Queenstown Bound

We're going to do some backtracking here for documentation purposes. Let's take you back to Friday Dec 19th.

Friday was my last day of work before Christmas holidays. Whilst I was working away, Lowell, Julie Anne, and Erin hiked Rangitoto, visited Northhead, and did a little caving. Oh, and they bought fish ‘n chips… with REAL Ketchup (none of this Tomato Sauce ridiculousness)!

Hiking Rangitoto...


Caving...


Northhead...

Fish, Chips, 'n KETCHUP!

After their adventures, they picked me up from work and we went CHRISTMAS TREE SHOPPING (this was a continued attempt to make +25 C feel like Christmas).
Before setting up the tree, we walked into Kumeu (our little town), picked up take-away Thai food, then had a SCRUMPTIOUS little picnic in a nearby vineyard (those Thais sure know their food!).

None too shabby hey?

Erin worked the Vineyard paths like a runway. This girl is TOO GOOD for CNTM.

These pictures have sound effects: “OOOOoooOOOOOooooOOOOO!” (we were very impressed with the teeny tiny little grapes).

After setting up the tree, Julie Anne did a little Santa role-playing as she stashed presents from HOME under the tree. EEEE, PRESENTS!!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to catch our 7:10am flight to Christchurch (South Island).

Julie Anne and I get a real kick out of having the same name (first AND last). I tended to make it complicated when it really wasn’t (i.e., I’d bring it up when there was no need), so I caused quite a bit of confusion throughout most of our journey. But how fun is this? The only thing that differs is the “Miss” and the “Mrs”.

It was surprisingly cold when we landed in Christchurch that day. Wet and COLD.

From there, we rented a car, grabbed some compulsory McCafe coffee & brekky, then continued the 7 hour journey to Queenstown. I'm pretty sure Erin's life will never be the same now that she has experienced the beauty that is McCafe.

Along the way, we stopped for some completely necessary photo ops.

Isn’t this beautiful? That Erin sure is a knock-out.

We also felt obligated to take pictures with the giant fruit.

Before following the sounds of our grumbling stomachs, we checked into our quaint little hostel.

We slept in a little room with four bunks. It was perfect for us (and allowed for many bonding experiences!)

Before long we could no longer ingnore the rumbling of our stomachs, so we jetted to what was apparently the most expensive Mexican restaurant on earth. It was like 20 bucks for a small bowl of beans. Anyhoo, Erin ate most of this mammoth quesadilla. We accidentally left her "doggy bag" in the car, and it smelled like a baby’s (soiled) diaper the next morning. No worries though, after rolling down the windows and cranking the air conditioning for a few minutes, the car smelled like a fresh meadow.

Queenstown is very Banff/Jasper/Canmore-esque. Beautiful! See the resemblance? (plus, everything is ridiculously expensive).

By the next morning, the sun was big, bright, and BALMY. Perfect weather to begin our extreme sports adventures. But you're just going to have to wait a little longer to see all the intense craziness that we experienced in Queenstown- the extreme sports capital of the WORLD!!