8/7/2019 5 Queenstown

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Subject: newzealand update3

Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 22:38:47

-0500

A great day at Queenstown!

We rode the gondola/cable car up

2500 feet to city overlook, and

lunch. Chatted with commercial

paraglide pilots.

Then we took the chair lift up

to the luge, which winds and

loops back to the overlook.I think I beat Connie twice!

Then we hiked farther up the

mountain through the woods to

the

"recreational pilot" launch site.

Maybe I'll fly from there after

Connie goes home.

In the afternoon we strolledaround the peninsula park at the

base of the mountain.

We met and chatted with a

sailboater and were invited to

the Tuesday afternoon race as a

visiting crew member. His boatis similar to mine.

8/7/2019 5 Queenstown

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We've traveled to Mount Cook,

New Zealand's tallest mountain,

and had lunch at the Hermitage,

an upscale resort/hotel with aview of the clouds obscuring

Mount Cook.

Then we compounded our

disappointment by hiking to a

nearby glacier, through rain,

hail, more rain, and more

obscuring clouds. We saw less

and less the closer we got.

So much for the 'Southern Alps'.

Drove back to our motel at

Twizel, then left friday for

Christchurch. Drove past the

glacier lake Pukaki, stopped and

took a number of photos of Mt.Cook, (elev. 3714 meters,

approx 12,000 feet) against a

clear sky.

Lots of snow on the summit

from the previous days rain.

Although we had gotten wet the

day before, and beaten by

hailstones, we weren't sick or

sore, so we must be getting

into shape again.