Just back from an awesome weekend back in Queenstown, not really feeling so good - bit of a 3 day hangover situation I think 
. Got some pikey flights a while ago, from Christchurch to Wanaka, a mere $98 return! Didn't even know you could fly to Wanaka, but that was definitely an experience in itself! Flew there with all of 12 other people on the smallest plane so far, a Beech 1900D. Check this out. Wanaka airport on the right. Tiny.
Straight across the road from the airport is a mini-golf and shooting / archery place, so played around there with Sarah and Ramsey for quite a while. Sloth not too great on the archery - somehow managed to twang his left nipple. How that is possible still beats me. Lets just say you wouldn't want to be on my side when the castle was under attack. No trip to Wanaka is complete without a trip to the Hammer and Nail Bakery - hadn't had a pie from there since the days of driving up to Treble Cone. Awesome.
Got back to Queenstown and fired up the barbie out on their deck. Bizarre to be back in Greenstone Terraces (where we lived for the winter season). I've really missed that view - looking out over the lake onto the Remarkables is, well, remarkable! Got myself up and down to Hamills for breakfast, before heading in to town to hire me a bike. Ended up not getting the "bigger bike" as I'd picked the only weekend when the Coronet trails were closed to the public. D'Oh! 
. Picked up a Giant Anthem from Vertigo bikes, got back to Greenstone and got Ramsey moving. Thought I'd just check out whether my old place had any mail for me. Damn lucky I did as there was a fine sitting there with my name on it. Seems that cop in Christchurch Police Station never cleared my "14 days compliance notice" for no lights, so I'd been given a $180 fine. Lucky I hadn't been leaving the country as I would've got arrested apparently. Pas bon. Hopefully the fools are sorting this out now.
Already turning into quite a hot day, we headed off round the Kelvin Heights trail (my fave trail in this area). The trail is fully open this time of year, so we were able to continue round to Jacks Point - awesome flowing singletrack all the way with plenty of short downhill sections. Would've liked to continue further round but ran out of food and drink - literally nowhere to buy anything round here. Lucky we did turn round then, as ended up with severe cramp nearing home. More water next time please. The Anthem was a great ride - nice and light, responsive and quite a different feel to trusty old Mildred. Vertigo bikes highly recommended by Sloth - they also do heli-biking trips, and a nice t-shirt for me, thanks.
Friday night got very messy indeed. starting with wine and sushi, moving in to Monty's, Bar Up, The Bunker (of course!) then Sky Bar (never been there and won't again) and World Bar. Dunno about after that cos I was very wobbly, but it definitely ended in a Ferg Burger. The Indian one please.
Saturday started too early - should've stayed asleep for longer but got ourselves up to Coronet Peak for the NZ DH Nationals. Pretty weird riding up on the chairlift in summer clothes with no snow in sight! Felt like a bit of a tourist. Plenty of riders up there on bigger bikes, doing bigger things - stuff I'd break myself in half on. DH course was wicked, watched loads of riders of all ages nailing it down there, hundreds of photos taken.
Hangover got me again in the evening, even a Hell Pizza couldn't sort me out. Wasn't too keen on going out, but of course I had to on my last night in QT. Went to Winnies (still ***), Monty's and Buffalo, before inevitably getting yet another Ferg Burger and returning to The Bunker for a few quiet-ish gins. Somehow that night had turned into and even later one than the night before.
All of which left me feeling rough-as when we drove an hour back to Wanaka airport the next day. To be honest I barely remember the flight back. I'd love to go back down there again this summer - is wicked!
Loads of photos from the weekend in my Queenstown in Summer Set.