Week 8 - What a Week!

Having Kara and Alex here has added a new level of activity to our life.  Monday they went on a free tour of Auckland.  In the evening we had dinner at the Seattle Sky Tower – tallest building in the southern hemisphere.  Beautiful views.  We met a family from Minneapolis – the Washburn area.  Tuesday K & A went to Waiheke Island for biking and wine tasting.  They didn’t realize what kind of hills they were getting into, and then there was the rain.  They were happy to get back on the ferry and return home.  On Wednesday Kara, Alex and I went canyoning in Piha.  I loved it – plenty of adventure for me as we climbed high up the mountain in the rainforest, then rappelled down waterfalls, swam in waterfall pools, and climbed over rocks.  Ended up on the beautiful black sand beaches of the ocean.

On Thursday Kara, Alex and I flew to Queenstown.  Terry went to Wellington to give a talk and then joined us in Queenstown for 3 days.  I stayed in a hostel with K&A for one night and then moved to a hotel on the edge of town.  Beautiful scenery – mountains, lake, gondola up the hill, great restaurants and fudge!  On the first day there, K, A and I climbed the hill (to avoid paying $25 for the gondola) and then did the luge.  Relatively safe and not scary.  Beautiful views from the top. 

The next day Terry arrived in town.  He and I had a wonderful lunch at the skyview restaurant.  Perfect setting – window-side table.  And then we went zip-lining on the ecotour.  A fun group of people including a couple retired teachers from Toronto and a couple from University of Michigan who offered Terry a place to stay if he goes to Ann Arbor to do some sabbatical time. 

In the meantime, Kara and Alex turned up the adventure level and did the Nevis bungy – 134 meters down.  And then they went riverboarding – surfboarding in a wet suit down the river rapids. 
The next day we all took a day trip to Milford Sound.  We saw lots of sheep, beautiful mountain streams and then had a fabulous boat trip through the fjords. 

On our final full day in Queenstown Terry and I went for a walk which we thought would be about 6 miles but by the end of the day we figured we walked about 10 miles.  It was an easy walk along the beautiful lake but still it was a long way.  Kara and Alex had one more major adventure – canyoning up in the mountains.  They said it was quite different from the Auckland adventure and was definitely high adventure – going down rock slides, jumping off ledges into very cold water, and more.  I was very glad Terry and I had time together and that I didn’t have to try to keep up with the kiddos.  I’ll be back to Queenstown in a few weeks with my friend Kathy and I look forward to seeing the beautiful sights again.