The skies are clear and blue so I decide to take the Skyline Gondola up to Bob's Peak for panoramic views but there's a huge queue of noisy families at the ticket office. I remember it's Sunday so decide to do the Queenstown Hill Time Walk instead recommended in my Queenstown walks leaflet. It's a three-hour round trip with 'average fitness needed' so I should be ok. I had a vague wish to climb Ben Lomond described as 'a difficult walk requiring a high level of fitness and should not be underestimated' but am slightly relieved to hear that it's almost unclimbable at the moment due to heavy snow. The Queenstown Hill Time Walk is a 500 metre climb through pine forest to the summit of Te Tapanui (Mountain of Intense Sacredness) starting from Belfast Terrace.
I ask in the supermarket for directions to the street but none of the locals who work there has any idea although they've apparently heard of the walk.
Half an hour and several ridiculously steep streets later I arrive at the starting point completely exhausted.
(Photo - Lake Wakatipu from the Queenstown Hill Time Walk)
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