Family Vacation

Maureen (Mariah's mom) and her friend Val arrived at the perfect time. Mariah and I were both on the upswing from recent sickness, we were running out of leftovers for dinner, and I was ready for some days off for once. It was time to finally be tourists in Queenstown!

They both arrived on the evening of March 2nd, having already spent some time in Christchurch and Franz Josef (thus essentially retracing our legendary steps).

TUESDAY
On March 3rd the adventures began (after they'd picked up their rental car, some groceries, and explored the town a bit while I slept in). We started with a quick trip to Glenorchy, a beautiful town just outside of Queenstown, known for its natural splendor and delightful hikes. We hiked up a mountain, saw some historic mining-related things, and all got a lovely taste of the remarkable NZ landscape.

WEDNESDAY
The next day we got an early start to walk up the gondola hill, a steep but short hike to the top of one of the most touristy spots in Queenstown. After looking at the package ticket deals at the base of the hill, however, we realized (to my disappointment) that it was actually a much better deal to buy round trip tickets, so we rode the gondola in both directions.

Once at the top, we did a couple hours' hike on the Ben Lommond track, which turned out perfectly because the views were amazing the entire way, so we didn't feel like we'd missed much by turning back early.

Maureen leading the way

After that we went straight for the Luge, a gravity-powered activity similar to Go Karts. We went three times and left all our opponents in the dust.

After that we went back down the gondola, and the ladies went on the Million Dollar Cruise while I hung around the beach and played soccer with some new friends.


THURSDAY
The next day we got an early start, because our last-minute booking for ziplining turned out to include a walk back up the gondola hill--and this time, we weren't taking the gondola. I was ecstatic. It turned out to be a really cool hike, with things like random thrones carved from tree trunks along the way.

Forest Queen

When we got to the top we were handsomely rewarded with an epic experience. Ziplining was everything I'd hoped it would be--fun, exhilarating, and even informative because it was an ecotour. I'd highly recommend it (ZipTrek is the company). They also have THE steepest line in the world, which drops a whopping 30 stories very quickly. I could go on describing how cool it was, but perhaps a couple pictures would do a better job:

Awaiting our fate

Just trying out the Spiderman pose

We thought we deserved to celebrate our epic feat, so our next move was to drive out of the city a bit to wine country. We found a winery there (called Gibston Valley) and tried out some different types of wines. But the truly rewarding part came later, when we put my Lord of the Rings Location Guide to good use by driving to a couple nearby sites. Mariah and I were in heaven. We found where the Pillars of the Kings were, and when Arwen escaped from the Ring Wraiths across the river.

FRIDAY
After a few pretty active days in a row, we were all in the perfect mood to sit on a bus for a few hours--11 hours, to be exact. We did a cruise at Milford Sound, which is one of those places that has such incredible views that when you're there you can't even believe it's real. The cruise itself was only about 2 hours, and was windy, wet, and wonderful. Gushing waterfalls are the tourist's reward for going on a rainy day, and I'm so glad we did. This place simply cannot be described with words. Nor can it be accurately represented with pictures, but I may as well try:

Such a wormhead.

It was a bit windy.

Sleepy seals!

SATURDAY
Again ready for some more movement, we went to Wanaka in hopes of doing an all-day hike. The weather didn't quite agree with us, however, so we ended up going to Puzzling World instead...a choice I would highly recommend. Hilarity and confusion ensued for the next few hours.

We walked around Lake Wanaka for a while after that, catching some amazing views now that the sun had come out.

SUNDAY
Our final full day together was one of little structure, which was perfect. We finally tried out the famous Fergburgers (which are DELICIOUS, by the way), relaxed, and relived some of the moments that had happened that week. It was shocking that the week had come to an end, but I felt honored to have been able to participate in such a fun week with such great people!

A belated thank you for the great week, Maureen and Val! :)