Our first of three Queenstown events was just a few kms up the road, and Twelve Mile. It was on river flats next to the lake; at least the arena was.  We got the full Kiwi experience, complete with glacial streams to be crossed, scrambly slopes to clamber up and slide down, and gorse bushes to avoid. We waded in up to our calves.  And that was just the easy course. It took us an hour to complete 1.6 kms (though our actual distance was a lot further).

Pete had his own adventure which he will tell you about when he’s recovered (still several ice creams away).  The hard courses looked horrendous; even the walk to the start involved climbing umpteen contours and bashing through green stuff.

But it was all worth it for the views.

It was the most disorganised event I’ve ever been to; everything was half an hour behind, nothing was set up properly, and who knows if we’ll ever see results. Apparently the map was only finished 3 days ago and the courses were set yesterday. We await tomorrow with interest/trepidation. We do get to ride the gondola up to the top of the hill.

Afterwards we went to Arrowtown to see the foliage. Stunning.  Simon and I went leaf peeping along the river.  Pete ate hokey pokey icecream (I had double choc). Ilze found the wool and quilt shop. A wonderful afternoon was had by all.  Enjoy – we certainly did.