Things to add to your To Do list
08 May 2021 -Attention Southland and Otago residents! Over the last year we’ve had the opportunity to try out many of the local attractions we may previously have dismissed as being for visiting holiday-makers. We’ve compiled a very short list of just four of the activities we have enjoyed. Casting an eye over it serves as a reminder of the many things as yet untried. You have a diminishing quantity of time left of having the place largely to yourselves. Get cracking!
Kiwi and Birdlife Park. Not just a kiwi experience but a surprise kiwi mating experience. Good to see them doing their bit to sustain their species. If kiwi sexual voyeurism is not your thing there is a host of rare native and endemic birds many of which, sadly, you don’t often stumble upon in the wild these days. Apparently being in the company of birds brings humans more happiness than money. Go.
Snowsports. This isn’t ground-breaking – Queenstown and Wanaka are winter resorts. These days it isn’t just regular resort skiing and snowboarding. It’s also snowshoeing tours, cross country skiing, heli-hiking, ski touring, tubing. Being up a snowy mountain on a bluebird winter day in minus five degrees will clear your head and give you a perspective on yourself and your surroundings you wouldn’t have thought possible. (Shout out to Alpine Heliski’s Tim and Scotty for just such a day after the season’s best snowfall last year).
Suitable for gourmands of all ages, the trip across the Lake to Walter Peak is always a glorious way to spend a few hours. The buffet is fresh, plentiful, and delicious. It’s a perfect and very relaxing way to celebrate either a special occasion or a beautiful day. If you haven’t done it since renewable energy became de rigueur now is the time.
Walk to the top of something. As well as stimulating your cardiovascular system, you’ll likely experience a sense of accomplishment and even mild euphoria, while revelling in the panoramic views. In 2019 the Instagram Effect had increased the number of Mt Roy ascents to 125,000pa, up from about 15,000 five years ago. Given most of those are undertaken from November to May, that’s an average daily ascent rate of approximately 600, which translates to a long queue for your ‘gram. Do it while the queue is short.
See you out there.
