New Zealand. Fun facts. Fun times.

Please excuse the multiple copies of the same photos. Slow internet and stubborn blog app. Anyways. Other than that hope you enjoy.
Did you know New Zealand is two hours difference in time than Australia?

Did you know the people in Queenstown love extreme sports. For instance bungee jumping was started here. 

And did you know how many movies were filmed here?  More than just lord of the rings and hobbit. 

The fuller the days we've had the less time and energy I have to write. Sorry gang.  But here goes. 

Last night we took a steamboat that was over a hundred years old acro

ss the lake to a homestead. There we had an ok buffet meal with about 200 people and grilled bbq NZ style. Very tasty meats. Afterwards we had a sheep dog demonstration and then a sheep shearing demo before our return back across the lake.

Today we took land rovers with guides out to Glenorchy which is at the far end of the lake from our hotel. Here is where they filmed a lot of movies. As fun as it was since we are not lord of the ring fans some of the area didn't mean much to us but the stories were fun and the drive beautiful. 

After returning to the hotel we boarded our van and went out to Arrowtown an old gold mining town. We ate lunch there and wandered around. Did a little shopping and saw the Chinese village. The Chinese labor was used a lot in gold mining times but their houses were tiny and living conditions not good. 

We then went to the shotover River where most of the group did speedboat rides Into the sharp canyons. I opted out and took photos instead. 

Drinks of New Zealand. Tuesday. Part 1.

The day that we walked a trail at the edge of the lake cold drinks were absolutely necessary at lunch. Dana chose a nice beer and I chose a drink that reminded me of Ting from the Caribbean. With the bitters the lemon lime was refreshing but not overly sweet with the meal. And all organic.

Our afternoon drinks when we returned were both beers sitting out on the wharf. Dana loved the bottle that his came in. Turns out the texture is the same as the animal his beer is named after. All I could do was think about slip trailing that design onto pottery. Mine had a nice citrus flavor. 

This morning we have booked a wine tour which will also include lunch.  This should be fun as it will be a small group. Since I'm a bit tired today sitting and driving around. Will be good and then I'll be ready for more walking tomorrow. 

We came back from  from seeing 4 wineries with only 10 minutes to drop our things before our evening cruise on the lake followed by a BBQ. So. I'll quickly post some winery pictures and hopefully have evening pictures tomorrow to post. We also saw some lovely scenery today. 

Queenstown walking along the lake.

First full day in Queenstown. We walked around the downtown last night and it was pretty small. Our supper was fabulous. So fresh and the ingredients respected. So today we had to figure out something else to do. We knew about a path that runs alongside the lake and from what we heard we figured we would walk about 5 or 6 miles. Wrong. We walked about 19 kilometers today for a total of about 13 miles.   Stunning views of the Remarkables  very sharp steep mountains.

The server at breakfast told us about a place with really good coffee and food. He said it was half way to our destination. No try 3/4 of the way. We had coffee at lunch. Walked another mile to the bridge turned around went back to the same place for lunch. We debated about taking the bus back but then said what else have we to do today? The path was right at the water and there was a line of houses and the road behind that. So very peaceful. Very flat. And lots of benches. Picture below is where we had lunch.

Afterward we had cold beers in town on the water front at the same place as we went the afternoon before. Went to Starbucks mostly to use their wi-fi so I could put photos from camera to I-cloud. Worked find there. Guess it just doesn't like the hotel wifi set up. We also bought some ground decaf as the room has a water kettle and french press coffee pot. Came back up to the room. Cleaned up and went out for a delightful supper sitting outside.

Forgot to mention temp has been about 70 degrees today. Started out about 50 with some clouds and then it went to beautiful clear blue sky. The scenery in this area is breathtaking

 The kiwi statue is near our hotel on the wharf. We are going to a kiwi bird sanctuary in a few days.

 The fern seems to be the national symbol.

 Early morning mountain shot and then a picture of the remarkable mountains. Last picture is footbridge in botanical gardens. 

Ps. I was almost done with this post when I realized all I needed to do was to download the blogger app. Future posts will be easier for me to do. Haven't yet figured out how to control picture size. Something to learn tomorrow. Bedtime now. 

Queenstown. First impressions.

Smooth and uneventful flight from Sydney to Queenstown. Met at the airport by the person who would be our tour guide once our tour started in 2 days. He did some sidetrips on the way to hotel to see some awesome views, and drive around town to help us get our bearings. Also made suggestions on what we can do in our time before the tour.

