EE & S Adventures

For some reason we did not quite trust the weather predictions for snow overnight. How wrong we were - we woke to a winter wonderland! More snow was predicted during the day. Some 14 years ago, Elise and Eric did the Shotover canyon jet boat - an exhilarating, thrilling ride. Probably the most famous jetboat ride in the Queenstown region, it follows the Shotover canyon, just outside of Queenstown. It is still the most popular jetboat ride in the area and Eric and Samuel were excited to do it, (Elise not so much).  Eric and Samuel were on the first ride of the morning, and it was fresh and cool. They donned the required life jackets and set off. The ride certainly met expectations, and both came off with huge smiles, pulsing with the adrenalin. The rest of the day comprised the journey to Dunedin. Unfortunately, as predicted, the weather set in. We swapped drivers regularly, but Elise managed to get the worst of it, driving through swirling snow and sleet on a slushy, twisty road. N...

If yesterday was full of activity, today was very much a rest day.  After getting up late with no real plans, we made a late decision to take a short drive to visit Arrowtown.   We stopped at Amisfield for a very nice wine tasting, then drove on to Arrowtown where we joined a lot of other Queenstown day trippers.  It was tough finding a carpark.  We brought pies, checked out a few shops that didn't impress us much and drove home again. And that was about it for the day.  

 Our first full day in Queenstown was a busy one.  We were keen to take advantage of the good weather to cram plenty of activity in.  While Elise slept in, Samuel and Eric headed down to the lakefront for the first Orange Jetboat ride of the day across the lake and down the Kawarau River.  It was a great morning on the water, though quite a cold one, especially when the driver spun the boat and gave us a shower.  After a cold Jetboat ride, a hot pie from Ferg Bakery was just the ticket. After our early lunch we headed out of town towards Glenorchy.  The views of the snowcapped peaks over Lake Wakatipu were spectacular. Our destination for the afternoon was the Routeburn Track.  Fourteen years ago, Elise and Eric had walked half the track from the eastern track head to Harris Saddle and back in the middle of summer.  In spring, with the higher parts of the track still covered with snow and under avalanche threat, we settled for the 15km return hike...

First stop in Wanaka was just around the corner from our accommodation.  Puzzling World  was a great way to spend a couple of hours.  We went through a sequence of rooms with various optical tricks, some of which we had seen before but many which were new.  Then we attacked the very complicated and lengthy maze which was a good way of getting our step count up for the day.   **WARNING SPOILER PHOTOS** We had a quick stop at the lavender farm.  The lavender played second fiddle to the cherry blossoms. The trip from Wanaka to Queenstown was uneventful.  We had some nice pies for lunch and found an open winery for a tasting which was actually a bit disappointing when considering the price of some of the wines (we won't name the Winery). After checking in we headed into town for dinner.  Rata was an outstanding venue, every dish was superb and Sam thought it was even better than Arbour.  His fish he rated as the best he had ever eaten.  Des...

 Arising early, we drove to Lake Matheson, the lake with the stunning view of Mt Cook - best at dawn and dusk. While not exactly reaching it at dawn, we were the only people there and drank in the beauty. We were joined by many waterfowl who made lots of noise and churned up the water. A slight walk away then back again saw us get the ideal mirror like picture!    After a hurried second breakfast at a salmon farm, a jet boat tour of the Waiatoto river was up next, one of our most anticipated adventures after the abandoned cave rafting. This was not your typical thrills and spills (well splashes) New Zealand jet boat tour but rather the boat was the means for us exploring the back country of the South. We met Ruth, our tour guide and driver, and found we were the only members of the party that morning. (Samuel also met the cat which belonged to Ruth's daughter, needless to say the cat did not join us.) The tour was amazing, instructive and much longer than we anticipated....

Eric planned an early morning run but awakening to the sound of rain on the roof at 6.30 was more than enough to nix that.  So we slept in again.  Holidays are great. After breakfast the sky was still overcast but showing promise of clearing up.  So we elected to take on the 11km Roberts Point track .  This was an " advanced tramping track " which proved to be not a major  issue fitness wise, even with the steep climb, and navigationally simple, but it was extremely slippery for anyone (Elise and Sam) in runners.  Mind you trail shoes (Eric) were only marginally better. The first few kilometers were pretty easy, although there were some interesting creek and chasm crossings.  Some were a simple hop from stone to stone across small streams, then there were the elaborate bridges including one enormous span to dodge a big cliff that dropped straight down onto the galcier moraine.  After the big bridge the track became a rocky scramble uphill with a f...