This is the blog of Mark Wordsworm, the travelling worm. I’m a 25-year-old bookmark and can proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC) .
Today’s travel notes
Queenstown, the action capital of the world. That’s what our guide told us during one of the many activities and adventures that me and the TC have tackled in the last few days. Queenstown, on the South Island of New Zealand, is a pretty little town with lots to offer for a few days of fun and action.
My impressions? Sunlight glowing on tawny hills. Cloud shadows gliding across a turquoise lake. People flying through treetops, skimming over water, scooting along the shore and jumping off anything that doesn’t move. It’s all happening.
Travel tip
Ziptrek. Just do it.
Recommended accommodation
Pounamu Apartments.
The book I’m in
Bad Luck and Trouble, by Lee Child. Jack Reacher gets together with some old buddies from his army unit. It’s like having a number of Reachers all in one book.
The photos
Me and Mary Moa:
The TC offering me to the last surviving Moa
In the centre of Queenstown stands the last remaining Moa bird. Mary. Naturally, the TC attempted to feed me to the giant bird. Mary Moa declined with due disdain:
Mary Moa's suspicious eye
Queenstown is beautiful. A lake runs through it:
Queenstown seen from Skipper's Saddle
At the bottom of Lake Wakatipu a giant’s heart pumps. That’s the reason why the water surges one way and then the other, regular as clockwork every fifteen minutes, causing a twenty centimetre rise in the level of the lake on each shore in turn. The seiche, they call it. There’s no scientific explanation for the phenomenon yet, so the story of the giant’s heart is as good as any other.
Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown
Jonathan was there too:
Jonathan on the shore of Lake Wakatipu
We zoomed along the shores of Lake Wakatipu on Segways:
Zooming along with Segway on Q
We zipped through the treetops on flying fox cables:
Flying fox tour of the treetops with Ziptrek
The flying fox tour is run by Ziptrek. If you’re ever in Queenstown, do it. The cables and platforms are attached to trees like this:
Cables and platforms built into Douglas fir trees
If you have the time, or the nerve, to look while zipping through the treetops, this is the view you’ll see:
View from the treetops
We panned for gold on the famous Arrow River:
Gold panning equipment
Sifting out all the pebbles and white sand:
Panning for gold
That’s the gold, right there! See it?
A speck of gold
Poke the gold to make it stick to your finger:
Get the gold onto your fingertip
There it is. No, really:
Goldfinger
Add it to the rest of your stash. Carefully:
Collecting the gold
You’re rich:
Gold gold gold
To celebrate our new found wealth, we enjoyed a high tea:
High tea on the Land Rover bonnet
Then we drove down the seventh most dangerous road in the world, into Skipper’s Canyon. This worm survived to tell the tale! I’ll post a video of the drive, just as soon as I can get it loaded onto YouTube. Motel broadband is not all its cracked up to be. This worm is sure you’re all waiting on tenterhooks. Ah, the suspense!
That’s all for today dudes.
Travelling Worm 