More Queenstown and St Patrick’s Day

Tuesday was cool and cloudy with some rain and so was a day to catch up with posting blog notes and email as well as some much needed laundry.

The weather improved in the late afternoon and I met some people at the Irish pub while sitting outside with a nice cold Guinness. A couple of the guys were from Wellington, and I got some good hints for great places to eat if I make it back there, and a girl from Market Bosworth which is very close to my sister Allie’s town. She has been traveling for a couple of months and is one of the first people who has decided that it is not for her. I think it is great that she has done it and now knows what she wants, but most people I have met very much enjoy this somewhat nomadic lifestyle.

I was going to try the paragliding but discovered that for a little more money I could rent a Cessna 172 at the Queenstown airport for a 45 minute flight with an instructor. Overall better value.

What an experience!

The airport sits in a valley very close to “The Remarkables” a mountain range that is about 8000 ft and several other high terrain areas. It is challenging for the scheduled flights and no less so for light aircraft. After some discussion with Alex the instructor (he is from Morpeth in Northumberland UK) we decided on a route that flew us up a canyon towards a place called Lunar Lake and then beyond where you come around the corner and there is the big lake that Queenstown is located on. 

We climbed to 4000 ft and still had mountains on both sides of the plane. The views were magical (another superlative) and I was pleased that I was able to fly and hold altitude as well as I did. 

Queenstown airport is almost in the center of the picture

We came back down the lake and the airport is straight in front of you. There was a Qantas 737 backtracking on the paved runway so we were instructed to circle and land on the dirt runway that basically intersects the paved runway. The weather was excellent and the whole experience was really good fun.

I had been out for a walk in the morning over to the city park, and am impressed by how well all of the parks are kept. I think I commented on the one in Masterton and of course Christchurch. It really adds to the overall impression people have of the place.

Someone had also told me that there was a yacht moored on that side of the bay that had belonged to Winston Churchill back during WW2 and had been used for some War Cabinet meetings. A local businessman bought it about 20 years ago and shipped it here and did extensive restoration work.

Anita on the way to Pog Mahones for St Patrick's Day

On the way back I met Anita who works on the front desk at the hotel and she is from Dublin and was off to the pub for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations. All of the staff are very friendly but also a little sad as the hotel will close at the end of March as the lease is up and the landlord will not renew.

Anita invited me to join the celebrations with her friends, which I did after the flying.

By the time I got there they were well in to it and the whole place was hopping. There was Irish music inside, with a Japanese girl that plays bouhran and fiddle. Very well I might add.

Throughout the evening I met and had interesting conversations with lots of people. There was a US Army medic on R&R from Afghanistan, and lots and lots of genuine Irish, as well as some honorary Irish just for the day.

Everyone had a lot of fun and nobody I saw was too wild with the possible exception of Adam who is a large Aussie guy who would randomly take off around the pub in his “mankini” Quite a sight but harmless enough.