travel

Ok, who’s up for the recap of the new year’s trip? Excellent. See how I go.

Wed Dec 26 – Got up at the insane time of 5am after staying up late for Christmas dinner the night before (we seem to accumulate so much stuff over Christmas – it makes packing the car to go back a nightmare!). We had a hire car to take to Sydney airport and some idea of how to get there without going through the Sydney tunnel. Made it there in excellent time, only to spend over an hour in the check-in queue. I spent some time trying to figure out how to steer my new pink suitcase… but I still don’t think I’ve got the hang of it!

Flight was a flight… the lady next to me didn’t get given her vegetarian meal, so was given cheese and crackers from business… Landing freaked me out a little… they have to come in a bit riugh I’m told because the airport’s at the foot of the Remarkables and they’re so steep and imposing. We bounced… scary!

Scored ourselves a $NZ16 litre bottle of Absolut Vodka at duty free (a bargain to be consumed on New Year) and worked ou way to the hotel – Mercure St Moritz. I’d booked on lastminute.com.au a few weeks earlier, and had no idea what room we’d gotten – so were please to find ourselves in a one bedroom suite complete with kitchenette and king-size bed. :)

For dinner, we wandered into town – found ourselves at Winnie’s Pizza.. where we drank most of a bottle of wine before being seated. The pizza was awesome! :) We had it again for new year’s, but that was takeaway, and I don’t think it was nearly as good!

Thurs Dec 27 – We decided to walk up to the top of the Gondola. Actually we had planned on walking the Ben Lomond trail, but after an hour of up up up to the gondola I was buggered and it was starting to rain. Another day!

Saw some cute little wildflowers – I’m still not sure if they’re the ones that are the noxious week or not! Also these tree avalances – where one tree falls and sends the ones below it crashing down! We caught the gondola down tot he bottom and then went back tot he hotel to take advantage of having a sauna and spa in the hotel. My first ever sauna! Still not sure if I like the idea… maybe if I drank water more before hand? I* was also starting to get a cold so that might have helped me to sweat it out (ewwwww!)

Came back to the hotel to a msg adressed to “Mr Moore” (??who) “Please call your mom”. heh. The had me down as Mr Fiona Moore… obviously if I booked it, I must be the man…

Fri Dec 28 – Milford Sound.
Booked a bus trip to Milford sound. This involved a 5 hours bus trip, about an hour or so on the boat when we got there and then the bus back (which I actually slept on. I never sleep on transport!). Plenty of photos to be taken on the way – it has poured down rain the day before, so we had a gorgeous sunny day and plenty of waterfalls to see! Also got to drink icy cold snowmelt water (Rish filled up his camelback!) and watch tourists feeding the kea, despite the signed telling them not to.

Sat Dec 29 – We went for a drive to Glenorchy which is about 45 mins from Queenstown (I hate NZ roads!) and found ourselves walking along side a paddock and a creek. We got to the end and could see snow covered mountains. I love being ale to see snow when it’s about 20 degrees still where I am! :) (though I have to admit to being very very glad to have bought a new North Face jacket at the start of the trip. I could have done with more hiking gear… like a thick beanie!)

Then after a fish and chip lunch where the ducks just didn’t seem to know when to give up on harassing us… we met Mat and Hannah at the airport and we headed for Alexandra, via our first wine tastings and to watch other people bungee jump.

Sun Dec 30 – Went to a few more wineries, and had a huge lunch at a little country restaurant. There are delicious fresh berries in the region, and I finished the day with a frozen yoghurt with fresh berries mixed in!

Mon Dec 31 New Year’s Eve – We decided to re-try for Ben Lomond. We parked illegally on the grass because parking is such a nightmare (yet we returned to a $40 parking ticket) and decided to catch the gondola up first, and go the rest of the way.

It was a struggled and “next time” I’m going to have to be a bit fitter, as I made it to the saddle… where we stopped for lunch and the view, and Matt and Rish went to the top… while Hannah and I went back down. I was having a little trouble controlling my breathing at one stage, which really made me not want to keep going. (though not too cold due to my awesome coat But next time I’ll make it to the top, I just don’t know when that would be! Oh and I also discovered Pineapple lumps.

For New Year’s Eve we just went down to the Queenstown foreshore (the sun doesn’t seem to set until 10pm, it’s amazing!) I think we were in bed by 1am though… I think we’re either getting old or were just tired from everything else we’d done that day! (could have been the vodka…)

Tue Jan 1 – What did we do? I think we went to Arrowtown. Bit of a lazy day!
edit – that’s right, I remember the highlight of the first day of the year – beating Matt and Hannah at 500. Twice. Sorry guys!

Wed Jan 2 – Time to go home! Went to another winery and bought a few bottles of Pinot Noir to pack into my suitcase… Got dropped off at the airport. Only to find out that our flight was going to be delay by about 5 hours due to mechanical issues that were being fixed in Sydney. What to do for all that time? Wandered to the shopping centre, was quickly bored and came back. Got my free diet coke that I’d won from a bottle cap in Arrowtown. Used the food vouchers they gave us. Rish played solitaire. I watched the planes come and go.

Flight back… good. Nothing too exciting at least! :) Got into Sydney – so humid! Cleared customs and quarrantine with Rish and his 13 UHT milks. Drove back to Newcastle and crashed out after a much needed shower.

Now all I want to do is travel more, drink more wine, and climb up more things. At least I’m a little inspired! :)

Tagged as: central otago, queenstown, travel, wine

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