Queenstown

After only one night in Franz Josef, we were headed south toward Queenstown (about a 5 hr drive). Some of the best scenery was to be had on this leg. It may have been my personal favorite. The huge lakes with the mountains surrounding were breathtaking. The windy and hilly roads made the driving a bit challenging, esp. when driving a 12-seater diesel engine van. But the 5 hours went by quickly as we admired all the landscape.

We stayed in Queenstown for 3 nights (the longest we stayed in one place). The apartment/hotel we got was right on Lake Wakatipu and as soon as we walked in the door, we were met with a wall of windows that led out to the deck and looked out onto the lake with The Remarkables in the background. We all gasped at the sight. It almost didn't look real. Mike and I were lucky enough to go running along the lake path one morning-- the easiest 5 miles I've ever run!

I took a chance and booked our whole family (all 3 generations of us) on a rafting trip the first morning after arrival. We woke up to some wet and foggy weather, but didn't let that deter us despite some doubts. We took a 45 min bus ride along a mountainside into Skippers Canyon on a one lane road (unpaved) to get to the river site where we changed into our gear. We started our rafting trip on the Shotover River at the point where a scene from "Lord of the Rings" was shot ("The Ford of Bruinen" where Frodo escapes the Black riders in the river with the help of the elf princess). Our party of 7 got our own raft. It was a pretty mellow ride with grade 2 rapids but we all had a ball. We stopped to jump off a rock into the river and take a quick swim. Brrrr, the water was freezing! It didn't stop Lucas from doing it 5 times and Jonah 4. Mike and I opted for the 1 time for the photo op. The hour and 15 min on the water went by in a blink. Even the weather cleared beautifully. As a matter of fact, we were very lucky with the weather throughout our whole trip. They informed us in FJ that the glacier hikes were cancelled the week prior due to a lot rain.

The next morning we took it easy and spent the morning in the apartment enjoying the view. In the afternoon, we went to the Kiwi-House and rode the gondola up to the top of a mountain overlooking Queenstown. At the top, we watched a Maori Haka show and had dinner. BTW, the Kiwis we went to see were not a sort of fruit or native New Zealanders... they're of the bird sort. They are funky looking, flightless, nocturnal birds that are endangered and only found in NZ.

The next morning we sadly said good-bye to the beautiful view and headed out to Milford Sound. Queenstown was a very cool town; a ski town in the winter, reminiscent of Vail in Colorado.

Franz Josef Glacier

Here are some pictures from Franz Josef. The drive there was beautiful but we were in for a treat once we came upon the glacier. We learned that Franz Josef glacier is one of only 3 in the world where a glacier meets a rainforest. The others being Fox glacier (right next to Franz Josef), and another in Argentina. The whole family walked through the 15 min. trail through the rainforest to come upon the view of the glacier. Everyone but Zoe got a chance to walk the rest of the way to the base of the glacier (about 2 kms). It's an awesome sight to see a glacier set between 2 mountainsides with waterfalls flowing down its sides and a rainforest surrounding the mountains.

Mike, Jonah, and I were fortunate enough to go on a guided hike on the glacier itself to view the blue ice up close and actually touch and taste it (we got to drink from pools of melted ice)! It was breathtaking to be walking through a crevasse about a foot and half in width and be completely surrounded with the blue ice. It was definitely an experience to remember. Jonah stayed right behind the guide and did great! The hike on the glacier lasted about an hour and a half, but we walked a total of about 4.5 miles if you included the walk to and from the glacier. Some parts of the glacier were very steep! I was very proud of our growing boy. Enjoy the pics.

Just Back from New Zealand

The summer break just flew by; filled with holidays, family visits, sightseeing, and our wonderful trip to Kiwi Land. The kids are back to school as of Wednesday. It's hard to believe they were out of school for 7 and a half weeks. Zoe returned to her junior class with the same teacher, Jonah started 5th grade (he skipped 4th), and Lucas started the 3rd grade with his mates.

We were lucky to have Mike's parents come for a visit for the holidays (they return this Saturday to the cold winter weather in Indiana), and his sister, Helen, came for a couple weeks for Christmas and New Year's. We made sure to show them all the sights in Brisbane, to include the koalas, kangaroos, downtown, the Gold Coast beaches, Tropical Fruit World, and SeaWorld. But I think above all else, they enjoyed our pool and spending time with the kids! Christmas didn't quite feel like Christmas with the tropical weather, swimming daily in our pool, and our tans. (But we were glad about it after we heard about all the crazy, cold weather in the U.S.)

Our family of 7 traveled to the South Island of New Zealand from January 14th through the 24th. It was the first trip of this kind with the kids. I wasn't too sure how they would do with all the scenic attractions and all the driving. The worry was unnecessary because they were great. The whole trip was fantastic! We all had a great time! We were all sad to leave the beautiful country. The pictures don't do the scenery justice. It's something one must behold to fully understand and "feel" it. The scenery changed quite frequently as we traveled, and looped around the island. But what remained constant was how clean it all was and how natural the landscape seemed.

We flew in and out of Christchurch (on the upper East Coast of South Island), traveled west through a mountain range to the opposite coast to Franz Josef (to see its famous glacier), then southeast to Queenstown (Lake Wakatipu, The Remarkables mountains), back to the west coast to Milford Sound, a 1 night stop at Te Anau, and then to Dunedin before heading back up the east coast back to Christchurch. The pictures included with this blog are from Christchurch. The rest will follow.

In Christchurch, we walked through the city and cathedral square, rode a gondola up to a mountaintop for a bird's eye view of the city and it's harbour, rode the tram through Christchurch, and also punted (a boat ride with a guy paddling standing up at the back of the boat) on the Avon river.

The landscape pictures were taken as we were driving out of Christchurch through Arthur's Pass toward Franz Josef. The picture of the bird was also taken on Arthur's Pass. It was our first sighting of the Alpine parrot, or Kea, another of NZ's protected animals.