New Zealand Queenstown
We arrive Queenstown late afternoon and checked into the Heritage Queenstown.
I recommend this hotel. The staff was very nice and the accommodations were quite nice. It is located up a hill but there are shuttle buses into town or the walk is very scenic along the lake.
Next day we went Horse Trekking with Ben Lomond’s Horse Trekking. The trek we took was the Lake Moke Trek and lasted 2 to 3 hours. I hadn’t been on a horse in many years so I was a bit nervous. The ride was very scenic and enjoyable. There was a light drizzle and an awesome rainbow .
We got back to Queenstown in time to pick up our race packets for the 38 KM Routeburn Classic scheduled the next day along the reknowned Routeburn Track.
We had lunch at Fernburger famous for its Hamburger’s. I ordered a Veggie Burger which was very different from our Veggie Burgers in US. Then we headed to TeAnau and checked in at the Luxmore Hotel. The hotel appeared to have been renovated since 2007 when I was there last. The rooms were comfortable but nothing fancy.
At the race briefing that evening we were told that we were definitely going to get wet and by the time we woke up it would be raining hard. Our mandatory race gear included a wind proof, waterproof jacket, pants, 2 polypro shirts, survival blanket, hat, gloves and whistle.
The hotel served a buffet dinner with all kinds of food. We went to bed early since we had to be up by 4:30 AM.
To be continued
