Day 13 – January 6:
Last day in Queenstown and another transit day. But the drive was only 2.5 hours so we didn’t rush out of town. So, what should we do? Get another meal of course, maybe do some more shopping? Anything else we haven’t seen? Oh yeah! How about we get some tattoos! No joke, Katy and I got tattoos. I had been wanting one since my dad passed away, but never got around to it. And then I saw the silver fern used a lot around here and it really caught my eye. So, very spontaneously, we found a nice shop and I got myself all set for my first ink! But wait, remember the story of the White Herons and Kay’s passing? Katy had some inspiration too and got herself a new, beautiful piece with a couple of herons flying off together. And since we did all that, Katy had her foot tattoo redone after 10 years. While that was an afterthought and it is really much better now, it also took the longest and hurt the most. So, that whole thing took a few hours and everyone was dying for a late breakfast…actually a really late lunch.
At lunch, we met up again with Pav; Molly’s River boarding savior/guide. Of course, he worked at this restaurant too. NZ, like many places, has the issue of having so many things to do and not enough people to do them…and not enough places to house them. Our various guides have been from all across the globe and are just doing some guiding for a bit while the enjoy their own journeys.
Our drive took us around Lake Witakpu heading south to Te Anu; our last stop and the staging area for all things Fjordland National Park. Quick note about this lake…it is gigantic. 13 square miles and up to 1200’ deep! I just can’t phantom that amount of water. More, our guide from the hike told us of a huge rain storm they had this past September where the lake level rose 1 meter in under 48 hours! That is over 3’ over 13sq miles! Or, cause I was board, 30,000,000,000 gallons.
Big lake, but the one we stayed on in Te Anu, was bigger still…and it still isn’t the biggest. We got ourselves checked in to our final hotel which was nicely located and just fine. Another side note, out lodgings have all worked out nicely, but looking back, perhaps this whole trip would have worked better in reverse. Our first two stays (Park Hyatt and the Farm), were total luxury and decadents. That rest were fine, but just average. I think at this stage of the trip, we are running out of gas and spend a bit more down time around our hotels and the nicer places would be better for that. We spent the evening having dinner outside and playing cards, walking downtown and to the lake. At this point, meaning at this latitude, it is fully light at 10pm so our days go that long.
New Zealand Day 14
Last day in Queenstown and another transit day. But the drive was only 2.5 hours so we didn’t rush out of town. So, what should we do? Get another meal of course, maybe do some more shopping? Anything else we haven’t seen? Oh yeah! How about we get some tattoos! No joke, Katy and I got tattoos. I had been wanting one since my dad passed away, but never got around to it. And then I saw the silver fern used a lot around here and it really caught my eye. So, very spontaneously, we found a nice shop and I got myself all set for my first ink! But wait, remember the story of the White Herons and Kay’s passing? Katy had some inspiration too and got herself a new, beautiful piece with a couple of herons flying off together. And since we did all that, Katy had her foot tattoo redone after 10 years. While that was an afterthought and it is really much better now, it also took the longest and hurt the most. So, that whole thing took a few hours and everyone was dying for a late breakfast…actually a really late lunch.
At lunch, we met up again with Pav; Molly’s River boarding savior/guide. Of course, he worked at this restaurant too. NZ, like many places, has the issue of having so many things to do and not enough people to do them…and not enough places to house them. Our various guides have been from all across the globe and are just doing some guiding for a bit while the enjoy their own journeys.
Our drive took us around Lake Witakpu heading south to Te Anu; our last stop and the staging area for all things Fjordland National Park. Quick note about this lake…it is gigantic. 13 square miles and up to 1200’ deep! I just can’t phantom that amount of water. More, our guide from the hike told us of a huge rain storm they had this past September where the lake level rose 1 meter in under 48 hours! That is over 3’ over 13sq miles! Or, cause I was board, 30,000,000,000 gallons.
Big lake, but the one we stayed on in Te Anu, was bigger still…and it still isn’t the biggest. We got ourselves checked in to our final hotel which was nicely located and just fine. Another side note, out lodgings have all worked out nicely, but looking back, perhaps this whole trip would have worked better in reverse. Our first two stays (Park Hyatt and the Farm), were total luxury and decadents. That rest were fine, but just average. I think at this stage of the trip, we are running out of gas and spend a bit more down time around our hotels and the nicer places would be better for that. We spent the evening having dinner outside and playing cards, walking downtown and to the lake. At this point, meaning at this latitude, it is fully light at 10pm so our days go that long.
New Zealand Day 14
