Queenstown trip 06

Studholme College organised a trip to Queenstown last weekend. The whole trip was subsidised at least half the price, so we took the opportunity to tag along .

It was a four hours' drive to Queenstown, the "tourist town" of New Zealand, where there is an activity for everyone: Bungee jumping, skydiving, skiing, snowboarding, paragliding, horseback riding, gondola, luge rides, shotover jets, sandy beaches, fishing, shopping, and so much more.

The journey alone was already worth the $51 dollars I paid. The snow capped mountains, green pastures, blue skies, and cute/fluffy grazing sheep seem so much prettier in real life than those seen on TV! haha. All in all, more than 350 pictures were taken.

We reached Pinewood Lodge around 4pm, and hurried off to the gondola/luge rides without a road map and ended up going through all the "short-cuts". First was the gondola (cable car) ride up the mountains where once again, the view was awesome. Too bad we only bought 2 luge ride tickets coz it was soooo fun! haha. (Imagine go-karts ran only by gravity down a 900m hill, racing against each other).

Next day, we followed the "mystery bus trip" to Arrowtown, a nearby town renowned for being a former Chinese gold-mining settlement, where the Chinese migrated to NZ in the 1800s to dig for gold, literally. I can't believe the actual huts of those who lived there a century ago were still there. The toilets did't even have doors! eeks.

Before the trip back to Dunedin, there was still 2 hours to spare. We went to the harbour for lunch, and AGAIN the view was magical. hehe. I almost didn't want to go back to uni.

Cherry blossoms!

paragliding.

snowsnowsnow!

view from the top. after gondola ride.

more mountains.

classic gondola shot.

mountains. again.

at Arrowtown.

Arrowtown scenery.

A cute little guy at the beach!

Lake Wakatipu(?)

Though the time was too short and we didn't have enough time to do all the activities we wanted, at least now we have an idea of where to go, how much the prices are, and what to do during the next trip to Queenstown, which is probably next winter/spring. Can't wait!