Scooby Snack

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It was a long drive to Queenstown, but with a number of fun stops! First, we took a little hike to the Blue Pool, a small lake and river along the highway. If you haven't heard about the sand fleas in this part of New Zealand, let us tell you about them. They are tiny, almost undetectable. They swarm you. They bite. The bites don't start to itch for several days. The itching lasts another week at least. With the changeable weather, we were luckily wearing long pants and long sleeves, but still did not escape unscathed. We concurred with many tourists that these sand fleas are much worse than mosquitos, in their bite, their numbers and the fact they're around even during the day!

Our next stop was the picturesque town of Lake Wanaka. We liked this place ten times better than Taupo - it was much quieter, more accessible, and - dare I say - more beautiful?

About 30 minutes outside of Queenstown, we passed through the tiny ski town of Cadrona. I spotted a sign on the side of the road for horseback riding and we quickly turned in to check it out. It was just our luck that the guide was just saddling up another couple and could accommodate us on the 2 hour trail ride. Yippee! The landscape here was incredible, with rolling hills and amazing light in the late afternoon sun. We rode through fields, we cantered, we negotiated steep slopes - all the while passing huge outcroppings of heather and wildflowers and maneuvering between sheep.

Our constant companion on this ride was a black Lab named Scooby. He had already been out on 2 rides that day and was supposed to stay behind, but insisted on coming along. He knew the terrain like the back of his paw, and even had hidden "snacks" along the way - rabbit skins/carcasses beneath rocks or in hidey-holes. He would disappear, grab one, carry it for a while, then re-hide it. Every so often, he would be tempted by a sheep and begin the chase but was always promptly reprimanded by his mistress (our guide) and came trotting back to our group. He showed no fear of the horses and they pretty much ignored him. We got quite a kick out of Scooby! Salty would have had a blast with him.

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Comments

[angela]

scooby
love scooby! sounds so great! i'm sure salty would've gotten along great!! lucky you!!! i'm so jealous! gorgeous landscape and even a fabulous horse ride!!! :) just fabulous!!

[Cousin Nander]

Survivor?
That pic of J "at the blue pool" reminds me of the location of one of the team campsites from the T.V. series Survivor, the second season. That season was supposedly filmed in the Australian Outback though.