I am happy to report that positive thinking prevailed. The weather for my last three days in New Zealand was fantastic!
The day I last posted, the rain held off long enough for us to visit the Lake Hawea Sheep Station. There, we met Dougal Burton, who is a third generation sheep farmer. There are 10,000 sheep on their land, out of a total of 40 million sheep in all of New Zealand! To read more about the Burton family and their business you can go to http://www.lakehaweastation.co.nz/.
They had just been shearing last week, and we got to see some of the wool. All the shearing is done by professionals. Dougal told us that wool in general can sell from anywhere from $1000 to $100,000 per bag. A bag is about the size of two large garbage bags in the US.
Dougal treated us to a real live sheep herding deomstration by the working dogs. Unfortunately, one terrier got a little carried away and kind of messed up the demo. We got the idea, though. Note from the photo that Pam has dried off from her bike ride the other day.
That night, I saw the most beautiful sunset ever over Lake Wanaka. I love this little town. If I move to New Zealand, that's where I'm going to live (no, I am not moving to New Zealand).
The next day was the best day of biking for me. The scenery was beautiful and we did 43 miles before lunch. Thankfully, lunch was at a winery. Here I am going up the last hill:
From there, it was off to Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand. They are best known for having commercialized bungee jumping. I did not jump from a bungee, choosing instead to relax in the hot tub at the lovely Nugget Point Resort. Nugget Point is a boutique resort and family owned operation, and I would highly suggest staying there if you are out that direction. look them up at http://www.nuggetpoint.co.nz/. You can see how pretty it is in our group photo, and in this photo of my friends, Debra and Larry.
The weather was so good, we decided to make another run at Milford Sound. We got to go! What an experience. We flew in a small plane 40 minutes each way from Queenstown to Milford, then took a 2 hour boat cruise. I think you will be able to tell the plane pictures from the cruise ones. Note that we were REALLY close to the waterfall - the boat pulled up so near it that my hair was wet! Brrrrr!
The weather was so good, we decided to make another run at Milford Sound. We got to go! What an experience. We flew in a small plane 40 minutes each way from Queenstown to Milford, then took a 2 hour boat cruise. I think you will be able to tell the plane pictures from the cruise ones. Note that we were REALLY close to the waterfall - the boat pulled up so near it that my hair was wet! Brrrrr!
Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to all the Backroads gang that day. It was such a fun trip, made all the more so by our excellent guides, Paul and Eoin. Thanks guys, for making my trip special! The blog salutes you.
Although it was chilly, at least for Texans, the weather in Christchurch was sunny and clear the next day, as I wrapped up my Kiwi adventure. I got to spend the day with Jenny Meadows from the St. David's Writer's Group. She's over in New Zealand for two months, and left about when I did. We had a perfect day and I am really bummed we did not take a photo together. We did love this sculpture because it reminded us of Austin:
And, the begonias in the Botanical Garden were not to be missed!
I made it to Sydney and took possession of my flat in Bondi yesterday. Let's just say there will not be any idyllic shots of the building on the blog. It is, however, clean and well located. More on Sydney soon. Good on ya!
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