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.