Gondola opens to remarkable visitor response

A family from Geraldine in South Canterbury were the first up Queenstown’s Skyline gondola on a cloudless first day back after the Covid-19 lockdown.

General Manager Wayne Rose said hundreds of people enjoyed the gondola, the luge and mountainbiking on Saturday.

‘‘It’s obviously been a difficult seven or eight weeks,’’ Rose said.

‘‘It’s great to see the gondolas coming up the side of the hill again. It’s been too long. Queenstown needs it. It’s iconic. Let’s get going.’’ Support from the region, and the rest of the country had been ‘‘phenomenal’’, he said.

‘‘Town has just got behind this business ... Interestingly the first people we saw on sight today was a family of five from Geraldine. I’ve also had a couple from Nelson, a few from Dunedin, lots of people from Invercargill and two people I met up with at the base of the gondola who flew in from Auckland.’’

Max Freemantle, of Queenstown, said he wanted to enjoy the views over Queenstown for the first time in eight weeks.

‘‘It’s so much more busy now we have level 2. It’s so nice to see everyone out and about again.’’

Queenstown Ferries also resumed its scheduled public transport service between the Queenstown CBD and the Hilton/Frankton on Thursday.

Go Orange Acting General Manager Russell Thomas said following the Covid19 government guidelines, capacity had been halved on the ferries to maintain and manage physical distancing, and the vessel would be sanitised between each sailing.