Then I rode the luge a couple times – it’s two tracks (one “scenic” and one “advanced” with 3-wheeled carts). That was fun. Then I looked longingly at the bungy jump site off the side of the mountain, but decided that I need to stop spending money like there’s no tomorrow…
By this time I was getting hungry, so I went back down into town and had lunch at a place called Halo, recommended (of course) by my LP guide book. I had corn and feta fritters with mango salsa and a strawberry milkshake. I started reading “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” and ended up extolling the virtues of the Kindle yet again to a couple German tourists. Pretty soon I need get on the Amazon.com payroll.
In the afternoon I stopped by the Underwater Observatory where one could see huge rainbow and brown trout, occasional long-finned eels (more than 2 feet long!) and diving ducks (scaup or black teal ducks) diving. The ducks were very cool! It was so neat to see their little webbed feet kicking away as they dove. They looked silver underwater because of the air trapped in their feathers, and when they went back to the top it looked like they were wearing little silver helmets! The observatory was free, so I’m thinking that I might have to go back again tomorrow morning. I only saw two eels (or the same eel twice) and it was very brief. They put out food for the eels in the morning, so I’m thinking that I might get a better view if I go earlier. Of course, that does require getting out of bed…
I decided to head up to the Skyline Gondola, and on the way there I passed the Kiwi Birdlife Park. It was about 9:52 and the next posted kiwi feeding time was 10 AM, so I decided to check it out. The kiwi house had two birds, a male and a female, and it was kept dark (with an infrared light) to simulate nighttime. The kiwi were really cute! It was hard to see them clearly, of course, but they were like little puppy-sized balls of fluff with really long straw-like beaks that they kept poking into the ground after bugs. They walked around on two legs like drunken old men. It was pretty neat to watch them for a while.
Then I continued up to the gondola station and rode up the hill. The view was gorgeous! When I got to the top, I walked the Loop Trail, which wound through the pine woods on the peak. The forest smelled so good! And I didn’t meet another single person. Then I rode the luge a couple times – it’s two tracks (one “scenic” and one “advanced” with 3-wheeled carts). That was fun. Then I looked longingly at the bungy jump site off the side of the mountain, but decided that I need to stop spending money like there’s no tomorrow…
By this time I was getting hungry, so I went back down into town and had lunch at a place called Halo, recommended (of course) by my LP guide book. I had corn and feta fritters with mango salsa and a strawberry milkshake. I started reading “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” and ended up extolling the virtues of the Kindle yet again to a couple German tourists. Pretty soon I need get on the Amazon.com payroll.
In the afternoon I stopped by the Underwater Observatory where one could see huge rainbow and brown trout, occasional long-finned eels (more than 2 feet long!) and diving ducks (scaup or black teal ducks) diving. The ducks were very cool! It was so neat to see their little webbed feet kicking away as they dove. They looked silver underwater because of the air trapped in their feathers, and when they went back to the top it looked like they were wearing little silver helmets! The observatory was free, so I’m thinking that I might have to go back again tomorrow morning. I only saw two eels (or the same eel twice) and it was very brief. They put out food for the eels in the morning, so I’m thinking that I might get a better view if I go earlier. Of course, that does require getting out of bed…
Grace and I think you should proofread your post. Or did you really reach the talk of the mountain?
ReplyDeleteLook, I have to pay 66 cents per minute for internet time, so maybe I'm typing a little quickly! Give me break...
ReplyDeleteI assume you intended the error in your comment...
ReplyDeleteYLS