Queenstown sunshine

  13-16 November 2017   
We have had an amazing time with with Andy & Claire Brinsley in Queenstown. They looked after us superbly, and somehow managed to fix glorious sunshine and blue skies for three consecutive days! Tuesday morning began with a 2+ hour mountain bike ride up Soho Creek on the Macetown road with Andy (16 miles and 1473ft climb).  

We then headed into Arrowtown for coffee, and a quick visit to Andy’s Kawarau Bridge bungy site - which I declined having jumped Pipeline 20 years ago, and that was enough for me!

Onto Christchurch for a civilised lunch on the terrace at the Botswana Butchery, overlooking the lake

And then Andy very kindly arranged a ride with KJet. The jet boats are incredible; we blasted across the lake - with the obligatory 360 degree Hamilton turns - and then under the bridges onto Kawarau river, then into Shotover river. Stunning views, great driver, awesome fun.

A quick visit to the Wet Jacket winery on the way home, where owner Greg provided a tasty Gewurtztraminer and site tour. Claire then cooked a wonderful dinner and we were joined by Helen Farrow who we hadn’t seen for years - so lovely to catch up.

Weds 15 Nov
We woke to another bluebird sky, and we grabbed a coffee at super-swish Matakauri Lodge just outside Queenstown, then off for a stunning walk up in the Mt Crichton foothills

Chris, Jess, Andy & Claire

We drove up to the end of the lake for a giant sandwich lunch at Glenorchy, and relaxed by the lake in  crazy-beautiful scenery. It actually becomes hard on days like this to know what to photograph as it’s all so magnificent. - and even harder to select pics for the blog!

We headed back home for a swim, quick cuppa, and then into Arrowtown for a superb dinner at La Rumbla. Starting with a “Tom & Cherry” cocktail was probably unwise, but we had an excellent evening and were all perhaps a little slower the next morning as we prepared to depart for Riverton....

but I’ll save the next instalment of Brinsley hospitality for the next blog as there are too many pictures in this issue already!