QT - Skyline

Made it to QT and found the gondola at the edge of town. $32 for the gondola ride.

Not too far up. 

Getting higher!

There are stairs if you want to walk. 

Here's some great views!

Got the selfie stick out. It's a bit scary, if you were to drop your phone. It would be gone forever!

Beautiful!

Lots of activities for tourists! Gondolas, luge rides, boating, bungee jumping, biking, paragliding, skydiving. The list goes on and on. 

Having a drink at Skyline bar & just ordered some grub. 

Can't beat the view!

Arthur's Point/QT

Took the day off of driving. Mom had the wheel & she did pretty good.

Drove from Te Anau to Arthur's Point which is right close to QT. 

Stopped at 5 Rivers Cafe for a coffee (flat white) and a snack. We had stopped here on our way to Te Anau, now on the way back. 

This time near the lake it wasn't raining & Mom was driving, so I got some good pics of the view. 

Mom went over her 1st one-way bridge in NZ and a couple roundabouts. 

The drive to the hotel took us a round about way through the country side, but I think there's a shortcut to town. 

Hotel is very European. Nugget Point Hotel. See here.

On the Shotover River. We can see the jet boats from our balcony. 

Off to town. Catch ya later!

QT

Tomorrow we drive to QT (Queenstown). I'm going to have Mom drive a bit, if she's up for it - she hasn't driven at all! You gotta drive a little just to say you've done it, right?

Here's our route. 

More to come...

Doubtful Sound

Had a wonderful day! Took a tour with Real Journeys. They picked us up at our hotel this morning about 9:45am and we were on a bus for about 20 min. Then we checked in, picked up our pre-paid lunches and boarded a boat across Lake Manapouri. Once across the lake, we got off the boat and got on a coach bus to take us up and over Wilmot Pass through rainforest trees & plants. We then got on a catamaran, Patea Explorer, to tour Doubtful Sound for about 3 hours. 

Free coffee, tea, & water on board. Alcoholic beverages & other drinks & snacks were for sale also. Our box lunch had lots to choose from. 

We then did all of that in reverse and made it back around 6pm to our hotel. 

I would highly recommend this adventure. A highlight of our holiday in NZ. 

As before, I took a ton of photos and ran out of space on my iPhone. Story of my life. 

Here's just a few. 

Mom with some coffee to start the day. 

Manapouri Lake

Those were all from Manapouri Lake. 

Here's some from Doubtful Sound. 

This is where the Doubtful Sound meets the Tasman Sea. There were lots of seals on the rocks too. 

That's all I have. Sorry!

I have taken over 1200 pictures on my good camera. So when we return and after I filter through them, we'll have to do a friends & family NZ photo night. Must have wine too!

Here's one more of our view tonight out our room window. 

Ok - gotta do a backup of pics, so I can take more. Still have a couple days left. Tmrw we are headed to QT. Queenstown that is. 

-AI

xoxo

Te Anau

Made it to Te Anau (Tayownow)

It was quite a drive South from Wanaka. I did get a picture of the famous Wanaka Tree before we left. 

We went down a really steep road into a gorgeous valley. This road had guardrails. Good thing as you could just drive off the side of the road. 

We got a bit of rain on the windy stretch of Hwy 6 near Lake Wakatipu & Kingston.  Obviously didn't get any pics here as I was watching the road. 

Here's some on the road to Te Anau. Lots of trees, some hills, lots of sheep & deer. 

Our hotel is Radfords on the Lake. Very nice room w/ little kitchenette. 

Here's their site.

View from our room:

We are going to walk to town for a drink & dinner. Tomorrow we are taking a Wilderness Cruise to Doubtful Sound - an all day excursion through Real Journeys. See here.

Here's a little map to show where we are. 

-AI

xoxo