The Adventure Quest.
It was less of an adventure quest and more of a "lets see how many people are willing to cheat for answers" Quest. Basically it was a huge arse treasure hunt with 80 teams. You had 1 - 3 hours to do the Mountain Bike stage before you could begin the 1 - 3 hour Walk stage (also known as the Run stage). We spent a good two hours on our bike stage, following instructions to obey ALL the roadrules. Good thing too, because traffic was hurrendous! We passed three cars in the first half an hour (only one of them was parked).
Truth be told, it was actually quite fun. We were in the Social Catagory (of course). Some people were willing to share clue answers, some weren't (and didn't seem impressed at our attempts to get them to). Some got lost for an hour and a half up in the bush and had no qualms about copying all of our answers.
The walk part became unappealing once I saw the Big Hill area where most of the clues were hidden. I think we lasted an hour on the Walking stage.
That included time taken to check out the real estate at the Chinese Settlement along the river. We did go 'off the track' for a couple of the clues
(pretty brave considering Derek's track record of getting lost once leaving a clearly marked trail - see www.6degrees.net.nz for a very entertaining story and for further details on the Adventure Quest).
I, of course, got distracted by the cat in the graveyard during the hunt for one clue. But it was just SO cute!
Just after 2pm, a large bank of cloud started to shroud the sun. It was definately time to leave. The race organisers didn't seem the least bit worried about our lack of effort. They were even amused that we had created words to make up a story from the answers.
In fact, they were the ones that recommended people who become bored hand their answers in early and go for a beer. It was only fair to follow his words of wisdom.
Kinloch Lodge
Over an hour out of Queenstown. No cellphone reception. Apparentely an amazing view (the clouds remained low for most of the remainder of the trip) out over the lake.
The hosts John and Toni were great. We mostly spent time talking to John, who provided the history of the lodge and answered our most important questions like, "are there any ghosts?" (which apparentely there are) and "Which wine on the menu do you recommend?"
We were put up in one of the Heritage rooms (you know the type, front room of cute little house with view over lake, a bed with excessive amount of pillows - what do you need nine pillows for?).
Some DOC guy came and did a talk about the history of the local area, detailing the lives of the short and long tailed bat, some yellowhead bird and the mountain, silver and red beech trees. It was actually quite interesting (unless you fell asleep, huh Derek).
Sunday
We were meant to go jet boating at 8.45am (daylight saving time) but the day dawned dull with low cloud hanging over the lake. John recommend we save the Dart River Safari for a sunny day. Plus, sitting in a warm cosy dining room with freshly brewed coffee, juice, a delightful breakfast spread and a talkative host made it very easy to decline the option of sitting in a freezing cold boat with water being splashed in your face.
So instead we drove to the start of the Routeburn Track, played around on the swingbridge and enjoyed being in the mountains. My camera got a good workout as there is so much amazing scenery and wildlife around that area.
Sadly, my bus left at 3pm and so we had only had about an hour in the Hot tub that overlooks the lake. Bummer huh.
And that was my trip to Queenstown.
For another perspective on the story, check out the Herald - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/7/story.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10404840 (I think it's in the Tuesday travel section ...)
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