M&D in Queenstown

Queenstown is beautiful and the weather here made up for the bad weather in Dunners, it was sunshine the whole time. Dad had left the best hotel until last with 'The Rees'. It is an amazing hotel with spectacular views across the lake and 'The Remarkables' mountain range. The spacious apartments had all the mod cons including, much to Mum's delight, a washing machine! It is only a 30 minute walk to the town but if you don't have the energy to walk they provide a free bus. There is so much to do in Queenstown you could stay for weeks and still not be bored. However, the activities come at a steep price so we stuck to four things to keep our adrenaline flowing.

Frisbee Golf, (an activity James and I will become well acquainted with), The Luge, Shotover Jet boat and M&D's favourite Segway Tour. Frisbee golf got quite competitive with Dad and James and was a lot of fun with some extreme winds and escaping Frisbees it was a great way to enjoy the park. The Luge was also another chance for us all to be competitive and some people may suggest that Mum and I cheated our way to winning but we prefer to say we had a short head start to make up for our distinct lack of weight compared to the men. It was funny that other families just enjoy going down but we are all desperate to win. The Shotover Jet was exciting. You go really fast in only a few inches of water at times. The drivers are experts at spinning and driving very, very close to the cliff walls. I took the responsibility of ensuring Dad was holding on tightly each time we did a 360 and he reverted back to his hysterical laughter, something he usual does when he is scared! The Segway tour was awesome. It was James and I first time on a Segway and we thoroughly enjoyed it, in particular when they took off the speed restrictions around the park. Going up and down the steep hills was interesting and I am sure the guide provided us with lots of information but we were too busy enjoying riding the Segway's that I didn't pay any attention to the info!

We mainly ate in thanks to the unbeatable views and the well equipped kitchen. For lunch we did have an amazing Devil Burger, some delicious cupcakes and the standard NZ meal of fish and chips! With our left over bread from breakfast we fed the ducks in the park and that as an experience. They surrounded us and were so well trained they were jumping up to take the bread from our hands. One clever duck gently nipped me on the back of my calf to ask for food. This made us laugh and it certainly worked as I didn't forget to give her, her fair share. When we returned to QT with the Wipers about this the ducks did not perform for me so I was left a little disappointed and embarrassed! We did some shopping in the town when we realised we didn't have anything suitable for boxing day at the races and stopped at various nice cafes for coffee and bubble tea for me (yay!). James and I are pleased we will come back to this lively town and have started to save for our bungy jump! It was lovely to spend two weeks with M&D and we are all excited for Christmas with the rest of the clan.