Queenstown:  Adventure Capital of the World
Back in Queenstown, our first event of the day was to ride the Gondola up to Bob's Peak overlooking the town.
   
Bob's Hill is pretty steep.  You can see why they have the Gondola.
   
Not a bad view from the top.
   
That's downtown Queenstown in the lower left.
   
 
   
A paraglider soars over Queenstown.
   
A good shot of the entire town.
   
 
   
 
   
Heading downhill for Maggie's Bungy Jump.
   
Here we go.
   
Maggie walks out to the jump platform.   I wouldn't have even got that far!
   
Maggie is all harnessed up and ready to jump.  I had the camera set on rapid-photo mode.
   
Three, Two,  One,  Jump!
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
 
   
 
   
Being hauled back up.
   
Survived to tell the tale!
   
Downtown Queenstown.
   
Queenstown has a nice little waterfront area.  On a sunny, warm day like today, lots of people were just out enjoying the day.
   
Some kind of two-seat submarine.
   
Hanging out at the beach on the lakeshore.
   
 
Then it was time to head to the Queenstown airport.  For Lynnette and I, it was the start of the long journey back home.  But first, all three of us were flying back to Auckland.
   
An old wood and fabric-covered glider hanging in the airport.
   
Our ride back to Auckland.  An Air New Zealand Airbus A320.
 
 
   
Walking out to board the jet.
   
Queenstown has a slightly less than 6,000 foot runway (with no overrun area).  I fly my RV off runways longer than that.   There wasn't an empty seat on the jet so we were heavy.  I don't know about the rest of the passengers but I was mentally urging the plane to accelerate faster as my aviator-trained eye observed us using up the runway quite rapidly.  Finally the plane rotated and went airborne as the end of the runway flashed beneath us!
 
But once in the air, it never fails to amaze me how fast the jets climb.
   
Soon we were circling high overhead Queenstown.
   
The terrain from the air looked extremely rugged.
 
But as soon as we turned north, the ground was obscured by overcast for the rest of the way to Auckland.
   
   
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