Heya folks, its been a few months but I thought Id share with you my favorite day out since I have been on the road with Kiwi.

 

Diesel, one of the other Kiwi drivers is a bit of a mountain goat and he let me tag along on one of his alpine excursions. Cecil Peak is one of the many Mountains overlooking Queenstown.

 

Standing at just under 2000m Cecil Peak is no stroll in the park, made even more challenging by the 1.5 hr paddle across the magnificent but rather chilly Lake Wakatipu. We arrived at the base of the mountain just as the darkness made way for the pink and orange of an awesome sunrise over the lake.

 

Keen to warm up we decided on the classic kiwi approach... straight up! After a couple of hours of hard grind the scrub gave way to tussock grass another two hours and the tussock changed to steep rock faces, shale and some of the most amazing views I have ever seen.

 

Queenstown looked tiny framed by the blue of the glacial lake Wakatipu and the Southern Alps that dominated the horizon, many of the peaks covered in snow even though it was still summer.

 

After soaking up the view and some rays we began the descent which was not much easier than the climb up. Fortunately by the time we got down the lake was dead calm and the paddle back was cruisey.

 

A couple of well earned beers by the lake as the sun disappeared over the mountains capped off a most memorable day out. I definitely recommend it to any of you up for a very rewarding challenge and a taste of pure New Zealand.

 

Check out the slide show, its not great quality but you get the idea.

 

Catch ya

 

JP