Our room at the St Moritz is fabulous. Mini kitchen. Washer/dryer. Bedroom and living room separate. Shower that is separate from tub. All the rooms look out onto the lake. I took some fabulous pictures with my camera that is supposed to send the pictures over to the iPad via wifi but I can't get it to work. Not sure why not. It worked at home. Anyways there are some pictures from the room balcony that I shot with the iPad. They may not post. I am having troubles tonight with getting them to upload to the blog. Well here goes. Of it doesn't work I'll try again tomorrow.

We had a local beer sitting out on the wharf. Walked around town, really quite small, and then had a fabulous fish dinner. I had blue cod and Dana had groper (which is not grouper). This restaurant tries to locally source most all of its product from the South Island of NZ.

We are both exhausted. Trying to stay up,til 8 NZ time. Not sure if we will make it or not.

Travels to New Zealand. Long flight.

March 6 2015

On flight to Dallas. Left about 40 minutes late because of a lot of flights being cancelled yesterday and this flight is extremely full. What was fun was visiting with a friend of mine who works at the charlotte airport. Had a nice visit while she was in between her double shift. 

We left charlotte on a Friday night and are arriving in Sydney Sunday morning and will be in NZ Sunday night. This time zone thing and 26 hours of travel is kind of mind boggling.

Made it just fine on our flight from Dallas to Sydney. Double decker plane. Airbus a380. For once I'm on a flight where the entertainment system works. Watching The Hundred Foot Journey.  Culinary adventure with french and Indian cuisine. Unfortunately it made me hungry for some good food. Lots of fun.  Dana is watching Lord of the Rings since our tour is going to go to where it was filmed. Plane not full so I moved to window seat and Dana in aisle seat with an empty seat between us. Clean and comfortable for now. 16 hour flight to Sydney. Then a flight to New Zealand. Looks like we will be well fed. Love the Australian accents of the crew. 

I have slept about 2 hours but woke up thinking that 16 hours in one plane is a new record for me. And that there are still 11 hours left. I looked at the flight path and realized something. I have never before in all of my travels been to the Southern Hemisphere. I've mostly traveled to Europe with Scandinavia also thrown in there. I've been north to Alaska. I've been to some Caribbean islands. But have never been to Asia. Or South America. Or Africa. With this trip I'll be in Australia. Albeit only the airport. And then New Zealand. Maybe now that I've gotten these thoughts out of my brain I can go back to sleep. 

Slept for a while. Then watched the movie The Love Punch with pierce Bronson and Emma Thompson. Cute. A bit predictable. Most of it takes place in Paris which made it seem to fit my mood. Movie over and still 6 1/2 hours of flying time left. 

 Next movie was a tear jerker. If I Stay about a prodigy cello player and her love of a rocker. And then. .. A tragic accident.  Not giving it away. And now only 4 1/2 hours left!  Hope they serve breakfast soon I'm getting hungry. 

In between movies, sleeping, eating, playing games on my iPad I'm reading a book recommended by a friend. The Bone People. Takes place on the South Island beaches of New Zealand. Bound in Maori myth. I bought it at the used book store in Weaverville and just discovered that the original price on it was from the UK.  Took a little bit to get into it but now I'm really liking the novel. He said to always read something about the country you are about to visit. 

 

Pre trip last minute

All packed night before trip. Suitcase weighs 35 pounds plus my carryon. I was mostly packed on Sunday due to working all week. Now starts the did you. Pack ?  Or ? No matter what something will be forgotten. But that is ok. And then our pre-vacation ritual. Dinner at Stoney Knob Restaurant. We don't like to cook etc right before a trip. Now to figure out what time to leave home tomorrow to have plenty of time for all those things that might happen. Bad weather shut down a lot of flights today. Hopefully weather will be clear tomorrow.  Now I'm chilling. Hope I can sleep tonight. Long couple of days of traveling coming up.

New Zealand here we come. Resurrecting my travel blog.

I started this blog a number of years ago when I was traveling a lot for work and some for pleasure as a way to keep track of my thoughts when I was traveling. Haven't used since 2010 since I've been on Facebook (way too much ). This time I am traveling for a long period of time and thought it was time to resurrect my blog. And some of my friends, work buddies, and family are not on face book. So here goes.

Today is Wednesday night and on Friday at this time Dana and I will be bound for New Zealand. Some people call it the once in a life time trip. But for those of us who love to travel we think every trip is special whether to Georgia to visit customers or Maine to see family or half way around the world. I plan on posting pictures and stories. Let's see how it goes. And mom this blog while I am gone is dedicated to you.