Skyline Queenstown

Hi all,

This morning we got up and were delighted to see that even though it was cloudy, it was a fairly bright morning with no rain - yay!!

The gondola in Queenstown opened in 1967, and the luge in 1997. We got to the skyline gondola before its opening time of 10am and the queue was already building. But luckily, we were the second ones up. Once we got up top we went straight to the luge. We had purchased a gondola/5 luge rides/buffet lunch package. When we booked, we thought due to queues we may get 2-3 rides in before lynx. Lucky for us, people must have wanted a sleep in! Because we had the track virtually to ourselves the first three times, and then only shared with a few for our final two rides. 

Back in 2001 I was so tiny I couldn’t make my luge move, and ended up giving up and getting on with Mum. And I could see why! Compared to the Rotorua one, this one wasn’t as steep. So being quite a little person (and much littler back then!) it would have been hard. Today I whizzed around the corners and after the first go, I wasn’t even braking the whole way down. 

We were glad we went early again like Rotorua, because after a while the tracks were crammed full of people and because we both liked to go fast, it would have been really frustrating getting stuck behind people. 

We had lots of fun and it was interesting making comparisons with the Rotorua track. Queenstown has many more beautiful views along the track, but Rotorua was lovely going through the forest. I think Rotorua’s was steeper but today’s had more crazy corners. 

After we smashed out our five rides, we had a bit of a look around. There is a lot of work going on at the moment to open a new chairlift that is four seats wide instead of two. At the moment about 800,000 people come up annually, and they’re tipping by 2030 1.5 million people per year will be coming up the gondola. As a result, lots of works are going on. Eventually the whole building up top will be made bigger, and the gondola will be upgraded to hold 10 people per car instead of 4. They’re saying it’ll mean 3300 people per hour can come up by gondola compared to the current 1000.

We had a look around the viewing platform (790m above sea level and 496m above Queenstown) and enjoyed fantastic views of Queenstown. We were fortunate that in the morning it was quite bright, and the gloomy clouds didn’t come until later on. Then we walked down to the ledge Bungy and ledge swing and watched a few people do those.

Our reservation for lunch was at 12.15. Lunch was amaaazing! We lucked out and were given a window seat to soak in the views fully. Lunch was a buffet with everything from sushi to gourmet cheese to beautiful pulled lamb shoulder. I had three plates of mains and then came my favourite part - two plates of dessert! I was so full by the end that my stomach hurt and I knew I had gotten my money’s worth!! The food was beautiful though and we were glad we had indulged. 

After a couple of hours of eating and taking in the view, we went for a last walk and watched some paragliders. Then we headed back down. 

We dropped our hire car back and then enjoyed a walk through the Queenstown gardens. It was pretty cold and gloomy but still nice. Then we sat on the ledge by the water and just took it all in for a while. Now, due to being so full from lunch we are having cheese and biscuits for dinner. Later we think we may go out for a drink. 

Tomorrow is our adrenaline activities day. I’m feeling a bit nervous and apprehensive but I’m sure at the end of the day it’ll be lots of fun!

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox