Queenstown

The drive to Queenstown was clear and lovely with stops in several small towns where we stopped to eat or browse. Georgia found a fabric store to buy quilting material and I found some New Zealand wool. Also I'm always eager to get a flat white which is a coffee drink like a cappucino but without all the foam.

We stayed in a beautiful B&B where the hosts set the tone of our visit by greeting us with the sign you see here. We were happy to have three nights in Queenstown and set off for some adventures.

Day 1, Hugh, Dave and I went white water rafting on the Shotover River. To get to the river, we drove through Skipper's Canyon where our bus was literally hanging off the sides of the mountain. The river was high and the rapids were up to grade 5! We were glad to be encased in wet suits as we got doused with some huge waves. One of the boats in our group went over, but we managed to keep ours up. I wish I had pictures, but, of course we did not have our cameras with us. It was a super adventure! Later we lunched at a winery and went to the original bridge where bungy jumping started and watched the folks launching themselves off the bridge. Yikes!

Day 2, all four of us went on a Wilderness Adventure on the Dart River. Too get there, we drove through Lord of the Rings country and saw some of the locations where the movie was filmed. This is a grand spot for movie making and while on our drive, we saw location sites where they were currently filming a Carlsbad beer commercial and an Audi commercial. Once up the river, we hopped into Jet boats and roared back down the river to the tiny town of Glenorchy where we started. Another totally fun experience!