Queenstown

Queenstown

Queenstown

The ice cold air of Queenstown punched my face to the tip of my toes. It was nine in the morning and our destination was held at AJ Hackett Bungy Centre. The specific reason for this rather exciting action is that this planned activity is set to sit on a terrifying ride on none other than the one hundred and thirty meter high zipride.

Apparently when we saw the extreme zipride, something triggered  my grandma to announce to us that she was petrified at the thought of me  going on the ride. I assured my grandma by quickly informing her about all the safety aspects of the ride, to let us take our expedition to the next level but she refused to let us go, “What if the wire breaks?” were the words that my grandma repeated over and over again.

This situation gave my dad an idea to revisit Gold Fields, a place where people can go to pan for gold  to experience what it was like for the Chinese gold miners who lived in the forests inside houses made out of rocks and blankets.

After a short ten minute drive, we found ourselves at the  old Gold Fields - near Arrowtown. Almost immediately I was flashed back to my previous visit to Queenstown in

2014.

The compelling houses filled my head with a whole load of history, it expanded my brain! The engaging facts about the chinese immigration in the 1860’s were both interesting and arresting which increased my awareness of the hardship these early immigrants faced.

This made me commemorate the moment when I panned my first gold flake.  Sharing this experience with  my friends however, was a challenge that met with their disbelief!

Lady luck was with  my mum and grandma, who found three gold flakes. Their celebration of this fact, just about drove us all insane! Unfortunately even though I panned three times I did not find  one single flake of gold.

The three gold flakes ended our terrific day at Gold Fields but knowing that their is still more to find, I’ll be back.

(Image of the three gold flakes inside a tube of water)