New Zealand. Home of extreme sports

Not sure I mentioned that bungee jumping was invented in NZ as a sport. 26 or so years ago. So given a chance I did not do it. I couldn't even walk out on the bridge where they jump from. But......thanks to Dana trying ziplining about 6 months ago he decided to do it along with another member of our group. We saw someone decide not to jump (and there are no refunds ) and we saw a nude jumper. (With just the harness on). And Dana jumping. I didn't get the action shots but he did pay for the photos for a keepsake. 

Please note you can't see in this photo but he is about 130 feet above a river. Wow I am so impressed. 

Then onto the small town of Clyde which is at the base of a huge dam to stay at a bed and breakfast. Town is about 3 blocks long. A sleepy contrast the the adrenaline of Danas jump. 

Life is good. Shirts weren't invented in NZ but they could have been.

IOh my goodness. What isn't there to like about NZ. From there easy way of life to the incredible scenery to the wine to the pit fruits to the outdoors life of hiking boating and more. Since I have now shot over 400 pictures I'll just be like the person who bores you to death with a lot of photos. Not really I have tried to pick and choose to share with you. 

We went up the gondola above Queenstown. I didn't do the hand gliding but they were beautiful to look at. 

Then we went to a kiwi bird park. These are nocturnal so we couldn't shoot pictures of them but there were lots of other birds to see

Next stop was a winery. Of course a picture of doors. 

Next day we drove to Milford sound which isn't really a sound but really a fjord. Long drive but absolutely gorgeous. We saw glaciers along the way and went through a tunnel that took about 10 years to dig out 

We boarded a boat for an afternoon around the fjords. With water activities. Then dinner aboard the boat before retiring to bed. Next morning we went into the Tasman sea. And got up close and personal to some waterfalls

That afternoon we traveled to a farm for lunch. 

You can tell that the animals are well loved on this farm. 

The food was delicious. She picked lettuce while we watched for the salad. Everything except the flour for dessert I believe came right from the farm. She was fascinated by the concept in the US of farm tomtable cooking. As that is all they know. 

Our next stop deserves its own start to a post. Stay tuned. More to come. 

Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy...

Sunshine may make us happy but in New Zealand you must be cautious. There is a hole in the ozone layer so one burns quickly even dark skinned people. Spf 60 to the rescue. And they even sell spf 100 here. Sunrise from our hotel room

Today we head to Milford sound which gets 24 feet of rain in a year so not expecting much sun. But the rain creates gorgeous waterfalls. we will stay overnight on a boat. Milford sound has really high cliffs coming out of the ocean. I'm excited. 

No internet access for two days while on this part of our excursions. 

Birds. Flowers. And more.

The problem with taking flower pictures in NZ is that they all look like the ones in North Carolina. Turns out everything was brought in by the British and other settlers. Birds are also not native but we are seeing ones we are not familiar with. No snakes here. Possum are nuisance animals and they use their fur with wool mix to make warm garmets. 

Pictured above. Bell bird from one of our walks

Today we are heading up the gondola ride above Queenstown. There are lots of ways to come down the mountain. Gondola. Hand gliding. Bungee jumping  luge. I opted for the gondola. Hand gliding is beautiful to watch. Two views fr up top of mountain. 

Then we went to the kiwi bird park. Since kiwi are nocturnal very hard to see in the dark building. But we did see the flightless bird with the long beek. Also saw lots of other birds. Lots of fun. 

We ended our afternoon excursion with a winery. Tasted 5 wines and bought a nice Sauvignon blanc.  Picture below is from winery

Heading to dinner at hotel tonight with the group. So will finish this up. 

Today's total walking was 6-7 miles and elevation change equal to 24 floors. 

Tomorrow night we will take a long drive and end up on a boat in Milford sound. No internet for about 48 hours. So sorry. 

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.