Happy Birthday Gramae from Queenstown!!!
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2008
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156
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Trip End
Jun 28, 2009
Queenstown,
South Island,
New Zealand
Friday, March 13, 2009
Today is my Gramae's birthday so first, Happy Birthday Gramae!
Today we did a lot of things that my Gramae probably would not like to do, but they were very fun! First, after Mom and Dad went for runs, we went to the Shotover River right by our house to ride the jetboat. I did not know what to expect, but it was awesome! I can't wait to tell my friends and I hope I can bring them back here sometime.
The jetboat is a big red boat that is totally flat on the bottom and holds about 16 people including the driver. It was designed in New Zealand so people could go really fast down the super narrow shallow rivers
The Jetboat - Super Awesome Fun!!!
. We had to put on rain jackets and life vests and then we hoped in the boat. Our guide, Mike, was really fun and he told us just to hold on tight and keep our hands inside the boat. There were no seatbelts, but the handrails were heated. We took off down the river and did a 360 almost immediately! It was crazy! Then we raced down the river gorge under the bridge for about 6km going about 40mph, barely missing huge rocks, tree limbs, and other things. We did lots of spins and 360s and we did get pretty wet! But it was so much fun! Even Lu loved it and kept shouting, Yeah!!! Jetboat drivers have to do three months of training but Mike said it was a great job. Dad and I are going to go again another day. My friends Julia and Lucas were here earlier this year and they said it was fun and they were right!After jetboating, we went into town for some lunch at the old boathouse right next to the Lake Wakatipu and Lu got to play on the playground and I climbed trees. Then we rented bicycles and rode around Queenstown for a while. Dad and I got a tandem bike, which I have never been on before. It was fun, especially because I did not have to pedal too hard! It was a great sunny day so we could see the mountains and everything. Then Dad and I rode Chopper Bikes, which was really funny. Dad kept singing the Austin Powers song as we rode around town.
The Shotover River Gorge
After biking, we went to the Minus 5 degrees Ice Bar! We had to wear big coats and boots and mittens. Inside the Ice Bar, everything is made of ice, even the sofas and glasses! We had to hold the glasses with two hands and when we finished our drinks we could thrown them in the wastebasket and break them into a million pieces. It was pretty cold inside there. But the apple juice was delicious.
We got some drinks by the lake and watched the sunset and people bungying off the mountain for a while tonight, then went home and I finished my Stanford math test and I am now officially a fourth grade math student!!! Oh, and I also lost another tooth, my 11th! I hope the tooth fairy comes tonight! Tomorrow we are going to a sheep station way up in the mountains. It is just a wee ride across the lake (all the New Zealanders say "wee" all the time!)
