South Island, New Zealand

Wednesday, December 30. Today was a day of driving and stopping, driving and stopping and driving and stopping – destination Wanaka. After having some breakfast and checking out, Keith and I hit the road. It sunny, but very windy. The drive from Fox Glacier to Wanaka was supposed to quite beautiful as we passed through Haast Pass – the lowest point at which to cross the Southern Alps. The drive did not disappoint. We probably stopped no less than ten times to hike into waterfalls, see crystal clear blue pools and take many many pictures. The two hour drive ended up taking us about four plus hours after taking into account all of our stops. There were waterfalls running right along side the road, huge snow-capped mountains, green hills, rolling fields, blue blue rivers and streams, and large lakes. It was one of the most beautiful drives that Keith and I have ever done (and we've done a lot of driving!). We arrived in Wanaka mid-afternoon. Wanaka is an absolutely charming town. Apparently it's a very popular ski town in the winter and just looking at the place you could just imagine what it wold look like all snow covered. The architecture was a beautiful mix of wood and stone. Best of all, the town is situated at the end of Lake Wanaka, a huge lake, with snow-capped mountains all around. We were both starving when we arrived, so after checking into our motel, we sat outside having some lunch looking out at the lake and mountains. The town was hustle and bustling with tons of people – many having come in town to celebrate the New Year. After lunch we hit the grocery store to grab some provisions (the grocery store was an absolute mad-house with New Year's approaching). I then went and wandered around town for a bit while Keith went to go and visit some friends of friends. Keith met Grant and Lynn, friends of Chuck and Alice who we had stayed with in Perth. He had a great time with them, and when we pass back through Wanaka, we will hopefully get to see them again. The evening was pretty uneventful. I worked on booking the next leg of our journey and generally tried to catch up while Keith cooked us dinner. There were a few things in Wanaka that we didn't get the opportunity to do, but fortunately we'll be spending at least one or two more night in Wanaka on our way back through to Christchurch. After watching a movie, we called it a night.

Thursday, December 31. Today was a day of good friends and good times. After breakfast and checking out, Keith and I hit the road for the short drive to Queenstown. Much of the drive to Queenstown was uneventful, though towards the end of the drive, we did round a bend where we saw beautiful views of the valley below, Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. Sadly it was a bit overcast and once again very windy. On our way to Queenstown we stopped in a small town called Arrowtown, a town which was established during the 1860's gold rush. Arrowtown has preserved many of the historic buildings and walking down the main street, you feel like you'd just step back in time. We arrived in Queenstown a little before noon time. Our hotel room wasn't quite ready yet, so we hit town to have some lunch and generally wander around. We had some Thai food for lunch – something we had both been craving. Like Wanaka, Queenstown was hustle and bustling with people in town for the New Year. It reminded me a lot of Wanaka, only on a slightly bigger scale. After wandering around for a bit, we were able to check into our hotel. We took the afternoon to rest up a bit – to prepare for the evening to come. Around 8:00 pm we headed out to meet up with Dean and Tara – the couple we had given a ride to in Blenheim. We hung out for a bit in tent city – a park filled with many many tents as all of the accommodations in Queenstown were sold out. We drank many bottles of wine and had lots of laughs. It was great to catch up with them and hear what they had been up to. A little later on, Rorrey and Tracy met up with us as well (the couple we had met kayaking the Abel Tasman) and once again it was a great to catch up with them and hear what they had been up to as well. We then all hit the bars. A little before midnight, we headed down to the water and at midnight they set off fireworks. In the midst of the crowd we lost Dean, Tara, Rorrey and Tracey. After celebrating the New Year, Keith and I headed back to the bars for a few more drinks and then finally called it a night. Happy New Year!

Friday, January 1. Happy New Year!!! Today was a day of recovery. Keith and I both awoke pretty late with neither of us feeling our best. Keith was great and went and got us McDonalds for breakfast – just what the doctor ordered. As expected, much of the day was spent lounging about watching movies and generally nursing ourselves back to health (me of course more so than Keith). We went into town late in the afternoon for some lunch – pizza. We then drove to Cornet Peak – a ski resort set high above Queenstown and the launch point for handgliding and paragliding. Though it was quite windy and cool, there were great views of Queenstown. We had planned to go jet-boating, but after driving the windy roads up to and down from Cornet Peak, I decided that speeding around doing 360 degree turns on a boat, would not be very enjoyable, especially given how I was feeling. We had soup and peanut butter sandwiches for dinner and called it an early night.