We started our morning walking around downtown Christchurch. Two years after the earthquake there is still massive destruction to be cleaned up or demolished. Many buildings are condemned and sit empty. Some facades are being propped up by ship containers,…
We knew that the forecast for today was not great when we went to sleep last night, but we didn’t know just how bad. When we awoke it was pouring in Wanaka and the snow levels on the mountains had…
We awoke to a fresh coat of snow on the mountaintops. It had rained in Q-town overnight. So off we went to Lake Wanaka, our next destination. On the way we stopped a Arrowtown again to visit the Chinese mining…
We started this morning walking around Queenstown and its gardens. They seem to have a thing about fantastic rainbows here. It seemed that every other shop was dedicated to extreme sports or outfitting for it. They have a sport here…
Gotta hand it to the Kiwis! Whether its bungy jumping, Parasailing, Speed boat racing, mountain biking, hang gliding, zip lines, canyon swings, or other extreme sports they have the world beat, hands down. And it’s epicenter is here in Queenstown!…
The day dawned clear and calm. What to do? Heck, it’s New Zealand! Why not take a float plane over the park? I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the morning. I met my pilot, Alan in the…
Morning dawned beautifully. We had over 10″ of rain yesterday (not uncommon) but they did close the glow worm caves due to flooding. The lakes near our hotel also rose about 2 feet. To get to Doubtful Sound (named by…
When we awoke it was cloudy and windy. Driving over the mountain pass to Milford Sound (an adventure in itself) the rain became steady, hard, and wind blown sideways. Although we were high enough at times to be driving through…
We arrived in Queenstown, NZ this afternoon after a flight from Sydney. Picked up our rental car and we were off to The Fiordlands National Park. It is much larger than Yellowstone and Yosemite combined. It virtually encompasses the entire…
Sad to say its time to move on, but excited about heading to New Zealand. Some oysters and aperitifs on our rooftop lounge before packing up and heading to dinner. Then one more trip to Darling Harbor for dinner and…