Landing in ZQU is a nerve-wracking affair, dropping into a small bowl surrounded by snow-capped mountains. From the air, the impression is that spring has not yet arrived because the native vegetation is a tussock grass that doesn't really green up. The tree-line is quite low and the margins of the valleys are yellow-gold from gorse planted by the settlers and gone wild. Due to the cloud cover on the flight down, we don't see Mt. Cook or much of the southern alps, but it breaks up just as we reach Queenstown.
Lawnbowling is a quiet sport, no beers on the playing field.
The taxi driver takes us above the city for a wide angle view of the town on the edge of the lake, points out some sights. Our hotel is at the waterfront in the center of town, and on the square just below our windows is the Saturday street market, vendors selling honey, hand-knits, pottery, jewelry. Buy nothing that we then would have to carry.
Photography and wandering around the town park, watch serious lawn bowling, competitors in white uniforms, bird the shoreline, nab a scaup, the native pigeon and two species of gulls. Then we do the tourist thing and ride the tram up to the top of the mountain, watch the paragliders, bungee jumpers and other thrill-seekers as we take a quiet walk around the mountain.
This place is rugby-mad, and we see English wearing white and red facepaint heading off to the bars to watch the finals of the International Rugby World Cup, England vs Australia. We look around for a bit for a pub, then retreat to our room to watch the match on tv, since it doesn't start until 10. R stays up through the overtime to watch England win its first international championship in any sport since the 1960s, and the fans celebrate in the square until 3:30 am.
