Wednesday, June 30. Today started as a beautiful sunny day -a good day for our trip to Queenstown. Our last stop before heading to the mountains was to visit Sandfly Bay on the Otago Peninsula just outside of Dunedin. This bay is a wildlife refuge and is home to sea lions and penguins. See the pictures of the bay and sea lions -- no penguins as it's not the right time of year.
To get to the bay we drove on Highcliff Road -- a very, very narrow and curvy road. They don't seem to believe in guard rails or shoulders - yikes! I am getting more comfortable driving, but still talk to myself at every right turn "turning right, crossing traffic" (kids laugh). We parked at the top of one of the cliffs and then walked down to the beach. It was a fun and easy walk down through soft sand (like Lake Michigan sand), but the hike up was a killer.
By noon time we were on our way to Queensland. It was a 4 hour drive and was the first extended driving we've done. Kevin and Louise took turns being my co-pilot as we headed to the mountains.
The temps have been in the 40s while we've been in Dunedin, but they steadily dropped as we headed inland. We went through a very pretty section where there was "ice fog" that had covered all the trees and plants -- even the wool on the sheep sparkled with ice. Thankfully the roads were okay. We arrived in Queenstown shortly before sunset.
The highlight of dinner was sitting next to a family from Ohio (recognized by the Ohio State sweatshirts). I leaned over and said "O-H" and they replied "I-O" and laughed. They were traveling with their daughter who had been an exchange student in Australia.
Tuesday, July 6. We enjoyed a morning in the city of shopping and museums. The national New Zealand museum is in Wellington. Many interesting exhibits including a large jade boulder (mined here), an earthquake house, and many Maori exhibits. 
Monday, July 5. Yesterday we had our longest drive of the trip -- Franz Josef to Blenhiem -- 7 hours in all. This morning we took a car ferry from Picton on the South Island to Wellington on the North Island. 
It was a large car ferry and the trip took 3 hours. We did not take our rental cars on the ferry -- instead we dropped off ours before we left and picked up new ones when we arrived. Wellington is the capitol of New Zealand and there are many things to see. We toured the parliament buildings this afternoon and plan on shopping and museums tomorrow.
Saturday, July 3. Today we took a half day guided walking tour of the Franz Josef Glacier. New Zealand has over 3,000 glaciers. What struck us as unusual is that this one is next to a rain forest. The tour outfitted us with raincoats, pants, boots, and crampons (sp? -- ice cleats that we strapped on our boots). In several places the guides had carved steps for us to climb.
Franz Josef is a small town on the western side of the South Island. We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast and are the only guests. The World Cup is big here too -- the pub where we ate last night is open this morning at 6:30am to watch the games.
Friday, July 2. No, I didn't do a bungy jump...but watched Kevin and Louise jump this morning from the Kawarau Bridge -- home of the original bungy jump. They did a tandem jump (where 2 people jump together) as the rest of us watched. 
Wednesday, June 30. Today started as a beautiful sunny day -a good day for our trip to Queenstown. Our last stop before heading to the mountains was to visit Sandfly Bay on the Otago Peninsula just outside of Dunedin. This bay is a wildlife refuge and is home to sea lions and penguins. See the pictures of the bay and sea lions -- no penguins as it's not the right time of year.
By noon time we were on our way to Queensland. It was a 4 hour drive and was the first extended driving we've done. Kevin and Louise took turns being my co-pilot as we headed to the mountains. 
