Extreme Queenstown!!

For the next few days we explored the Queenstown area with Jon and Fede, bouldering in the valley under the towering Remarkables, paddle boarding on Moke Lake, visiting the Wildlife Sanctuary to see Kiwis and Keas and getting to know bustling Queenstown on the shores of Lake Wakatipu.

Chris even found time to get a birds eye view of this beautiful landscape from 15,000 feet, but not for long!

Chris getting off the ground - just!

Posy looking heel hook!

Fede and Jon enjoying the sunshine

Extreme inverse paddle boarding

Lovely day at the beach in the mountains

Paddle board wars - Round 1....

....Round 2....

.....Round 3....Knock Out!

Not a bad view from Jon and Fede's house!

The two species of Tuatara found only in New Zealand are the only surviving members of their order, which flourished around 200 million years ago - effectively a living fossil

The New Zealand native wood pigeon - kereru - can weigh up to nearly a kilo - I guess its name translates to "good eating"!

The image below is an X-ray of a kiwi a day before she lays her egg - its so huge all her vital organs are squashed into her chest cavity. The gestation period is about a month. Females do not eat during this period, as the egg will take up a fourth of a kiwi's body mass. Once laid, the male incubates the egg. It takes the chick two to three days just to hatch and six years to reach maturity. However it does hatch fully feathered and ready to start hunting for food almost immediately.

The Kea is a large species of ground parrot found only in New Zealand's south Islands

Climbing to 15,000 feet with a Czech man on my back

Taking the quick way down.....1:1000.....

....2:1000....

...3:1000....weeeeeeeee!!

I can see Jon's house from here

Ooh that lake's getting bigger

TFFT