February 11 Move to Qtown (Day 137)
Another moving day, to Queenstown, for a rendezvous with John and Martha who are extending their visit to NZ after their Sydney to Auckland cruise. The day started in Te Anau with rain and clouds and it didn’t start breaking up until we got close to Queenstown.
As the clouds lifted, the mountain tops are revealed with a dusting of snow!
We met John & Martha at their hotel near the airport at about 9:30am, early enough to get into Queenstown proper and find a parking spot! We ended up having to walk uphill to our first stop, Kiwi Park Queenstown, a wildlife sanctuary in the middle of the resort/adventure capital town!
A medley of scenes from Kiwi Park, a huge Sequoia tree, very plump keruru, the NZ wood pigeon, and the red-crowned parakeet, kakariki. Back in December we were in a town called Kakariki on the North Island, named for the parakeet that is no longer found there.
We walked back down the hill and got our lunch at a bakery, the iconic meat pies that we ate out of the paper bags they come in, on a bench on the street, a true Kiwi experience! Walking along the lakefront we had our picture taken by a trio of fellow Americans.
A beautiful day compared to the previous rainy, windy, cold day Robert & I stopped in Queenstown, Jan. 23, for a Fergburger!
We walked through the Queenstown Gardens on a small peninsula extending into Lake Wakatipu with great views of the Remarkables, the mountain range to the southeast.
On the lake we saw the steamship TSS Earnslaw, an iconic Queenstown veteran! Following behind is a boat pulling a parasail, another Queenstown adventure!
We finished the afternoon with drinks on Perky’s Floating Bar before Robert & I checked into our hotel and we finished the day with dinner and dessert at a restaurant near our respective hotels.
Dessert; stout beers for John & I!