And then, it was all over and it was the last day. No more weird hotel buffet breakfasts. No more climbing onto the bus with 35 of our newest friends. No more Red Carpet Tours Fellowship. Everyone was still in Queenstown, but we had been released to do separate activities.
We had been out and about a few times in Queenstown. Like I mentioned in my previous post, it seems to be a city designed for revelers. Jetboats, Skydiving, Ziplines, Boat Tours, Flight Tours, Paragliding – a lot involved the gorgeous waters here. It’s pretty, it’s happening, and there are activities for sale in every direction. It was a bit much for Pedro and me, but we did walk around and look when we had free time.
Because it is so high and so close, Skyline Queenstown dominated many city views. We meant to go check it out at some point, but never made it. It looks like a ski hill, but I think it’s just a tram up to the top for fun?
We found some yummy food at Yonder, which was right next to a place called the World Bar, that I know a lot of the young people on our tour went to in the evening. World Bar had ramps in front for skaters and skateboarders, with music blasting. It seemed quite exciting. We were excited about the delicious food and real coffee beans next door at Yonder. We bought coffee so that we could drink something other than instant in our room at our last hotel.
One evening we walked up the hill to check out the Kiwi Park before we had to return to attend a group dinner, but it was too steep a price for the 30 minutes that we had. We are sad to have not seen a Kiwi bird on the trip.
Instead, we explored a nearby cemetery, which was interesting, and free, and we could do it in 30 minutes.
Our favourite view in the city was the lakeshore, of course. It could not be beat.
We turned to the right and walked along the shore on a different day. It just stays pretty all the way.
For our final day in New Zealand, Sunday January 19th, Pedro and I signed up for the Wine+Food Tour. On the first night of the tour, two weeks earlier, when we all confirmed our plans with Julie, we were part of a group of about 8 people from our tour group. But somehow along the way, the others changed their plans, and we were surprised to find ourselves on our own. We had been doing things without the group all along, of course, but it was startling to show up for the wine tour and find out no one else came. I am sad to have missed a chance to say better goodbyes or something, if we had known.
We weren’t alone of course, but on a different bus with a different group of people we had never met. They were all pleasant and we were all ready to try out New Zealand wines. We discovered that two of our fellow wine enthusiasts were also from Portland. That’s just amazing.
At Kinross we got a great education about wine regions in New Zealand, and what to look for in a local wine. We found out that there are three top Pinot Noir areas in the world: right here on New Zealand’s South Island is one of them. The Willamette Valley in Oregon is another!
We bought a bottle of the Valli Pinot. Someone asked how we would pack the bottle of wine for our return flight. We smiled. “Pack the wine? We don’t fly out till tomorrow. The wine will be gone by then!” ha ha
And our final wine stop was the most interesting, with a tour of a cave at Gibbston Valley, followed by a cheesery. Anything called a “cheesery” is a place I want to be. Pedro and I purchased cheese, olives, and crackers to go with our wine. We were all set for dinner.
The host at Gibbston Valley showed us the oldest vines in the region, planted in 1983, and explained that this is the largest cave in New Zealand. The other cave doesn’t have people walk inside, so basically, this is the only cave in New Zealand.
We took the bus back to Queenstown and then began to pack and wrap our head around the fact that we were leaving (and that we were about to have a million hours aboard airplanes).
I purged. We had collected souveniers and it was too crowded in our bags. During the trip I had realized that a lot of the clothes I brought were very old and threadbare. I think this began happening when I stopped working in an office and now I wear comfy at-home clothes 80% of the time. I hate shopping, and I especially hate buying clothing, so nearly everything I own is over a decade old. Anyway, everything old and unflattering went into a pile on top of the trashcan. We also ditched all the medications for my cough (which was getting worse than ever) that were either liquid or not helping, and all the salves and meds for our sunburns (too big to be allowed by TSA), and the leftover coffee (which was sad). These actions made room for our souveniers.
The next morning we took a flight from Queenstown at 8:00 am to Auckland. We left Auckland at 10:30 am for Los Angeles. We checked maps of wildfire boundaries to anticipate any airport problems. Then we settled in for a 12-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean.
And then we caught a 9:30 am plane from LAX to Portland. After 36 hours or so of flight, we landed at noon – only four hours after we took off. Ha!! Time zones are CRAZY you guys. On the way, we saw some beautiful Oregon. New Zealand is amazing, and so is our home state. ❤
It’s hard to comprehend how many adventures we had in two weeks. I’m glad I took the time to write it all here. Thanks for coming along with us.
Final New Zealand bird count: Adding the New Zealand Scaup, brings me to a nice rounded 20. (I miscounted earlier, but the correct total is 20)
Conscious Engagement 
It is a pity you didn’t get to see a Kiwi. A wonderful adventure holiday. Time zones are indeed crazy
You know it, “tomorrow boy.” ha ha! I agree, Brian, that it is a pity not to see a Kiwi. They were tempting us along the journey, as our tour guides did mention the locations where we were likely to see one at night, trying to cross the road, or something like that. Several from our tour group did get to see them at the Kiwi Park, but our schedule didn’t allow it, since we did the second bungy and the wine tour. Ah well. someday we will see a kiwi. ❤
I saw a film clip about a partner bungy jump where 2 people were strapped together face to face 😲
Such a memorable trip well photographed throughout
Thank you Derrick. It was certainly memorable. We will be thinking back on those two weeks fondly for many years. ❤
First, you make a great queen, Crystal. 😁Looks like you had a good look at Queenstown. The first time I was there in 1976, it was a far different city with little of the tourism you see now. The last time I was there, it had began to morph into what you and Pedro experienced. It was still low-key, however, pre-cellphone. I remember walking around with a satellite phone so I could talk with media that was trying to reach me over and article I had written on the tobacco industry and Hollywood. I was throwing bread to ducks when the New York Times called. the ducks were quite pissed that I was sidetracked. LOL Peg and I had the same concerns when we flew into LA on our way to Sacramento and Hawaii.
We were in Queenstown for three days, so we did get multiple opportunities to look around. It’s beautiful, but I think I would have liked it better before it became a vacation destination. One nice thing about all those tourists, though, is that the restaurants were out of this world. 🙂 What a great story to remember about your own visits to Queenstown! Yes…we had been talking to multiple people about the LA fires. Though on the other side of the world, it was on the New Zealand news often, and some of our group were from Los Angeles. Their properties and loved ones were safe.
Laughing, when I first visited New Zealand in the 70s everything had a slight taste or smell of sheep to it. The surrounding beauty was incredible, Crystal.
On another note, I was just replying to your comment on Novi Sad and WP trashed it. I might have hit the wrong key, but… Anyway, thanks. The name for the lamps was a new one for me.
I keep noticing comments from people about WP glitches in the past month. They must be working on it in some way, to cause a bunch of problems out here in the bloggosphere.
There have always been challenges but they do seem to be getting worse, Crystal. The platform has just gotten so big…
Hello, I am visiting New Zealand this November and am also going on the Red Carpet tour! Just wanted to thank you for all the information you have provided here. You seemed to have a wonderful time with Red Carpet tours and that eases my mind as I was starting to have second thoughts about going (it’s an expensive buy for me). Anyway thanks again and I hope you have many more adventures around the world.
David, thanks for your visit and comment! Our trip was amazing, and that was despite having the sunburn during the first three days, and an allergy that kept me awake every single night for the rest of the trip. It was absolutely worth it for us. And YES! So expensive, but this tour gets you access to locations and to people and to insider knowledge that you could never get on your own. I know you will love every moment of it.