Mario Kart For Grown-ups

Sunrise over the Banks Peninsula. Another breakfast with eggs from right outside our door and a quick goodbye to the alpacas, and we’re back in the Yaris on our way to the Christchurch airport. We’re treated to spectacular aerial views of the Southern Alps on our way south to Queenstown.

Once off the plane and out of the airport, we take care of some logistics and tramp up an hour-long climb to the top of the gondola to get in the Queenstown adventureland spirit. We didn’t hoof it all this way just for the view, though — we did it for the luge!

We saw this on the internets a while back, and knew it had to happen. The Queenstown luge is like real-life Mario Kart, and we bomb it a couple of times, first on the Scenic Track (Mushroom Circuit) and then on the Advanced Track (Rainbow Road). Pretty fun, but it would be better with Golden Mushrooms and Banana Peels.

Back down in the town, we stumble across a moa! We thought these bigger-than-ostrich flightless birds were extinct, but there’s one sitting right in the center of Queenstown. Wandering around looking for dinner, we find that Queenstown is *completely* overrun by adrenaline-junkie tourists, and vow to stay out of town as much as possible for the next three days…