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I'm home now - from New Zealand. Wow. It was the trip of a lifetime, a journey that has truly changed my outlook on life. For me, that place was darn near magical - the surreal landscape, the experiences, and most importantly, the amazing people. Of course the time went by way too fast! And I can't even begin to explain what kind of light bulbs went on for me... oh, and sadly, a few went out, too...  What I can say is, that even though my world is probably in the most upside down state I've ever experienced, I'll be able to hang on until it rights itself again. When, or how, or with whom it is going to happen, I have no idea. So I am just gonna roll with it. It is what it is. Life is good!

Cheers!

One of the best days, EVER!

Crikey!! I am leaving Queenstown (**SIGH**) in about 12 hours, and I must say, I ended my stay in this amazing South Island town with an incredible day! A local (extremely accomplished!) guide took me and Lilly up Single Cone, a peak with a 360 degree vista which was a bit cloudy, but still beautiful, in an eerie kind of way! It was soooo fantastic!

Still frozen in the alpine.

Love, love, LOVE being up high!

Enjoying the views.

Almost at the summit.

Me and Lilly on the summit.

Summit of Single Cone

Looking towards the Crown Range



The best day yet!! Single Cone is in the background.

On the descent.

Amazing vista!

We were up THERE!

Unbeknownst to me, I saved the best til last... This day of alpine climbing was my favorite activity of the entire vacation, hands-down! I wish I had more time, because I would definitely enlist Bruce (Summits Mountain Guiding) to drag me up more peaks - there are so many to choose from in the area and I didn't realize that until it was too late. Maybe next time!

Alright, well tomorrow I head to Christchurch - via the bus... which should be an adventure in its own right, if the driver is anything like the character who drove us from Fox Glacier to Queenstown... hee hee...

Hope all is well with everybody back home! See you soon!!

Cheers!

Milford Sound

Today I took a bus trip - a very long bus trip - to Milford Sound, where I took a cruise around the sound and out to the sea. It was sunny and warm in Queenstown, but on the other side of the mountain range, the weather was quite different!

This place is nothing like I've ever seen before. The steep, vegetated cliffs of the sound are cool, almost ethereal, and we saw penguins and seals! The day was fantastic and I'm beat... off to bed early tonite!

Eglington Flats

Cirque near Milford Sound

The view after leaving the Homer Tunnel (google it!!).

Tour Boat

Penguins!

Mysterious Milford Sound



Seal Rock

Putting on a show for the spectators.

Seals lounging on... yep you guessed it... Seal Rock!

Sooooo darn cute!!

Milford Sound

Cheers!

Wine, wine, and more wine!!

Did I mention how much I'm loving Queenstown!! Wow!!

Today, we went on a wine tour through the Central Otago region. Being the non-connessieur that I am, I was more blown away by the beauty of the area than by the amazing wines I tasted! Hee hee! All of the grapes in this valley are hand-picked, and while there is not a huge amount of production, there are apparently some incredibly fine wines made here. It was such a fantastic day, and if you do happen to be interested, these are the wineries we stopped at: Peregrine, Carrick, Aurum, and Chard Farm.

Peregrine Winery

Carrick Winery

Old Cromwell

Chard Farm Winery

Mojito!

Tapas!

We got back to Queenstown in time to go for tapas and mojitos... mmmm!! Now I have to go find some goodies for my lunch tomorrow - I'm taking a trip out to Milford Sound, to enjoy more stunning South Island scenery!

Cheers!

My New Favorite Place...

Wow! What a week! Where to start...?!

Well, I'm now in Queenstown - which is my new favorite place, EVER. This town is uber cool, with such a great vibe, not to mention it is in a most fabulous locale!! I love it!!

Getting here on the other hand, has been a bit of an epic. Okay, maybe 'epic' is an exaggeration... but I've definitely learned alot about myself this past couple of weeks... Oy!! Travelling half way around the world, by myself, shortly after some major life changes... honestly - laugh if you will - I've contemplated more than once, just getting on a plane and coming home. I know, I know - I'm such a baby!! Hee hee!! But I worked through it, and I must say that the people I've met have truly made my adventure more amazing than I ever could have imagined! And now, with the end of my vacation drawing near, I am at the other end of the spectrum - I would give anything to stay!  **SIGH**

So... what's been happening... Well, last week I took the ferry from Wellington to Picton. And that experience seriously ranked in the top five MOST UNFUN things I've ever done! The winds were blowing 60kts gusting to 100kts... seas were 5-7m... the ship listed hard to the left and the ride was incredibly rough for the entire 22km Cook Strait crossing... Suffice it to say, I made damn sure I knew exactly where the liferafts were located!! Luckily, I opted to upgrade to the Executive Lounge where food and drinks (liquor!) were free... Upon my arrival in Picton, the unfun turned into some serious fun, when I hung out for the evening at a local Irish Pub - the Kiwis seem to love Canadians and I was made to feel more than welcome at my first stop on the South Island.

Next, I made my way to Christchurch and then to Greymouth, where I joined up with the second hiking group. We had quite a variety of personalities in this bunch: Oliver, a German lawyer; Anna, a British insurance company executive; Marion, an Aussie agricultural specialist; Angela, a horse breeder from Britain; Maryna, a structural engineer from the US who lives in Australia; and our guide Scotty, who was an enthusiastic, full-on Kiwi.

While we did see a few incredible places along the way, the weather didn't cooperate nearly as well as for the North Island trip. So after 4 days of perpetual rain and cold temps, I opted to head to Queenstown. Maryna decided to do the same, and we hopped a bus at Fox Glacier and arrived in paradise - aka Queenstown - yesterday. And - get this - as the bus door opened, I was immediately greeted with "Hi Cheryle!"... On a completely random hike a few days earlier, I met a couple of locals and chatted for at least an hour with them... and in this small world we live in, one of them happened to be sitting there on the bus! How's my luck!



The ferry, pulling into Picton.

Check out some of the ferry cargo!!

Train ride from Picton to Christchurch.

 

Pacific Coast

The second hiking group.

Random plant life.

Rainy day at Okarito.

Wandering on the beach at Okarito.

Fox Glacier

 

The gang at Fox Glacier - Marion, Oliver, Maryna, Anna, Angela.

 

Fox Glacier

Paradise - seriously!!

Paragliders above Queenstown

Launching near the gondola.

Maryna gets ready to launch.

We have lift-off!

Ahhhhh, life is good!!

As you can probably see, Queenstown is aptly named - fit for a Queen, the town itself is phenomenal and the weather here is completely awesome. It is supposed to stay that way for several more days, and there is so much to do here I don't even know where to start! I went up the gondola today and then took a boat tour of Lake Wakatipu... and a wine tour, a Milford Sound tour, and a day or two in the Remarkables are all possibly in my future - but I'll keep you posted!

Cheers!