Where’s the banana seat when you need one?

Queenstown, New Zealand – 15 February 2011 at 6:14pm
Kansas City, USA – February 14, 2011 at 11:14am

Happy Valentine’s Day (again…it’s still yesterday to those in the US).

Today was another amazing day in New Zealand…Queenstown to be exact. It was also the first and only day I’ve been able to sleep in on this tour…8:30am. Today was also my first “free day” where I didn’t have any pre-organized activities so my roomies (The Twinkies and Maria) and I decided to hire bikes and go for a ride.

The day started off cloudy and cool but turned out to be sunny and beautiful in the afternoon. We walked down to the water front to hire a bike from the bike shack that was next to the fish and chips hut (we had heard this particular shop has the least expensive bikes for rent). We rented four bikes for four hours…we are an ambitious group….especially since I think I’m technically limping after yesterdays Mad Dog River Boarding experience…

The woman working in the shop showed us a map with a couple different options for bike/walking routes. Since we have all been participating in a few intense activities (i.e. skydiving, river boarding and kayaking) we decided to choose the “flat route” next to the water front instead of the “mountain trek.” As I said in a previous post…never believe anyone’s judgment/recommendation/reference regarding distance, time, temperature and for the record, a bike paths elevation (i.e. hills vs. flat). The woman said this would be a very easy, flat ride…um…I didn’t seem to notice it being flat when beads of sweat were pouring from our faces and our legs were burning as we climbed each hill… I thought to myself “this woman’s sales pitch is a little misleading…she might want to revise it a little before renting bikes to unsuspecting tourists…especially tourists who were born and raised in one of the flattest states in the USA.” We also never found the café that she promised us would be at the half way point at the end of the peninsula.

Similar to cars, bikes must have names as well…especially on grueling hills when you need someone to cuss at…I had Venus (goddess of love), Rachel had Dorothy (I swear she is obsessed with KS and tornadoes) and Emma had…well I can’t remember what she named hers… For the record mine was already named… I would never name a bike Venus…how tacky.

Me & Venus; Rachel & Dorothy

Anywho, the bike ride was amazing despite the hills…actually, even the hills made it amazing. We started about 10:15am and followed the bike path around the lake. Maria decided to ride on ahead of us because she wanted to be back before 1pm to watch some of the other’s bungy jump, so for most of the ride is was Emma, Rachel and me cruising along together. We took it fairly easy, stopping to admire the beauty of the lake and take a few snapshots (and honestly, to catch our breath).

Every turn was more breathtaking then the next (which probably explains the lack of oxygen). Since it was cloudy at the beginning of the ride, the mountains had a mysterious look to them but by afternoon the sky was bright blue and highlighted the peaks through the fluffy white clouds…STUNNING!

It took us about an hour and a half to reach the end of the peninsula before turning around and we only had two mishaps along the way…both Emma and Rachel’s bike chains came off (must have been operator error – kidding girls)…but being the resourceful women that we are it only stopped us for a few minutes and we were on our way.

On our way back we decided to grab some lunch. We asked a local who was walking her dog on along the path where would be a good place to grab a bit to eat and she strongly suggested the Tin Goose. She said despite the big hill you have to go up to get there it is fabulous…. Oh great, another hill…this is wonderful…at least she was accurate in describing it as a big hill…at one point we all had to jump off our bikes to push them to the top but we finally made it and actually found the Tin Goose tucked away in the corner of a little shopping area. Lunch was as delicious as recommended…we all had ham and cheese croissant with a cup of hot tea...I know, hot tea on a hot day…what can I say, I was with English girls…they drink hot tea with everything no matter the temperature outside.

After lunch we jumped back on our bikes only to realize we had about 20 minutes to make at least a 35 minute ride (at a fast pace) back to where we rented the bikes from the misleading shop owner…all I could think was, “let’s hope the hills are kind to us on our way back.” So much for a leisurely ride around the lake…we put the pedal to the metal and raced it back making it back only 10 minutes late… We had one last hiccup on our way back…Emma’s bike chain came off again. I figured if the lady scolded us I would tell her what a piece Emma’s bike was but when we returned she didn’t even notice the time difference…she was too busy passing my hot seat off to someone else before I could get off of it. This woman was a wheeler and dealer I tell ya.

Once we ditched the bikes (my legs were shot after doing river boarding and now the bike ride!) I stopped by the internet café to send my folks a little note to let them know that I was alive and well. I haven’t had any contact with them in days and I swore to my mom before I left that I would keep consistent contact every few days so she wouldn’t worry…I swear I was the apple that fell from the tree and rolled about five miles away… I don’t (typically) worry and I’m not a homebody… Needless to say I had several emails from Jules who was just “checking in” to see how I was doing.

That night the whole group from Top Deck went out to Winnie’s a local establishment that was providing our “all you can eat” pizza buffet for the evening. Dinner was fun…we got to say goodbye to a few of the people who were departing the tour.

As we were all discussing how we spent our day, Scotty said to me “oh I heard you guys did the bike ride around the lake…beautiful isn’t it…it’s pretty flat.” To which I replied in my sarcastic voice, “Ummmm….no, it’s not flat…not if you are from KS.” I guess if you are from the region in NZ that is littered with lush green mountains and people trek up and down them on bikes for kicks, then it’s pretty flat…but for me and the girls from England, it was hill-acious! Ba da ching! That’s all folks…don’t forget to tip your waitress.

Additional Photos: Queenstown