In Queenstown to cycle the Otago Rail trail

5 April 2012
With Karen and I arriving in Queenstown before everyone else we made the most of it by getting up in the mountains on the Ben Lomond track and checking out town.

Having a picnic on the waterfront. We were entertained by the automatic fish feeding which keep big trout hanging around the wharf so tourists could go to the underwater viewing platform to see them.

We started at the base of Skyline skyrides for a steep climb through the Douglas fir stands

Our first glimpse of Ben Lomond summit as we get above the tree line

From Ben Lomond saddle it was a tough climb to the summit through alpine tussocks

A perfect day with 360degree views across Lake Wakatipu, to Mt Aspiring and Mt Earnshaw. There were even some cheeky keas flying around

The summit of Ben Lomond at 1748m. This mint view reminds me of how much I miss the South Island.

After backtracking all the way to the top of skyline skyrides we took the quick route down via the gondula.

We had a round of disc golf. Thats right disc golf. I have never heard or seen it before - its just like golf but with a frisby. This is karen firing off from the tee

We had fun even though we were a little average with all of us 20+ over par after the 18 basket course. There were a couple of hardcore people that passed us who had different frisbies for different shots. This is me trying to make the basket.

We were entertainment at the Teva Slopestyle where they had put a series of jumps in the skate park and all the riders dared each other on to do the best tricks. It was crazy with guys doing back flips, grabs and getting huge air.

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