Tongariro National Park, Day 1: the end is near.

goodbye to good friends
time for three days on my own
mountains, here i come!

Tongariro National Park, Day 1: I {heart} quiet mountain towns.

Big travel day today. The morning flight to Auckland was uneventful, and after picking up the rental car I headed south. The weather was dreary - overcast if not rainy, cold - which didn't bode well for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing the next day, but I figured that however the day turned out, it would be better than sitting in a cube.

Piriaka Lookout
on the way to Tongagiro National Park

I arrived at the Ski Haus hostel late in the afternoon and was thrilled to learn that I had a 5-bunk dorm all to myself. Tongariro National Park is in a pretty remote area of the island so after settling in, I wandered around "town" for a bit and then headed back for dinner. Other than a few families and couples, the only others at the hostel were three young folks who hung out in the common area all night complaining about how there was nothing to do.

I, on the other hand, loved that there was nothing to do.

Early to bed in prep for the big adventure!

Queenstown, Day 3: note to self.

wine tour and dinner
low residual medium dry south island
rieslings: my new cab

Queenstown, Day 3: wine-ing and winding down.

After a very loud night at the aforementioned hostel, a lovely lady named Debra picked me up for the Central Otago wine tour. Five beautiful vineyards and many excellent wines later, I have to give a wholehearted two thumbs up for Pinot Thyme Boutique wine tours! And dry Rieslings! Who knew.

I really liked this one,
partly because it was really good, but also
because it was named "the Viper"

but this one really sold me
on the whole "dry riesling" thing

downtown Cromwell

Debra's vineyard

After the wine tour, Kim, Jill and I met up for one last celebratory dinner and drinks at finz. Great seafood dishes, and especially excellent fish & chips!

last celebratory drink :(

After this I would say farewell to my friends and head north for my own Tongariro adventure. But first I would endure another LOUD night at the hostel... Sooooo ready for some mountain time.

Queenstown, Day 2: I did go back for seconds, after all.

jumping off a cliff
willingly and on purpose
might be addictive

Queenstown, Day 2: "AAAAAAAHEEAHEEAHEEAHEEAHEEAH!"

(That's how you spell the Tarzan yell, right?)

Tuesday morning I drove back to Queentsown and met up with Kim and Jill for lunch at Bob's Weigh (yes, again - chicken pesto...mmmm!). We wandered around a bit and headed over to the canyon swinging place to prep for that day's adventure.

from their brochure - 'nuff said

wondertriple powers, activate! form of: scared ladies!

I can't really describe the experience properly. Probably best if I just point you to a few videos. OK, four. Suffice to say, we all survived and I had a great time.

mandatory round of celebratory drinks

After drinks Jill and I headed to Fergburger so that I could truly round out my Queenstown experience.

lines like Portland's Screen Door or Voodoo Doughnuts

NOM!

Or so I thought. I opted to stay at Nomads Backpackers. This may have been the only bad decision I made the entire trip... It was a total party house, and even though I requested an all-female dorm (which was nice and quiet), the walls were thin and the street party outside went on until about 2am.

I would stick it out there for another night, because time was too precious to waste looking for another place and transferring my stuff, but let the record show two things: 1) I am not a city girl and 2) I am too old for that shit.

Next up: wine tour!

Wanaka, Day 2: can you?

there must be worse ways
to kill an afternoon but
i can't think of one

the view from the traffic jam