Hot Air Disappointment

Woke up at 5 AM to call the hot air balloon company that we were scheduled to go on. There was apparently too much wind so the trip was canceled. Instead we booked for the next day and ate breakfast at the Vudu Cafe (I had blackberry pancakes with lemon butter and honey comb; Ingrid had the banana bread with a lemon-fig marmalade and Marscapone. We also got a gluten-free brownie!) and then took a jet boating trip up the Shotover River. The trip to the jet boating place was a grand adventure. The outfitter that we went with picked us up from the hotel in a 4-wheel drive military style land rover. About 12 people total were on the bus, which took us up into the barren ski-fields high above the Arrowtown valley. The bus then got on the shotover canyon road (one of two roads in New Zealand that was NOT covered by our rental-car car insurance), a narrow road that traverses some 20 km into Shotover Canyon and down to the Shotover River. The trip took about one and a half hours along the “two-way” road that was barely wide enough for our bus. At points the slop away from the road was completely vertical and the tank/van tires were inches from the edge. Needless to say that was a good adrenaline pump for the jet boating. Essentially in jet boating, the boat goes as fast as it can up the river as close to the canyon walls as possible while avoiding rocks in the middle of the river. It was raining a little and the water droplets felt like needles at the speed the boat was traveling; but the driver did several spins and stopped at a few points of interest along the river (2 bungy jumping points – one active, one no longer used, the latter being the very first commercial bungy jumping spot in NZ – local gold rush spots and a Lord of the Rings scene – the one in the Fellowship of the Ring on the border of Rivendale when the wall of water washes away the wring wraiths), which helped break up the pain. All in all, it was a blast. On the trip out, we saw that the road actually was a two-way road, as we passed four other buses. A quick trip to the room to get warm and dry and we headed out to the local shopping area (i.e. not touristy). The shopping mall was very uninspiring. There was a warehouse type store that reminded us of Wal-Mart and a few other American style stores (cell phones, clothes, drug stores, etc.). Next we took the Queenstown gondola to the top of a mountain that overlooks, you guessed it, Queenstown. Ingrid was fascinated with the grazing sheep that you could see from the cable car. The top of the gondola had a street luge course and bungy activities (for more money) and a viewing platform. Ingrid and I took in the stellar views of the surrounding lake and mountains. Afterward we did some shopping at some of the larger outdoors oriented stores. We snagged some great Icebreaker clothing for the family. For dinner we slipped down to the Japanese restaurant that was recommended to us. It was called Kappa. We had sushi, sashimi, tempura, pickles, and salad, and it was all amazing. It made us feel much better to have great food again, as the trip seemed to be at a low-point during the past few days, which were full of uninspiring meals.