Tues., March 1st - last night in Te Anau

... and what a lovely little town this is.  ESPECIALLY in this clear and crisp weather. 

That's our kitchenette room .... bottom left corner

Today was our "free" day ... no tours or plans.  So we decided to head north up toward Milford Sound, the other very popular fiord in Fiordland National Park.  We wanted to stay clear of the tour buses and throngs of people, so we sought out spots that were off the beaten path of this World Heritage Highway.  And just look at the CLEAR weather today!

Lake Gunn

Pop's View

Happy Diana

We didn't even see the human kind ...

The Kiwi's have a great sense of humor!

 

We also took a leisurely stroll up to Lake Marian Waterfalls .... LOVED THIS PLACE.



I will take blame for NOT doing this walk... toe IS better, but not good enough to do this trek



Mirror Lakes .... but no reflection today.  Too breezy



Ah right ... the New Zealand version of Dennis and me. Nobody sees "eye to eye" all of the time!

It was tough to photograph these animals... they were very "sheepish" when we approached them in the field

 

 

And here's another FIRST for me ....

driving on the left side of the road!

 

 

We've got a BIG surprise planned for Wednesday morning (more news in the next blog post).  Tomorrow we leave this lovely area and head up to Wanaka for one night.

 

We only have 4 MORE nights on our own before we connect with

Tony and Carrie Cardan in Christchurch.

 

CARPE MOMENTO.

Don't stop JUMPING until you get enough!

CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE US JUMP!

Monday, Feb 29th .... LEAP YEAR DAY in Te Anau

What a beautiful day for a cruise through The Doubtful Sound.

  We are so blessed to be here NOW as the last few days have seen torrential rain in this area.

 



 

Up early with boat departure at 8 am... nice to see blue skies! 

 

 

A 1-hour high speed catamaran ride across Lake Manapouri

 

 

After a 45 minute bus ride over the Wilmot Pass we see the Doubtful Sound.

It was named by Captain James Cook in 1770,

on his voyage to New Zealand.  

When he saw the narrow entrance to the sound, from the Tasman Sea,

he was DOUBTFUL that he could safely get his vessel in and out.

    

 

Amazing 3 hour cruise on a large catamaran through Doubtful Sound

 

We were BLESSED with GORGEOUS weather but quite cold!

 

Our favorite part...

the captain shut down EVERYTHING on the boat

 and we stood still in nature in perfect peace and quiet.

 

It made Diana cry.

 

 

 

As avid photographers, we captured hundreds of beautiful photos

 

After the 3 hour Doubtful Sound cruise, we rode the bus back over the pass, followed by a 1 hour boat trip back across Lake Manapouri, and drove only 30 minutes back to our motel in Te Anau

 

 

We bought Greenstone necklaces in Queenstown. 

The stone is called Pounamu

and is treasured and sacred to the Maori people.

 

 

So we decided to bless them in Lake Te Anau ...

 

 

 And after all that COLD FRESH AIR all day,

we just felt like EATING FRESH, in our lakeside room, for dinner.

 

Another blessed day in New Zealand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, Feb 28th .... FREEBIRDS!

   

 

 

AJ Hackett started the first commercial bungy business in 1988 off this bridge ...

 

and WE MET on May 13, 1988.

 

Seems MEANT TO BE.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, Cindy ...

 

I DID throw myself off of a bridge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat, Feb 27th ~ last full day in Queenstown

... and TODAY we had some ADVENTURE!

We were up early, toe wrapped, and downtown by 7:30am.  I know that is not THAT early (Deb Carnsew), but when on vacation??  Anyway, the real question was .... would the weather hold for our already rescheduled Jet Boat Adventure up the Dart River in Glenorchy?   We WERE booked for a 2:00 pm tour on Saturday, but on Friday the 2:00 pm tour was cancelled due to nasty weather.  So we switched to the MORNING tour on Saturday and prayed (and HIGH PRESSURE CHANTED) for clear weather.  And gratefully so .... we got it!

