not very adventuresome in the adventure capital

shotover jet not us on the boat - but that photo would have cost 20 quid extra!
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We were a bit unsure about what to expect from Queenstown.  Lots of people told us that we would love it there.  But a lot of the folk we had met travelling around NZ had said that it was all a bit much.  We found it was probably a bit of both.  To start with we found an overpriced campsite (8 pounds each.  AND you had to pay extra for showers) and then crossed paths with an organised pub crawl in the evening.  Which is always a lovely experience for old party poopers like ourselves.

the fanciest minigolf in the world
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But in the morning we found a huge number of ways to spend our money presented themselves.  Firstly I wanted to try a bit of chair-lift assisted mountain biking.  They have a great system where you hire a proper mountain bike.  Hook it onto your chairlift, and then zoom up the hill before coming back down on a narrow, bumpy track... I went up and down 7 times, and after swerving about a bit a going really slowly on my first run I picked up some extra speed, so I could do a few little jumps and things.  The whole thing was supposed to be for 'beginners'  well, I've been riding bikes for a good few years now, and found it pretty tricky.  But then I didn't even go on the expert course, which lots of little 12 year-olds seemed to be loving.

The golf went really badly

yay, tghe segway geek's craving satisfied at last
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Alex and I have both felt the 'snowboarding itch' that we normally get at this time of year.  Sadly not enough snow in this hemisphere, but the whole mountain biking on a skiing hill experience brought it all back to me.  The squeaky chairs, the whoosh as someone whizzs past underneath you.  The smell of snowboard wax (I'm not sure what that has to do with the bikes) etc.  Have to wait until we get back to Europe though I suppose.

We also went on a couple of fee-paying trips in Queenstown.  Firstly on the Shotover Jet.  A fairground-ride of a jetboating experience.  The Kiwis  (the people not the birds) love this oversized jetskis.  And the Shotover Jet is 'the most exhilirating'  And it probably is, very good whizzing up the canyon and doing spins and things.  And to enhance our ride were 10 Asian teenagers on our boat who screamed on cue, on every corner.  Very good.

looking quite the pro
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We also went segway golfing.  This was real good fun.  We had ridden segway things around Paris on a previous (much shorter) holiday.  But this timewe strapped on golf bags and when around the course.  The golf went really badly, but the segwaying up and down the fairways (although mostly through the rough) was great fun.  We want to play again.

Also tried the fanciest mini-golf course I ever saw.  More of an indoor model village than actual mini-golf.  And I lost, again.  So the less said the better.