Guides who are proper Kiwi boys. Today was fairly busy. It was good night’s sleep (clearly still trying to redress the missing night of sleep) and up early to meet our guide outside the hotel for a pick up to take us on a half day hike. Our guide’s name was Carl and I would think he was in his early to mid 30s. Queenstown born and bred and very knowledgeable about the region and refreshingly candid.  We picked up one other traveller, a German girl (who we both would have sworn was American from her very American sounding accent) and then took the road to Glenorchy. This road is a very winding, narrow sealed road and we went along there for about an hour with a stop at Bennett’s Bluff overlooking at Glenorchy.

Samsung S3 photo of Bennett’s Bluff Look out.

We then drove a little further whilst Carl told us about working on the sets of the Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit – he was a driver and a general wrangler setting up crew equipment and tents. He was pretty familiar with the locations and what scenes were filmed and where. Our walk took place at the bottom of the mountain that was used as a location for Amon Hen which was where Boromir met his death, we walked along an old unused bridal trail only used by these guides. It was pretty steep getting down to the trail and also raining lightly so I admit I felt a little trepidation when I regarded my shoe choice:

Now Crocs are recommended for those suffering from Plantar Fasciitis, they let your toes splay out flat and unencumbered, they let your foot be in as close to natural position as possible, whilst still providing cushioning. I’ve found of late they are the most comfortable shoes to wear. So I wear them without socks and have done so pretty non stop since being on holidays. I brought my sneakers just in case. But my heel really starts to get painful after not very long in these unless I’ve gone through a raft of measures designed to lessen the pain. So Crocs are the go. But I can only imagine what the guide thought of them this morning. Everyone else in hiking boots or well treaded sneakers. The terrain was wet, slippery, uneven and constantly changing underfoot. My feet didn’t hurt at all the whole walk which lasted a couple of hours or more and what’s more I didn’t slip once. The Crocs gave me plenty of grip and because my feet worked hard at carefully stepping my plantar didn’t play up at all. I was pretty impressed with them and enjoyed the walk all the more for it.

Me, my trusty walking stick and some mountains – there’s lots of mountains over here.

Morning tea snack.

Just a guy in the woods.

Carl was pleased with our success given the weather, our views across the lake were pretty perfect and we even found and heard at least 4 of the top 10 iconic birds of New Zealand. The Bower bird, the fantail, the tui and the wood pigeon (affectionately referred to as flying kiwi chickens). Carl was also helpful at suggesting wet weather ideas for Queenstown.

After a brief dry off in our hotel room and a drink we rain geared up and headed out looking for some lunch. We decided to brave the lines at Ferg Burger and got our first taste of Queenstown’s most famous burger. It was delicious and well worth the wait.

1/2 pound of NZ beef, melted cheddar cheese, streaky bacon, tomato, lettuce, red onion bbq sauce and aioli. It was huge and I couldn’t get through it but it has covered me for three meals today so it was really quite the bargain!

After that we decided to do the trek up the steep hill to the gondolas which would take us another 450m nearly straight up to the Skyline. The Skyline is the access point to AJ Hackett Ledge Bungy, The Luge, the chairlift and the viewing deck. The views were fabulous.

We then made our way back down and back to the hotel. Tomorrow I have booked the Bungy jump plus a trip on the TSS Earnslaw, a paddlesteamer that will take us across the lake to Walter’s Peak Farm where we do a tour and see the sheepdogs at work. I hope the Bungy jump goes well…I’d really hate to miss that farm tour and paddleboat trip 😉