Blogs from Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

So today is our last day here in New Zealand. We decided to take a cruise on Lake Wakatipu on the S.S. Earnslaw, a steamship built in the early 1900's. It is a very nice ship. We could go down and look at the steam engines and boilers. We took a 45 minute cruise to the other side of the lake. We got off and visited the Walter Peak Station, which is a sheep and cattle ranch, for a bbq lunch. We got to see a sheepdog demonstration and a sheep being sheared. The lunch was great! Some of the best food we had all trip. After lunch, we returned to our hotel to start packing for the trip home. Later, we had our farewell dinner with our tour director and fellow travelers. Most people were ... read more

SC writes: Our last day in Christchurch was, again, cold and damp. We tramped around a bit but then retreated to: A) The botanic gardens conervatories...warmer and drier. Very good. B) The Christchurch Museum...again surprisingly good....excellent stuff on antarctic exploration C) The cinema. Fabulously luxurious cinema where we saw the latest JK Rowling offering. (The Crimes of Grindlewald). Hopeless - too many characters, too messy a plot, too much bonkers CGI...but it did pass a wet Sunday afternoon. Today we drove 7.5 hours to Queenstown, which we visited 25 years ago! What an amazing drive which we shared. A lot has happened in that time and a lot has changedin Queenstown. It is still a very attractive place with many tourists (including many from Japan). We got here in time for a poke around and supper...it's ... read more

Visiting Queenstown in New Zealand was one of our goals of 2018 - and it has been accomplished! This is one of New Zealand's most famous sites, attracting more than 3 million visitors annually! Here, there are a thousand and one things to do, so a weekend isn't enough to know this magnificent island in depth, but still, we could do a lot. Queenstown is known as the adventure capital, so we wanted to get a dose of adrenaline in this magnificent place. 1. Bungy Jumping Bungy Jumping is one of the best activities we can do in Queenstown. Through AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand, a company known all over the world for its safety and exceptional quality, we can make a jump of 43 meters high or a crazy 134 meters! At 20 minutes from ... read more

No more monster queues for us. Up "early" to watch the World Cup semi and the rest of the gang are up at halftime, i.e. 7 am. Feels earlier than 7 am with sunrise at 8am. We're getting the hang of getting ready and we're out the door before we know it and at the bustop at 8. There's already a decent line of people but we manage to get seats on the first bus to The Remarkables. Deaks gets a window seat. They may say "third times a charm", but not when it comes to vacation vomits. Maximum temp of 1 at Remarks today, -2 minimum. But it feels colder with the wind. We all hit the magic carpet to get Milla boarding on her own. Before we know it, Deaks and Taj have somehow ... read more

The Remarkables today. Or The Remarks for those in the know. Or so we'd planned. We awoke to a dreary, rainy Queenstown. Probably not bad enough to deter the hardcore snowboarders but when the NZSki website lists The Remarks as "on hold" and with the road closed due to weather conditions, it's enough to deter us. We have two days left on our lift passes and 3 full days left in QT - we roll the dice based on the improving forecast and opt for a rest day. And while the kids have a few bumps and bruises - Milla named the egg on her bicep Betty Bruise - the oldies have some aches and pains that make opening car doors and putting on backpacks an ordeal. Here's hoping the rest day is better and not ... read more