Words can't quite explain the excitement and beauty we witnessed today.  An hour's bus ride northwest of Queenstown into the Mount Inspire National Park ~ just one of four HUGE National Parks in the South Island.  Here was the half-way point ~



But we were so GRATEFUL it wasn't DUMPING RAIN!

Much to our surprise, they put us in a 4 wheel drive BUS, with seatbelts, and drove us through sections of the Dart River to get to the first location which was a walk in the Lord of the Rings forest.  Because of the massive rains from the previous days, we were told the water was higher than they've seen in quite awhile.  And being boaters, we could see that the river was running quite fast.  EXCITING!!





 

We did an easy walk (thank God) through the forest and enjoyed some facts of where Lord of the Rings was filmed, crawled into a 900+ year old tree (oldest known tree in New Zealand), and ate a leaf from a Pepper Tree ...

  

 

 

Then the BIG JET BOAT EXCITEMENT started ... more pictures and video than I could share!

 

 

 

The light and rain and mood continually changed

 

I smiled the ENTIRE time.  I think this IS my bliss.

 

We both finally gave up with keeping our hoods up and just let 'er rip!  It would sprinkle rain at times, we would be sprayed from the boat, and then our driver would do 360 spins.

 

WOO HOO!  WHAT A RIDE!!!

 

We absolutely loved EVERY SECOND!

 

We briefly met a couple from England on the bus, but thought we wouldn't see them again because they were SKY DIVING after this adventure.  But when we got back to Queenstown, they discovered their trip was cancelled due to high winds.  So we ended up having lunch with them and had a splendid time ~ Fiona and Paul.  AMBER .... which rule is this?

 



 

 

And because we STILL hadn't had enough boating for the day, we decided to take a cruise on Queenstown's lake .... Lake Wakatipu.

 

Hard to believe, but this lake is 99% PURE.  One could drink out of it.  It is so absolutely gorgeous. 

 

As this LUCKY day proceeded .... there were only SEVEN passengers on the 4PM sailing!
 

And Captain Wayne maintained an HONOR bar.  Look at the cash box just sitting there!

And he let ME drive the boat?  THAT IS CRAZY!

 

 

By the time we got home at 6PM, we were both DONE.  All that fresh air!

 

Our evening consisted of downloading a ZILLION pictures, doing laundry and Dennis making a FABULOUS dinner from leftovers, and posting this blog. 

 

Time for bed .... and dreaming about the beauty we saw today.

 

Queenstown .... a place where I could easily live.

 

 

 

 

Friday, Feb 26th .... first full day in Queenstown

 
 



What a MAGICAL location in which to wake up at 6AM. 

We kept the doors open in our bedroom all night, and here was our first view. 

Are we dreaming?









We have been blessed enough to wake up in some amazing places, but this location will be in the Top Ten, for sure ...

With all of the rain we had yesterday and into the night, we were so thrilled to see some sky! 

So wanting to take advantage of the clear weather, we got our act together and headed up to the Gondola in the morning.  TALK ABOUT A VIEW!

Returning back to Queenstown, we strolled the streets and then enjoyed a yummy lunch down at the wharf.  Eating al fresco, we enjoyed people watching and a yummy seafood chowder and fish burger.  NO McDONALD'S for us today, Marilyn!

The MOMENT we finished our meal, the sprinkles started again and we walked the wharf in the rain.  Felt just like living in Oregon again!

We had hoped to do a lake cruise today, but the water was REALLY rough.  And with the rain ... it makes it so challenging to take pictures, which is our passion.  So instead we decided to take the 40 minute drive out to Glenorchy to check out the area where they did a lot of the Lord of the Rings filming.  Well .... the closer we got, the more it rained, and by the time we arrived, it was DUMPING.  We couldn't see much at all, but this ...



  



 

I think I need to work a little harder on my HIGH PRESSURE CHANTS!!

 

So we are making the most of what's happening ~ including eating our NEXT TYPE of burger and salad for dinner.  This time is it a VENISON burger.

 

 

  

 

 

My task tonight .... to find the Southern Cross in the hopefully-clearing night sky.