Gondola, Luge, and a Fergburger...

aka...The Last Day!

My weather karma is running strong for my last day in Queenstown. A little chilly this morning, but blue skies and sunshine!

I rode Betsy along the Frankton Walkway and Cycle Path into Queenstown this morning. It might not have been a bad idea to wear some bike shorts under my long pants as the path was really a dirt and rocky road. There was quite abit of bouncing along happening! But, it was only for 6 km or so.

Somehow, I missed the path to cut across the Queenstown Gardens and, instead, had to wind my way through a Frisbee Golf Course (fortunately, no one was playing at the time) and around a small penninsula to get to the marina/waterfront of Queenstown.

Once there, I followed the signs to the Skyline Gondola. At the top of the Gondola ride is where all the "Extreme" Queenstown experiences take place (ie bungy jumping, canyon swing, paragliding, mountain biking, and luge).

I bought a ticket for the Gondola and one Luge trip. I rode the Gondola with a guy named Derrick, originally from New Zealand, but now from Perth, Australia. The ride up gave beautiful views of the city and Lake Wakatipu. It basically went straight up the mountain side. At the top, there was the ever present cafe and gift shop as well as all the "extreme"stuff. Derrick was going to paraglide (even though he admitted to being a bit afraid of heights). I headed over to the Luge where I picked up a helmet and rode another chairlift to the top of the Luge course. The Luge was fun, but pretty tame.

I took some more photos then headed back for the Gondola ride down. Neither Paragliding nor Bungy Jumping were on my itinerary for today.

At the bottom I hopped back on Betsy and headed for Fergburger. It definitely is the best burger place in town as evidenced by the line outside. I ordered my Fergburger with blue cheese and an order of fries with aioli sauce. When it was ready, I took it down to the waterfront to eat. It was a pretty good burger!

While I was eating, I noticed some other touring cyclists talking to none other than Tilmann (a guy Leandra and I met on the North Island when we also met Tatsuya)! I didn't see Tatsuya, but I don't think he was still going to be with Tilmann at this point. I always am amazed how I run into the same people again (even weeks later!).

After my burger, I did some perusing of the shops. I wanted to buy souvenirs, but I had to be careful to not get too much. I don't have that much extra space!

I took the correct path to return to Frankton (without playing Frisbee Golf on Betsy this time).

Now, I must turn my thoughts to packing for the flight tomorrow. It will likely be dark in the morning when I am preparing to ride out to the airport. I will have as much done tonight as possible. Tomorrow will be a long day of sitting. Blech!!!