Out of pure craaaziness, we decided to go spend three weeks on both the north and south islands of fabulous New Zealand. This all started when Louis, the cousin from Paris, announced he would be going there for a few months to perfect English - right - Enjoy what we hope will be a day to day trip report on an amazing vacation in Kiwi-land
Well, we've been back home in San Francisco for almost a week now, but a big part of each of us wishes we were still in New Zealand. Re-entry is always a bitch, but I think we're close to being fully immersed into real life again!
On our final day in Auckland, Jen took a few minutes to write one last blog entry before we headed off to a long lunch with Louis: We ended up going back to the same place where we had our very first lunch in Auckland: Soul. Our last lunch was just as good as our first, and we enjoyed taking in some final views of Viaduct Harbor: Then it was off to the airport where we shared more wine with Louis before saying our final goodbyes and then doing a bit of duty free shopping:
Next up for 2009; France, Scotland and Africa.... stay tuned.
So, after 3 weeks exploring this beautiful country, all the while in the company of tons of sheep and lots of wine, our holiday has almost come to an end....in a matter of hours we board the plane back to San Francisco, and by tomorrow afternoon we will be reunited with Napoleon and Wilbur!! We were sad to leave Queenstown yesterday - it was definitely one of our favorite places of all - and so we bid farewell to the south island over one last delicious lunch in super cute Arrowtown, which was just 14 km outside of Queenstown.
After lunch at great little restaurant called Saffron, we hopped on a flight back up to Auckland, which is where our journey began almost 3 weeks ago. We were greeted at the airport by cousin Louis, and ventured out to enjoy our last night in New Zealand. The three of us enjoyed yet another long dinner together, and as we write this blog now we are off to our last lunch together before our final goodbye to Louis and New Zealand. It has been an amazing trip filled with even more wine and sheep than we could have imagined!
Our first full day in Queenstown brought quite a bit of cheap (sorta) thrills. With a pre-lunch ride up the Shotover River Canyon in a jet boat, it was off to a great start. Helmet: check. Life jacket: check. Sweaty palms: check. HANG ON! The ride was ridiculously fast (85mph in 10" of water) with stunts that allowed the boat to graze the protruding rocky sides of the river within inches. Note that there is no way these boats would ever be allowed to run commercially (or not) in the US as they do here in NZ!
After the jet boat ride we headed to Chard Farm Winery for probably some of the best Pinot Noir and winery experience we've had so far (or maybe the fact that we survived the morning's activities made us appreciate life a little more!). After a tasting and purchasing a case of wine to be shipped back home, we headed back down the narrow trail only to see on the left a little bridge from which NZ's famous bungee activities were in course:click to enlarge
Next stop, the Gibbston Valley Winery for lunch and peek at the neighboring 'cheesery' .. yum! Fat and happy, we headed back to Queenstown for a ride up the amazingly fast Skyline Gondola - up 1,500 feet at a 37 degree incline! There were gorgeous views all the way up of Lake Wanaka and The Remarkables mountains as the backdrop. Truly unbelievable. Once at the top we strapped on helmets and took in a couple of luge rides - so much fun! The luge track goes right around the edge of the mountain, and those little things get going pretty fast - after 2 rides we were tempted to do a 3rd, but decided to head back down the mountain for dinner... The final ride down was just as spectacular.
The day ended with an amazing dinner at the Bathhouse Restaurant, lake-side with a sunset.click to enlarge
We left Dunedin for Queenstown, our last stop before heading back to Auckland, under beautiful blue skies. Before leaving we stopped by the Otago Farmers market, which was right behind an impressive train station (photo), to see an amazing array of fresh NZ produce.Click to enlarge
On our drive, we were lucky to finally see some real NZ style sheep herding - notice the dogs (black specs) on this professional grade footage:
Getting closer to Queenstown, the variety of lush plains and mountain peaks covered with low clouds was just beautiful. It was hard to keep your eyes on the road. Right before arriving in Queenstown, we decided to stop at Carrick Vineyards for our first taste of the Central Otago wines. The winery was pleasant with great wines and lush surrounding gardens surrounded by the majestic mountains. WOW! Arriving in Queenstown made us realize that we had left the best for the last. Breathtaking town on Lake Wanaka, surrounded by mountains... AND, as yet another bonus, we got to see our first real live kiwi bird right on the side of the lake. They're so much bigger than we thought!! (photo)
We're now certain that there are no penguins in New Zealand -- we looked everywhere, and this is the only sighting so far:
So to make up for it, we opted to stop by Taiaroa Head, on the tip of the Otago Peninsula, to see the only colony of any albatross species found in the southern hemisphere, the Royal Albatross. With a 10' wingspan, these guys, albeit a bit maladroit, demonstrated how capable they are flying in bad weather.
Here's getting ready to face the bad weather... A Royal Albatross in-flight -- these guys are large and simply amazing to watch... the photo unfortunately doesn't do their size justice... ... so here's a dummy chart:
Bonus video (actual footage we filmed on location!!!!!!!!):
We ended up going back to the same place where we had our very first lunch in Auckland: Soul. Our last lunch was just as good as our first, and we enjoyed taking in some final views of Viaduct Harbor:
Next up for 2009; France, Scotland and Africa.... stay tuned.
