Gondola, Luge & Kiwi Weka

Bad hair day, day 4

The one thing that you can found in either North or South island is gondola ride and luge. Gondola is quite self explainable, it's like a cable car that take you for a ride (in this case is up to the mountain) and enable you to see the scenery around from the inside. Luge is a scooter like...or bicycle like (even though it doesn't look like a scooter or bicycle) thing, no engine installed inside it and it moves by riding it sliding down the hill. Totally polution free and must be greenpeace approved transportation type. This two things are a must do if you're in New Zealand because it's like the signature activity of this island.

Anyway, we decided to go up the hill one day for the luge ride. The fee doesn't cost much, but the ticket guy who welcome you to the gondola will take your picture and on your way down from the hill, you'll be able to view your picture, already printed on nice glossy paper and comes with other extras like Queenstown scenery calendar or self-portrait postcard. Then you have to pay $ 30 NZ if you want to get them. O yeah, the joy of tourism business, because tourist will buy any souvenir that catches their eyes. That includes us, and when I got home and opened the package of my gondola experience, I was thinking, "Why the heck did I buy this? I don't even look that good in the picture."

When we got on the hill, we were hungry so we had some light lunch. The price is good, considered they are the only restaurant on the hill and the food wasn't taste that bad either. The view that you can see from the hill is a real bonus. After we feel ready, we brace the luge ride. First, this thingy that looks like a lift in the ski resort will take you up to the higher part of the hill (before that they will ask you to put on a helmet....a bicycle helmet), then you choose a luge and start to slide down the hill, first timer has to ride on beginner track first. After that, they can be allowed to slide on advance track. It's really simple, but honestly, it was quite addictive. I just want to keep going back up and ride the luge.

After that, we went to a Kiwi Park (I think that's the name...I forgot the exact name), and got some Kiwi culture therapy. First introduction is the animal of New Zealand. The oldest and the ugliest one is Tuatara. This iguana like creature is the only reptile that actually live with dinosaur before. I forgot how they manage to stay alive while all the T-Rex was frozen (was it?) and died. They can live up to 300 years, well that's the oldest tuatara in the bird park, imagine if they live longer than that. Anyway, the keeper of the bird park showed us some more creature and it includes a giant pigeon (It's as big as chicken....and it's fat too. Imagine how yummy it is if you cook it). And then there's an Australian bird (Rainbow Lorikeet) and this bird has been trained to put rubbish in the bin. Impressive! We also get the chance to see Kiwi bird, which is so rare, they're almost extinct. This poor creature is so weak when they were chicks, they got eaten by possum, dog and other natural enemies. An adult kiwi is actually quite big and strong, as big as chicken on steroid, and they can defend themselves from their enemies. Kiwi bird is nocturnal, so we can only see them in the nocturnal house. We are not allowed to take picture too.

Then we explore the park with self-learn audio provided by the park and end the journey by feeding some ducks in the pond. Good, eh?

Still in the park, we watch this Kiwi Weka show, where the Maori dance and sing their traditional culture. This 2 girl 1 guy group were performing a little bit of Haka too, even though girls don't usually do Haka. I would really like to watch Haka performed by New Zealand's rugby team, All Blacks. It's gonna be so good. When they were scheduled to play the Wallabies in Christchurch, we were there too and what we need to do just buy the ticket and watch the whole game. But I don't understand rugby, and if I only will enjoy the Haka, which they normally do in the beginning of the game, what will I do for the rest of the game. I don't even know how to count the score, so I banished the idea entirely. Watching the Kiwi Weka show reminded me why I came to New Zealand in the first place. I want to learn other country's cultures, and doing a lot of activities enable me to listen to a lot of myth and legend which help me understand how a country's cultures is shaped.