Queenstown
In New Zealand there is no "take out" food, but rather it is "takeaways". That said, with an early morning head start to Queenstown we grabbed some takeaway coffee and we were off on our intended 5 hour journey. Lots of photo opportunities on this stretch of road such as Thunder Creek and Lake Hawewa. Along the way in Makarora we stopped at a small cafe (the type that proudly hangs chainsaws, trumpets and hubcaps on the walls?) to try the all famous New Zealand meat pies. British influence! Blasting out of there we were off again only to realize that 1.5-2 hours later Daniel had left his "man bag" with his passport back at the cafe!!! Needless to say we were very concerned, turned around and hauled it back towards Makorora. Apparently NZ police aren't okay with the "hauling it" even when a passport is at stake. A minor run in with an officer of the law for $80.00 - oops! Thankfully everything was in tact in the "man bag" and away we went again towards Queenstown via a new route recommended by the officer through Wanaka. This route took us through the amazing Cardrona Valley. We hadn't seen such scenery here in New Zealand - very desert like mountain ranges and vegetation. When we reached the summit there was a neat lookout point where we could see all of Queenstown. To get into the town below we had to wind down some extreme hair-pin turns at 15km/hr or less.
Queenstown was packed! No accommodation left anywhere (but we'd prebooked of course) in hostel or hotel. In Dan's words "it is like Bethlehem at census time!".
Queenstown was definitely a favourite town and it reminded us of Alberta's Banff or BC's Whistler. The hostel kitchen overlooked the lake and Mordor - gorgeous little shops, pedestrian only streets and sail boats.
Dinner was at the all famous Fergburger - burgers so big that sharing one was enough for us! Funny burger names too, here are a few: The Codfather, Holier Than Thou and Cock Cajun! The people in Queenstown were very friendly...at one point when Dan was back aways checking out a store some group of guys told Carly she looked lost and could come join them! We also ran into another couple from CIS that evening who'd been doing some camping in NZ.
New Years Eve Day we enjoyed some blueberry pancakes in a funky cafe and went for our wine tour. We visited 4 wineries and even went into a neat cave at one of the wineries where the wine was maintained at a constant temperature and humidity. We learned lots about the making, the tasting, the business and even discovered that neither of us are Pinot Noir fans. We did buy a great bottle of Pinot Gris though for our celebrations that evening.
After 5 hours of wine tasting...
We cooked our New Years dinner together around 9pm in the hostel kitchen. While we were cooking we met a really nice family from South Africa. We joined them for awhile and then decided to spend the evening with the son and daugher and a couple other friends for the night's events. Son, Duncan, and daughter Claudia now living in Sydney Australia. We headed to a bar for a little while where Long Island Iced Teas were had from teapots - clever! Do you remember Sun Peaks and the UBC Chinese Varsity Club, Krista?
Later we checked out the live band at the lake and watched fireworks. All in all, a great way to ring in our new year.
