It’s Monday morning here in New Zealand. Happy St. Patrick’s Day. We will see how New Zealanders celebrate the Irish.

On Saturday we drove from Aoraki/Mt. Cook to Queenstown, billed as the adventure capital of the world. Evidently, bungee jumping was invented here and we have seen alarming bungee jumping platforms sticking straight out from cliffs. All these activities are billed as “adrenaline pumping:” bungee jumping, jet boating, canyoning, and para-gliding. But my life doesn’t really seem to need an adrenaline rush, just getting out of bed usually does the trick.

Queenstown is a beautiful town, on a large blue lake, surrounded by majestic mountains. One of the mountain ranges are the Remarkables. Here they are rising above Queenstown.

There is a big downtown walking area with lots of shops and a craft market on Saturday. Our traveling companions spent a lot of time showing off for the tourists. Here they are riding the wild Kiwi.

And this time on the Moa. The Moa was the largest living bird, but is now, sadly, extinct. Our companions gathered so much attention getting this picture taken that other grandparents were pulling things out of their pockets to take similar pictures.

We found our nice little rental outside of town and dropped off our bags. Most of our rentals have been small and nicely modern and efficient. This one reaches a new level of small, however. The bathroom sink makes airplane sinks look like bathtubs. I can’t get both hands inside it at the same time to wash my hands. All part of new adventures.

There is a new gondola in Queenstown that opened in 2023 and goes straight up the mountain. We and our traveling companions rode it up the mountain after dinner.

“Hold on tight, Grandma, this is steep.” “Don’t look down.”

 

The view is spectacular!

And when you get to the top, guess what? There is a luge ride!!!! It was really fun, we did it three times! Here are our traveling companions checking it out. “Can we go, can we go, Grandma?” “I want to drive.”

 

 

At the close of our first Queenstown day, the sun sets on the beautiful mountains.

 

Kia ora,
Coe & Janet