Recovering Nicely Thursday 1/24/08

What a difference a day makes. When we got up this morning the sun was just coming up over the mountains, bright blue sky and about 60-degrees. Mary was bouncing around like a gymnast and John was wondering who beat his thighs with a baseball bat while he slept. It is quite obvious who is the better-conditioned hiker/climber.

Mary, who is no longer angry, took pity on John and gave him her leftover steak from the night before as a breakfast treat, then on the road by 9:00. Driving through Franz Josef and Fox Glacier was perfect this morning with no clouds and cool temps. Without being repetitive we can just say that the whole day was like that.

Our only requirement for today is to drive to Queenstown about 6 hours south and in addition to the weather we had majestic waterfalls, snow capped peaks, deep green rain forests, crashing waves on white beaches, sky blue lakes, and lush valleys. We decided that we have seen all of this before, but to do it we had to go to Montana, Hawaii, California, Colorado, Maine and maybe our own north shore of Lake Superior. Like some drives in Hawaii there is a gasp at every curve.

We grabbed a couple take away sandwiches, chips and a diet coke as we passed through Haast Village at about 11:30, crossed Haast Pass and then plopped down in the grass on the shore of Lake Wanaka for our picnic lunch. There was virtually no activity on this part of the lake and only a bit more on neighboring Lake Hawea when we passed by there later. We got off the main road to go through Wanaka and Arrowtown as we dipped down toward Queenstown. Both towns were bustling with summer visitors and Arrowtown was dotted with cutesy restorations, shops and restaurants.

Queenstown is booming. We are at Brown’s Boutique Hotel which is on a hillside overlooking the city and lake. This is a kickoff point for the fiords, mountains and lakes nearby as well as being the heart of ski country in the winter. Our host, Nigel, said his daughter is in Canada now as part of an international junior ski team and she will get to ski Whistler (2010 winter Olympic site) before returning home. Sorry Bryce, but there is no longer a Brown’s Pizza. The hotel is great. Balconies and gardens, complimentary beer and wine in the fridge, nice views, and wi-fi that works part of the time to help us get caught up on these posts.

We wander around town for quite a while before settling on Chico’s upstairs balcony overlooking the pedestrian mall for dinner. Mary had a chicken pasta thing and John does the greenlipped mussels and a pile of ribs. There was a group of about 30 American students in the dining room from Elon College in North Carolina who were enjoying their last supper in NZ. There are a number of Americans at the hotel as well who are heading back to California this afternoon (arriving this morning in LA). This is a bit unusual for us since we have seen almost no Americans so far on the trip. We've seen tons of Aussies, quite a few Brits, a good smattering of Europeans and Canadians, and least of all, Americans.

After dinner we stop at the Casino and Mary wins $34 on the third pull on the 2-cent machine. Who cares about the stock market. Off to bed after a perfect day.

Note I: The Intellaspa comments on our blog are from our Kiwi coach Bryce. That is especially telling from his comments about our glacier day. Good on ya Mate.

Note II: Please ignore most of the junk we post here. This is only our way to help remember the details of our trip into our old age (next May). Enjoy the pictures.

Today's Local Headline: DCC buys peninsula property, Otago Daily Times (Dunedin City Council is buying back part of the harbor property from a Maori corporation.)