It's still summer on Waiheke island!

When we left Queenstown yesterday, there was a definite autumn feel in the the air, and in the color of the trees.  But here, on Waiheke island - it is still very much summer!
Our host, Jonathan, described the island well:   When we asked him this morning "what is there around here, what should we see?"  He answered:  "There is nothing around here, yet very much to see".
it describes the place perfectly.....

 So that's what we did all day, walked around, looking at pretty beaches....

 pretty harbors......

 the view of Auckland on the horizon - only 14kn away, and yet so far.....

 And went "ooh' and 'ahh" over the lush countryside of rolling hills, vineyards,

and olive groves.  This place looks like a cross between Martha's vineyard and the south of Italy.

as you may guess, I had to go for a swim in the wonderfully clear water, and sit on the very fine sand for a while too....  (There were quite a few people in the water, the temperature does not vary very much all year long)

Th B&B we are staying at has this amazing vegetable garden!  The climate is so mild here that it can produce all year long (I'm jealous).  I loved the way it was set up!  I think i'll steal some ideas from it for our garden (I love this "Ladder" thing.....).

 We had to take pictures of a couple of signs in town...  - this one says (It's a butcher):
"all animal are created equal"......
".... but some are tastier.....".

And we just loved the fact that this says you can park for 2880mins!














Tomorrow, we get to spend most of the day here, and then we go to the airport Sofitel for the night - the first step to the trip home (sigh......).

our last stop: Waiheke island

We were a little bit sad leaving beautiful Queenstown this morning - it is indeed well named (it was named Queenstown because it is "fit for a queen").  We almost wished we could stay there for our last 2 days in new Zealand - but then, we arrived at our last stop - Waiheke island.
It's just off the cost of Auckland, about 35mins by ferry.
We have not seen any of it yet, just this - from the deck of our bed and breakfast.....  this will be a great and relaxing way to finish our vacation.  We may do some wine tasting, or some driving around the island.... or we may just go to the beach, take a dip in the pacific ocean, sit on the deck and read.....
We'll see tomorrow.  In the mean time, as has been the case throughout our trip, there is wine to drink and great food to eat...........................
Pumkin gnocchi with buffalo mozarella:

 local  snapper with cauliflower mash and caramelized Brussels sprouts.

Fruit, cream, pear sorbet and meringue boat.....

A leisurly day on and around lake wakatipu.

After yesterday's excitement, today was a leisurely day to quietly enjoy the beauty of the town of Queenstown and its surroundings.  We fist went to a bird sanctuary just up the road from our  wonderful hotel ("the Dairy" - highly recommend it if you go to Queenstown), because - after more than 2 weeks in NZ, we still had not seen any live kiwis.  They are quite fascinating:  as we all know, they are flightless birds, but I did not know that that this has been the case for so long that their wings have basically disappeared - they have little stubs left, but that's it.  Also, they are the only birds whose nostrils are at the tip of their long beak. Considering they spend most of their time digging in the ground for food, their nostrils must get very plugged up!   The adults are actually quite tough and can fight back against cats, stotes (weasels), possums and other mammals that were introduced by human about 1000 years ago.  But the chicks are  helpless and take a long time to grow to full size.  So right now, in the wild, 95% of the chicks die before they reproduce.  There is a huge effort to raise them in captivity, and then release them - which has had some success.  They have an interesting way to raise "children":  the egg weights about 1lb, which is 20 to 25% of the weight of it's mother (think about a 30lb baby......).  Understandably, after laying the egg, the female wants nothing to do with it, and the male incubates it for 3 months (which is very long by bird standards) - after that, he too is just sick of it - but luckily, baby kiwis are born completely able to handle the world:  they have a full set of feathers, they know how to look for food, etc...  Unfortunately, they only know how to deal with a world without predators - thus the troubles they are in right now.  But things seem to be getting better, thanks to huge efforts throughout NZ.  I can't post any pictures of the kiwis, because they are nocturnal - so their house are kept very dim, and we were not allowed to use flashes - but we were really happy to see them, including one baby

 However, we got up close and personal with this creature:  the tuatara is a close relative of dinosaurs - you can tell by looking at it!  It is over 200 millions years old (not the particular one on this picture, the species), and just plain odd.  It has such a slow metabolism that you could  put it in the fridge for 6 months, and it would go dormant - if it were a gestating female, the gestation could go dormant too.  After 6 months, you could open the fridge, let it out, and it would be just fine....  They move very slowly, so again, got decimated when predators (rats in particular) were introduced.  They  only remain in the wild on islands.

