DAY 19
Week 3
QUEENSTOWN (Otago, NZL)
Wednesday May 2nd, 2018
TODAYS MILEAGE – 21 miles or 34 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 4,136 miles or 6,656 kilometres
Today would be a bit of a rest day for me as Shazza, ET & Trina were booked on an early morning ride on the Shotover Jet Boat. After dropping the wanna-be adrenalin junkies of at Arthurs Point, about 4 miles (7 kilometres) north of town, I headed back to keep an eye on Josie who was still battling the flu and a wicked cough, which primarily entailed me parking my carcass on the couch with a good David Baldacci novel.
By noon the worms were definitely biting, so I headed down to our Air B&B host "Pinky's" joint - the Bobs Weigh Cafe, where I literally ran into Shazza, ET, & Trina who had found Chuck & Lynlee wondering around town.
After dropping the girls off at the house, ET and I took the Toyota HiAce Commuter mini bus to the Hertz Rent-A-Car agency as the front passenger side tire had scrubbed down to the rags due to an incorrect wheel alignment. We were advised to head over to Queenstown Airport to see if they could sort it out. We stepped out of the Hertz office and walked straight into Dougy Doug and Patrick who were flying out early in the morning.
We get over to the airport and while they took a look at the vehicle, ET and I got chatting to the attendant and we asked about the unusual arrangement of us having to drop the Kia Carnival off at Wellington and not having one for us in Picton. The attendant had a 'light bulb' moment as says she has one and would we like that as (a) they wouldn't be able to fix the Commuter that night and (b) they were scratching around for a 12 seater for a rental later in the week. We're like win/win as the Carnival is way more comfortable, quieter, better appointed and just a far superior touring vehicle all round.
Around 7PM we all met Chuck & Linley at the Stratosfare Restaurant, which entailed a 450 metre (1,476 feet) ride on the Skyline Gondola - the steepest cable car lift in the Southern Hemisphere.
As dinners go, tonight’s would have one of the worst buffets and lest favourite dining experiences. The carvery offerings were still bleeding and not warm in the slightest - yet the salads were warm. It looked like the fare was aimed more at the Asian market, who seemed to attack the various stations like a horde of locust in what could be described as "combat catering". Fair dinkum, quite a few of them thought they'd starve by the way they were pushing and shoving at the stations.
• QUEENSTOWN ~ Air B&B - 115 Frankton Road (Otago, NZL)
• QUEENSTOWN ~ Skyline Gondola & Stratosfare Buffet Dinner (Otago, NZL)