An Adventurous Thursday

When we woke up on Thursday morning, the skies were blue and it had all the indications of a beautiful day.  The temperatures have started out in the mid-40's in the morning, warming up to the high 50's/ low 60's in the mid-afternoon hours (4pm is the warmest time of day!), before dropping to the high 30's at night.  Absolutely perfect weather, as it has also been accompanied by blue skies almost every day, except for the brief interlude of rain yesterday morning.

Billy and I spent a while catching up on emails, blogs etc. before walking into town around 11am.  We stopped and had a late breakfast at a restaurant called Halo.  I had my favourite, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on a bagel with tomato and avocado and Billy had an omelette.  Both were delicious, especially as we accompanied them with a freshly made carrot, apple, ginger juice -our favourite!

Then we walked over to the bike shop, Outside Sports, and after much negotiating and debate, we ended up renting two full-suspension, 29'er Specialized mountain bikes for the next two days.  Unfortunately, by requesting a 29'er, I gave them the incorrect impression that I actually knew what I was doing, so the guys in the bike store tried to convince us to go on this massive bike ride in the mountains etc.  Now, I should point out, I do enjoy riding, but I rarely do it, as most of my spare exercise time is spent running.  And let's face it, there aren't a lot of mountains in South Florida, so my climbing skills aren't great.  I have only been on my bike a few times in the last year or two - the last major riding I did was in Park City in 2011!  Luckily, Billy could see that I wasn't comfortable with the ride they were describing, and agreed to do an easy ride with me to ease me back in gently.  I wanted to ride the Queenstown Track which loops past our hotel, all the way round the other side, a 50 or 60k ride on fairly smooth, easy trails.  So smooth and easy that the bike shop guys referred to them as being built for Mums with prams, but I refused to give in to peer pressure!!!  I knew this was the ride for me!  And Billy was just happy to be on a bike...

The weather was quite cool still, so we bundled up and took off.  I had bought a pair of mountain biking shorts at the same shop earlier in the week, and although they are very comfortable, they are not particularly flattering, so please ignore the lack of photos of me below.

We crossed over the Shotover River

Clio finally learns how and when to shift gears...thanks to Billy's excellent teaching skills

Billy is so happy to be back on a bike!

King of the mountain!

Uhm.... I have no idea what I was doing here!  A victory dance? A temper tantrum?  Stung by a wasp??  Hmmm...

All better now. :)

 On the way back home, we stopped at the Hilton, which is on the opposite side of the river to our hotel.  They have a lovely little bar with a blazing fire.  For Clio - cold water on tap.  For Billy - cold beer on tap.  Everyone is happy!

Billy is now even happier

That fire felt good!

On the one-way bridge that crossed the Shotover River

For dinner that night, we decided we needed to refuel.  Time for some pasta!  We went to an Italian restaurant that had been highly recommended, called Bella Cucina.  They make all their pasta in-house and it was indeed delicious.
 

Billy had pappardelle with wild boar and mushroom sauce.  Not only was the presentation great, but it tasted good too!  He let me eat most of the mushrooms. :)

After seeing those photos of me in the bike shorts, I was trying to be healthy, so I ordered the fish.  Which came wrapped in bacon.  Hmmm... I unwrapped it and ate it - it was good, but not outstanding.

 For our side dish, we had grilled pumpkin wedges, served with fried sage leaves and a garlic aioli.  Yum - but too much food for us!

 Billy finished with an affogato - a scoop or two of ice cream with a shot of espresso poured over it.  He didn't love it as much as I thought he would - I mean ice cream AND coffee?  You'd think it would be his favourite thing ever!  But apparently the combination of cold and hot was a little odd.   Needless to say, I didn't try it, so I can't give my opinion! :)

 It looked pretty though!!
And so ends another exciting day in Queeenstown.  Fresh air and exercise and lots of good food!!