 

We spent the rest of the day on and around lake Watatipu- fall is coming quickly to Queenstown, and we can see the colors of the trees change from day to day

 We took this old steam boat around the lake : it is 100 years old this year and still looking good!

 And it makes it possible to get really good views of the lake and the area,

 It is also just a beautiful sight in itself, with gorgeous wooden decks, and an open steam compression engine that you can visit (and where they still shovel coal).

 It was windy at the front of the boat....

 The light around here is so beautiful, once could just stay here and take it in forever......

 After our ride, we took a stroll to the botanical garden on the other side of the lake,

where I got to hug some trees.....  we all now how much I love to hug trees....  this one is a beautiful giant sequoia - not native to NZ, of course, but still so great that we had to stop to take a picture.  The botanical garden was a delightful surprise - we did not really know it was there, and stumble upon it, and it is very pretty and peaceful.  Also, it has some of the wild birds that we saw this  morning at the aviary - but in the wild. 

Including these wood pigeons.  These are the biggest pigeons you have ever seen!!!!!  I would guess 3-4 times the size of an average NYC pigeon -and prettier.  They are engendered - because the Maoris found them very tasty.  But, as we discovered, you can still find them around in the parc.





The most remarkable thing about Queenstown (other than then mountains that surround it - which are called the "remarkable range") is the light.  I hope the pictures give a hint of it - because I want to make sure we remember it.  So here is one more - taken at sunrise this morning.

Tomorrow, we go back to the North Island, to spend our last 2 days on an island near Auckland.

A day of firsts.



This picture says it all:  today was a day for new experiences!  and for a looking at the world from high up in the sky.....

When planning this trip, I had hesitated about taking a helicopter ride to Milford sound....  I am really glad we went for it!  this was a first for both Joe and I and it is a really great way to go and to look at the world from above....  And to get very close to what you want to look at - along the way to  and from Milford sound, we saw:  

snow capped mountains,

 Glaciers, full of crevasses and beautiful blue ice carvings - normal for this time of the year - they prevented us from landing on top of the glacier though, because it is too dangerous.

 Green lakes (from the glacier sediment).

 Turquoise waters at the edge of the lake on which Queenstown is built - where the river from the mountain brings in both clear water and glacier sediments.

Then we landed on top of a hill overlooking the lake.  

Don't we look cool with "our" helicopter??

And had a light lunch overlooking the lake.....

 

We stopped on the way to take a boat ride up Milford sound - which is not a sound, but a true fjord.  It is too grand to capture on pictures, here are just a few - but they do not do it justice.

We landed before the sun had a chance to burn off the clouds, given the whole area a mysterious look

and then the boat ride  took us along the length of the fjord, and its many water falls.

As I said, it does not do it justice.....

and then, in the afternoon, I did something radical!  I went (tandem) paragliding!  I did not even know that was on my bucket list....  but it was there  just up the gondola, which is just steps from our hotel...  and the weather was so magnificent...  so I pre-paid for it, and, as everyone knows, I'm just too cheap to back out once I've paid for it!  It was in fact not that scary - just the first few seconds, when you have to run down a steep hill, until the wind catches the sail and lifts you up the ground - after that, it is really exhilarating, and beautiful!  Joe stayed on the ground, either because he is too smart to try such foolish things, or because someone had to take pictures - you pick....

 After that, it was time for a well deserved drink, and dinner in town, looking at the sunset coloring the lake and sky. 

After that, it was time for a well deserved drink, and dinner in town, looking at the sunset coloring th lake and sky.

now to Fjordland!

