Guest Blog – Three Cricket Loving Gents on a New Zealand Adventure – Part 2, by Bruce Doy

The story of 3 cricket loving guys on a South Island Adventure tour in NZ - Part 2 by Bruce Doy

One of the delights of a cricket tour – other than the cricket – is the opportunity to meet new people, visit new places and have new experiences.

So on arrival at Fox Glacier township we were all excited at the prospect of experiencing a glacier; but we were thwarted by landslips, roads under repair and the weather even defeated the only other option of a helicopter flight. But were we downhearted? No, walks in the open  through only what can be described as rain forest – rain in that it was raining and forest in the sheer greenery of everything and ever changing mountain and lake views.

Moving on from Fox Glacier involved a 200 mile road trip to Queenstown- and with most road trips the choice of in car entertainment was the subject of much delight. One playlist being regarded as ‘rubbish’ the other as an Elton John fest. However before we got too far a stop at Bruce Bay was required so that Bruce’s ‘uniform’ could be revealed – clown regalia was the order of the day, only being removed when passing police cars!

Queenstown turned out to be better than expected – whilst billed as the thrill-seekers capital of the world – how would it cope with the three of us? None necessarily naturally inclined to want to throw ourselves off mountain sides, jump from bridges or risk drowning in white water? Well, the answer is the luge – but at the top of the gondola ride! It may appear to be a mad thing to do but when we saw that small children and even older folk were throwing themselves down the luge run, we just had to do it.

So much so that we came back for a second day! Gaining experience and thrills with each passing attempt. The ‘proper’ tour goes to Rotorua between the tests and guess what? They’ve got a luge run, longer and faster than Queenstown so the chance to reduce Gary’s lead in the tournament he’s developed has to be taken; with luck, we can persuade others in the party at that time to have a go – experience new things, new people etc

– Bruce Doy