Day 22
Today was going to be an amazing day, not just because the sun was shining but because we had a fun packed day planned!!! We were to go by gondola up to the Luge and skyline restaurant and then watch a Haka and finally go stargazing!!! The views over Queenstown were immense and a fabulous backdrop to be kids for a few hours!!! We had planned to do the Luge after seeing pictures on the web months ago and today was the day. It didn't fail to entertain us!!! After a run down the blue run (the gentle one) we hit the red run. It made us laugh all the way!!! The pictures were fab, see for yourself! Next we were to eat in the skyline restaurant overlooking Queenstown, fabulous views and fabulous food, many choices and we certainly fully indulged, including roast lamb meal... Delicious!! Uncomfortably stuffed we made our way to watch a Maori cultural show including the famous Haka! I even volunteered to participate by trying out the women's traditional dance using pois.... It is fair to say I gave it a good go but practice required!!! We then had an hour or so to finish our wine and watch the sunset over Queenstown waiting to embark on a night of star gazing. We wrapped up coats that were more like quilts (cozy!) and went out to the area high above the town on the luge run where there were a number of hi-tech telescopes. Our guide proceeded to educate us on the southern skies and what a night to do it... Clear skies and lots to see. We saw the Southern cross and learnt how to use it to navigate to find south direction, we saw constellations, galaxies, nebula, satellites, shooting stars, the moon. We even experienced the southern lights as a haze across the horizon but got a better view from photographs another person was taking with a super duper camera, the effects of blue, reds and greens were amazing. All in all a fun packed afternoon/ evening and we returned back to Bruce ready to get a few hours sleep before our early start in the morning.