It’s all about South Island (5): Riding the Luge all day long (I wish)
December 03, 2016
10th July 2015
Today plans were playing Luge in the Skyline Queenstown and head to Milford Sound.
Skyline Queenstown
Skyline is one of the must visit attraction in Queenstown. In New Zealand, there are only two cities where it is located, Rotorua in North Island and Queenstown in South Island. We can see the whole city from Gondola and ride the luge with the twisted tracks.
We left around 9.15AM to Skyline Queenstown in Breecon St. It was very close from our staying place. It took less than 10 minutes. Skyline Queenstown is open from 9AM, but the other attractions (luge, restaurant, souvenir shops) open from 10AM.
There were only five families and couples lining up in front of us when we arrived. I guess our time was perfect, not too early and the line was not that long. Normally, the fee for Skyline Gondola is 33NZD and Luge fee is 55NZD. But there are several options that we can choose, Gondola + 2 times Luge, Gondola + 3 times Luge, and so on (more detail can be found on their website). We got plenty of time before heading to Milford Sound, so we wanted to ride the Luge more than once. We chose Gondola + 3 times Luge for 50NZD. It was way cheaper than buying it individually.
The gondola brought us to 450 meters above Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu, to the top of Bob’s peak. The picture above shows the view from the peak. As you can see, it was nice weather when I took the picture. I was worried it will be foggy up there. The time was just perfect on that time, Alhamdulillah.
Once reached Bob’s peak, the visitors can choose to have a decent meal with beautiful scenery, riding the luge or just shopping for some souvenirs. Since we were planning to ride the luge, we skipped other attractions and head directly to the luge.
We had to ride in tandem to reach the higher point. However, for the safety reason, all of us have to wear a helmet. There are 3 sizes available, S, M, and L. I got my helmet and ready to ride!
I have to say, I was nervous when the first time I rode in the tandem. It is literally only a ‘hanging bench’ going up in the same direction. There is no place to put your foot beneath the bench. So, if you only wear a sandal and you drop it, then you have to say good-bye to your sandal. By the second time I rode in, I was not scared anymore. I enjoyed it, enjoying the beautiful Queenstown from the sky.
Finally, we reached the top!
First of all, the clerk will ask us, whether it is our first time riding a luge or not. Because there are two tracks, blue and red. Blue track is for the beginner, the gradient is gentler and the bends is easy. Meanwhile, the red track is steeper gradient and more challenging. For the beginner, there will be an instructor that guides us how to ride the luge. Even though it was my first time riding the luge, I didn’t face any difficulties how to operate it.
I finished the blue track in no time and so ready to go back to the second ride. I chose the red track for my second ride because I wanted to try a different track. Indeed, the red track is more challenging and a little bit hard to handle the luge. But that was the point, it made riding the luge more interesting!
To be honest, three rides were not enough for me, I wanted more but I couldn’t. Maybe next time I can go back to have more in the future. :p
Off we go to Milford Sound
Our day was very lovely, beautiful nice weather to ride the luge and gondola until we got that email….
----
Curious about what happened next?
Stay tuned guys, will update the rest of the story soon!
0 Comments