Vudu for breakfast started out the day well. After we biked into town along the shore of Wakapitu Lake and signed up for our Shotver Jet, someone pointed us in the direction of the best breakfast in Queenstown. It lived up to it's reputation as I tried their quinoa rice pudding and apricot warm cereal for breakfast. Sam had buttermilk buckwheat blueberry and burnt orange pancakes #amazing. As we were biking along the trail we ran into one of the Korean ladies we had hiked with. She spoke no English but was very excited to see her and quickly gave Sam a hug. It was fun to feel like we knew people in town, and actually we have run into hikers in our group for the past 3 days.
The Shotover Jet began with a bus ride out 15 mins from town to the start of their operation. It is a factory really with rides every 15 mins for 10 hours a day. It is a very popular attraction, primarily because they go through these narrow canyons, where the others just go out on the lake. We got there and we were immediately issued rain coats and life jackets and after watching the jet boat which is 700 hp and goes around 80 kph do spins out in front of the dock, we boarded and off we went. The first high speed turn into the narrow rocky canyon Sam and I looked at each other with eyes like, What in the world?!! We were 1 " away from smashing into that rock wall, and then again and again and then a 360 turn right in the narrow gorge with the wall again 1" away from scraping. I couldn't believe it and no seatbelt or anything. I heard they just had an accident recently and I thought, if we get in an accident, we will all really die as we will get flung out of the boat into these rock walls. Thankfully no incident and he just kept banking huge turns, throwing up walls of spray and then cranking 360s. It was a total thrill. Sam and I were between- this is Crazy and this is crazy fun.
After of course we had to buy the photo, when are we going to Jet Boat again? They really have a racket going, since you want something to remember this crazy experience by. We have so many photos and videos of all the crazy things we have done these past couple weeks, but still worth having something to remember it by in 20 years! After I felt a bit whooped, likely from being wipped around at crazy speeds. We rode our bikes back to the hotel and then I layed down for a few minutes before Sam and I decided we should go to the Motorsports Park and race go karts. Well, we loaded up our vehicle and headed out, 45 minutes out towards Cornwell. We were now hungry and grabbed a quick bite before jumping in the go karts and hitting the track. They were fast and fun and despite my pedal to the metal, Sam beat me, with getting the fastest times and laps and with me tailing behind almost a second ;( Sam's karting experience has definitely made him a better driver. Congrats Sam! We spent time afterwards checking out the car collection which inlcuded a variety of McLarens and other cars that are significant in NZ history of car racing. We also enjoyed watching the modern Lamborghini race around the track with an engine that was unmistakably fast!
For dinner we met up with Ketan, a friend we met from Indiana while hiking the Melford Track. He was in Queenstown for the night and fun having dinner and chatting and reminiscing about our hike. He had hurt his knees on the big climb and descent day. That day kicked my butt but thankfully not my knees. He was supposed to be hiking the Rutteburn Track today but opted out since his knees were so sore. It made me realize, we are so lucky we weren't injured while hiking especially since we had NO training prior. Everyone we spoke with had been training for months for the hike. No wonder I was so sore, eveyone else had been hiking up to 13 miles in prep.
Headed to bed, so tired. Not sure if it was the Dramamine I took for the Jet Boat ride or just exhausted from too many adrenaline activities;) Hope everyone has a great week.
The Shotover Jet began with a bus ride out 15 mins from town to the start of their operation. It is a factory really with rides every 15 mins for 10 hours a day. It is a very popular attraction, primarily because they go through these narrow canyons, where the others just go out on the lake. We got there and we were immediately issued rain coats and life jackets and after watching the jet boat which is 700 hp and goes around 80 kph do spins out in front of the dock, we boarded and off we went. The first high speed turn into the narrow rocky canyon Sam and I looked at each other with eyes like, What in the world?!! We were 1 " away from smashing into that rock wall, and then again and again and then a 360 turn right in the narrow gorge with the wall again 1" away from scraping. I couldn't believe it and no seatbelt or anything. I heard they just had an accident recently and I thought, if we get in an accident, we will all really die as we will get flung out of the boat into these rock walls. Thankfully no incident and he just kept banking huge turns, throwing up walls of spray and then cranking 360s. It was a total thrill. Sam and I were between- this is Crazy and this is crazy fun.
After of course we had to buy the photo, when are we going to Jet Boat again? They really have a racket going, since you want something to remember this crazy experience by. We have so many photos and videos of all the crazy things we have done these past couple weeks, but still worth having something to remember it by in 20 years! After I felt a bit whooped, likely from being wipped around at crazy speeds. We rode our bikes back to the hotel and then I layed down for a few minutes before Sam and I decided we should go to the Motorsports Park and race go karts. Well, we loaded up our vehicle and headed out, 45 minutes out towards Cornwell. We were now hungry and grabbed a quick bite before jumping in the go karts and hitting the track. They were fast and fun and despite my pedal to the metal, Sam beat me, with getting the fastest times and laps and with me tailing behind almost a second ;( Sam's karting experience has definitely made him a better driver. Congrats Sam! We spent time afterwards checking out the car collection which inlcuded a variety of McLarens and other cars that are significant in NZ history of car racing. We also enjoyed watching the modern Lamborghini race around the track with an engine that was unmistakably fast!
For dinner we met up with Ketan, a friend we met from Indiana while hiking the Melford Track. He was in Queenstown for the night and fun having dinner and chatting and reminiscing about our hike. He had hurt his knees on the big climb and descent day. That day kicked my butt but thankfully not my knees. He was supposed to be hiking the Rutteburn Track today but opted out since his knees were so sore. It made me realize, we are so lucky we weren't injured while hiking especially since we had NO training prior. Everyone we spoke with had been training for months for the hike. No wonder I was so sore, eveyone else had been hiking up to 13 miles in prep.
Headed to bed, so tired. Not sure if it was the Dramamine I took for the Jet Boat ride or just exhausted from too many adrenaline activities;) Hope everyone has a great week.
Sam's breakfast of buttermilk buckwheat pancakes with custard- so rich and tasty
My strange but super easy breakfast- quinoa rice pudding porridge with pitted fruit and berries
All Blacks Haka!
geared up for jet boat ride
Holy smokes, hat was a bit crazy! So glad we didn't hit one of the canyon walls that we flying around...
The water here is just so blue
Fun car sculpture garden
Cool car collection at the Motorsports Track
Sam takes 1st place on the track, me second
Sam wants this car for his 16th Bday ;)
Outside The Station where we went every day for all our adventures, truly the center of all activity in Queenstown
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