When I think of a gondola I imagine a boat on a canal in Venice. Why then are the little bubble glass carriages that transport loads of tourists and locals up the sides of hills in Queenstown, Christchurch and Rotorua also called gondola ? Whatever the reason, they are a great way to get up and down a steep hill and to enjoy the scenery as you go and from the top.
We decided to go one frosty clear morning to see what it was all about. It was a beautiful day, with clear skies - but hazy, probably caused by the city slowly thawing from the hard frost earlier.
It's worth the trip if you are in Christchurch and have the time. A 20 minute wait for hot drinks at the cafe was a bit hard to swallow, but at least we were told when we ordered and weren't left wondering if they had forgotten our order.
Well, week one at work seems to have gone okay. Hopefully I will remember all I have learnt in training and be able to contribute to my new team when I start for real on Monday.
It was a short week because of a public holiday on Friday for Show Day. It has been a busy sporting week in Christchurch with the NZ Trotting Cup on Tuesday, the A&P show and cricket and more racing to come on Saturday. The weather has been a bit odd for this time of year, cold wind and hail - even snow on the alps. In November.
So, we planned to go for a drive since we both had the day off as part of our weekend. People thought I was mad when I said at work we might go to Greymouth and back. Pfft, they don't know how far we drove when we were on the other side of the world !
I haven't been to the West Coast since we were about this big...
...and Lauren had had one fleeting visit to go to a funeral which doesn't really count.
The drive there was more interesting than what we found once there. But we will probably go back with some better plans sometime in the future. Great scenery, and some really cheeky wildlife.
Where to next ?