We left Christchurch in the rain, and arrived in Queenstown in bright sunshine.
We did not stop in Christchurch at all, because it has not yet recovered from the devastating earthquake that hit it 18 months ago, and the downtown area is still closed. 
Apparently, we brought the sunshine with us, and it could not be nicer or prettier in  Queenstown.
Weather- which is always important on vacation - is really critical here, because it is all about the outdoors.  Tomorrow, we are going to Milford sound, and that means taking a helicopter ride - both Joe's and my first! and they only go in good weather.  So  far, it looks like it's a go - i'm very excited!

Just up from our hotel - which sits about a 2 minutes walk up from the center of town (here is the view from the window), there is a big animal park with a kiwi habitat - We still have not seen any kiwis, and we just can't leave NZ without that!  so we'll go tomorrow after our Milford trip -

Right next to it is the gondola that takes you to the top of Queenstown, and from which they take people paragliding (look closely at the picture- the dots in the sky are people paragliding)- I think I have to do that!!!!!  (but I may just chicken out once I look at it up close....).






We took a quick walk through town - it's very

 reminiscent of other alpine resorts we've seen - Joe says it looks like Vail, but it also reminds me of Evian.  It has a beautiful lake, with nice restaurants around it, and, just like in the Alps, it gets quite cold the moment the sun hides behind the mountains.

We had a quick dinner overlooking the lake, and now are back in the hotel, warming up by a cozy fire.  I included this picture of the chowder we had - first because like to take pictures of food, but also to show the striking "green lipped mussels" of NZ.





More about Queenstown tomorrow.

This must be what heaven is like.....

The moment I opened the drapes to our little "chalet" in the mountains north west of Christchurch,
saw the sky,

heard the sheep bah just across the field:

I thought: " this must be what heaven is like...."
At least my version of heaven....  We are only spending 2 night here in Grasmere lodge, but I could easily spend 2 weeks, 2 months...   eternity?

We spent a very lazy day- having "breakfast with a view":
And then took a ride with the owner to tour the farm that surrounds the lodge. 

Along the way, we drove through the "town" of Cass (year long residents: 1)  with it's famous train station.
There is one train a day from Christchurch on the East coast to Greymouth on the West (it's supposed to be really nice ride).  Until recently, you could actually flag down the train, but now, you have to make a reservation for it to stop at Cass.....

We drove to the top of the hill above Gramere lake just to see the view.  
And then we just spend the rest of the day taking easy hikes in the hills, admiring the views, enjoying the peace and communing with cows and sheep.....                                                

 Here are just a few images of what we saw along the way -brooks and ponds,

                                    

Grand vista's:











 Sheep and cows: these are the happiest and luckiest

 farm animals on earth: they live is this magnificent place  - they may not appreciate the beauty of it (then again, maybe they do), but they do certainly appreciate the freedom to roam around the lush fields.  The sheep are particularly lucky, because these are merino sheep, raised exclusively for their wool, so they will never become someone's dinner.  But I think that even the one that do end up as dinner still get to enjoy themselves a great deal till then.....

there are also just lovely little places to stop and go "ahhhh" - like this bench by the entrance:

or the pretty toad stool mushrooms, scattered all around.... they are poisonous, but they do give the impression that fairies (or maybe hobbits?) will show up any minute.....

If all of this is not enough to convince you that this is heaven, it  even has gates, to keep "bad things" away ....  these clouds were there all day - stuck on the other side of Arthur's pass, and probably drenching the east coast, but we enjoyed bright sun all day.....  heaven!

 And then again, there is the food (and wine) - which includes predinner drinks and capanes, and a 4 courses meal:

 We met lovely people from Australia  who taught me the acronym for what Joe and I are doing:  we are "SKIing"  it stands for "Spending the Kid's Inheritance"  I'm hoping this blog will convince them we are spending it well.....

 Corn and confit chicken soup.

 Berry sorbet

 Rack of lamb (local one  really good!), with onion puree and potato crisps.

Chocolat pot de creme











And then  at night (not tonight because the clouds eventually did make it, but last night) - the stars are just unbelievable  I've never seen anything that bright and beautiful and truly  TRULY - awesome!
Now, we are sitting by the fire in our chalet - life is very good!