The first of these things was lunch and this came in the
form of a Fergburger, which are very famous and popular in NZ it would seem;
last night we saw the queue stretching out of the door and along the street for
a couple of hours! We opted for the most basic burgers on offer here; Danny
going for the Fergburger with cheddar and Corrie opting for the original
Fergburger. We had a short wait before being presented with two very large
paper bags and strolled down to the edge of the lake to eat them. These were
burgers on steroids and tasted delicious; Danny even went so far as to rate
them as his joint favourite burger ever! The ever eager and always present
seagulls received none of Danny’s burger, though a small piece of the meat from
Corrie’s fell to the floor and was quickly snapped up by one of the local
ducks; we think it was instantly hooked also and ceased to stop quacking for
the duration of our lunch.
We then headed over to the Skyline Gondola and purchased a couple of tickets to the top of the hill in the suspended carriages, along with 2 luge passes each that could be redeemed up at the top. It was a nice journey going up in the chair lift thing as you could see through the valley and watch the city below getting smaller and smaller. Once at the top we made our way to the viewing decks and took in the awesome panoramic of the area.
Then we made our way further up the hill to the start of the
luge track and hopped in the luges to do the first downhill run – a mandatory
scenic track to ease visitors in to the luge world. It also gave you time to
take in the views as you made your way down the slopes, though not much as
Corrie seemed to have a need for speed that had to be satisfied and Danny
couldn’t let her have all the fun. After the first fun ride we got on the second
chair lift that took us back to the top and made our way straight back to the
start; this time choosing the fast track. Danny let Corrie go first and had
offered to match her pace but the kid in him soon won over and he was rocketing
down, skipping round corners and gaining air from the jumps. At the bottom he
waited, camera at the ready, for captain slow! NB – Danny has to admit that
Corrie was going quite fast, just not as fast as him!
 |
| A snippet of the two luge tracks |
Next, after realising we’d hardly had anything to drink all
day, we made our way to the café for some H2O refreshment. We happened to be
seated right next to the paragliding company and so Danny popped over to ask
them if we’d need to book a flight or anything like that; they said that we
could go right now if we wanted and advised us to go sooner than later as the
wind was meant to be picking up which would result in them stopping flights for
a while. Yet again we made another spur of the moment decision and decided to
do it. We were weighed, paired up with a pilot, before leaving our belongings
in the hut and making the chair lift then killer hike to the top of the hill.
At the top our pilots continued chatting away whilst setting up the huge
parachute-kite things and strapping us in. Before Danny knew it Corrie was
tottering, then running down the hill whilst screaming in short bursts before
leaving the edge and floating off into the valley. Danny was ready to go now
though it seemed as though the wind wasn’t playing.
Meanwhile Corrie was having the time of her life, being thrown
side to side with the aerial acrobatics and getting the breath-taking views of
Lake Wakatipu (second largest lake in NZ we think) whilst slowly making the
descent down to earth.
Back at the top and ten minutes had passed with no luck and
so Danny’s pilot decided to pack up and move to the other side of the hill.
This side had a much steeper drop to it, apparently for more momentum when the
wind wasn’t right and here they waited some more. About five minutes passed
before the pilot said they may have to go back to the original side! The wait
on the edge of this cliff-like hill was certainly raising the adrenaline levels
until finally Danny got the nod to power walk, then run down the drop (this is
not something that comes naturally to most humans) and within seconds he was
soaring down the valley and making his way out over the town. The sun was out
and made for stunning scenery though it was all over too soon as Danny came in
to land on the playing field and join Corrie, who sat patiently waiting for him
to return. Both of us were high off the thrill and eagerly recounted our take
offs and flights, though it was Corrie who seemed to get three sets of
acrobatics, as opposed to one, on their trip – this may have been due to
Danny’s pilot only being doing the job for one year… or that Corrie’s male pilot
was simply trying to impress her!
We then collected our photo disks and made our way to and
then up the gondola once more to collect our things. We thanked the guys for
the experience then made the gondola trip back down to the foot of the hill to
go in search of food.
Firstly we made a beeline to a pub where we could claim a
free beer each, courtesy of the paragliding company. Tea came in the form of
Johnny Barr’s sandwich shop and we treated ourselves to two very yummy sangas
and 30 mins free Wi-Fi.
All in all another fantastic day that saw us do a lot in a
short space of time. We’d recommend the gondola ride then luge rides to anyone,
and strongly recommend the paragliding; the hardest part was walking up the
hill, then it’s really just nerves as you wait to take off.
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