Queenstown - 1963

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QUEENSTOWN-1963 On August 2nd, to the sound of the day in town to do a little washing and usual Far Call choruses, the 1963 letter writing. The afternoon provided Queenstown ski party sailed for Christ- an opportunity for Penny, Nicky, and church. A smooth trip to Lyttelton and myself to do a bicycle tour of the town after the train ride through the hill we on hired bikes which proved to be very found our Mount Cook Co. bus waiting amusing. at Christchurch station to take us to In the evening our forces were swelled Queenstown. with the arrival of another four who The twelve of us who were lucky were down for the last week. enough to have a fortnight's holiday As the tow queues had been increased climbed aboard and, after picking up with the weekend skiers, nine of us dethe other passengers, we were on our cided to take a trip to Lake Te Anau way. on Sunday in one of Joan Hamilton's The weather was fine and the journey tourist buses. to Ashburton passed quickly. We had A trip up the lake on a launch to the morning tea here and took the oppor- Glow Worm Caves and the walk through tunity to reply to the telegram we had filled in the afternoon. We all enjoyed the received on the boat from our well- trip, which was made really entertaining wishers who farewelled us from the by Joan's humorous commentary and wharf. sense of humour. From here to Lake Pukaki and lunch, Monday saw us back on the slopes in with the Alps looking terrific under their force and in the evening a party in the heavy coating of snow. Afternoon tea flat filled the evening in nicely. at Tarras found us all getting a little Tuesday morning we went to catch weary and looking forward to our arrival the bus, but the size of the crowd waitin Queenstown and dinner. ing at the depot was enormous, so a We arrived in Queenstown at 6.30 and group of us decided on a trip to Paraafter our meal in the "Mountaineer" we dise Valley. The trip along the new moved into "Wakatipu Courts", the flats road around Lake Wakatipu was very which were to be our home for the next pleasant and a picinc lunch at Glenorcy fortnight. made it a very enjoyable day. Sunday morning dawned fine, and after Wednesday and Thursday were both a good night's sleep we headed for the fine and most of us made Thursday our bus depot early, all anxious to see if the last day on skis sO we would have all snow was as good as we had experienced Friday to pack and tidy up. in the past two years. We were not dis- During the Friday afternoon we appointed, and arrived on the ski fields strolled through the Queenstown gardens after the half-hour bus trip to find plenty and afterwards went for a trip on the of powder snow, well packed down on lake in the launch "Meteor". the usual slopes. Our last evening was spent quietly We enjoyed a terrific day on snow with a few friends whom we had made which was in really first-class condition. acquaintance with. Monday was another good day, marred Mention must here be made of Syd only by Dion taking a spill and break- Smith, who now resides in Queenstown. ing one of his skis. We were glad to see him again and On Tuesday morning we awoke to find grateful for his sightseeing assistance rain falling, so with skiing off for the during our stay. day we decided to make a trip to Arrow- The bus arrived at 8.30 on Saturday town. A most interesting morning was morning for our homeward journey spent browsing through the old museum after the club's third Queenstown expediwhich is full of relics from the gold rush tion. period. Those in the party were: Penny After lunch in the hotel we spent a Rickard, Shirley McGregor, Doreen pleasant afternoon playing bowls in the Daley, Ursula Furkert, Dion Quirke, Dan hotel lounge before returning home. Lowe, John Armstrong, Tony Chapman, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we Brian Hunt, Nicky Parkinson, Robin spent on the slopes, although the snow McGreivy, Karl, Ron Fayle, Peter was not in quite as good condition as it Atkinson, Barrie Noyce, Doreen Raper, was earlier in the week. and Dave McNairn. On Saturday some of us spent the -BRIAN HUNT.