After several months in Africa and South America, we had kind of forgotten how easy it is to be in a western, English speaking country. When we arrived in Queenstown, it felt a little like we had arrived back in Boulder. Queenstown is an outdoor mecca in one of the most picturesque settings you can imagine. The renowned Remarkable Mountain range stands guard over the city on one side and Queenstown’s picturesque Lake is on the other side. Everywhere you look, you see the ridgelines of the other “remarkable” mountain ranges on the South Island of New Zealand. With only four million residents, New Zealand’s vast beauty is amazingly untouched and we rarely saw boats on the lake or hikers on the trails we explored in Queenstown or Wanaka.
Since we were in the adrenaline capital of the world, we decided to partake ourselves by careening through canyons on jet boats, 4×4’ing down “roads” and across rivers with a maniacal Kiwi, and racing each other on the luge. We will attach a video soon to show what the jet boats can do at 85 km/hour in only 4 inches of water in a narrow canyon!
Christy and Jay had a chance to revisit some of the places we had been to 12 years earlier. We all got reacquainted with some favorite foods (Jay with sushi, kids with Subway and Mexican food), and Christy moved from South American reds to New Zealand whites. We also spent some time perusing Queentstown’s awesome outdoor stores for some needed clothing replacement and into a local salon to get haircuts.
It was hard to shake an involuntary urge to speak Spanish and we found ourselves responding “si” and “gracias” more often than not. And driving on the left side of the road required a little more focus but overall we found ourselves very comfortable in the young, vibrant, outdoorsy traveler hangout. If we are ever banished from North America, we will make our home in Queenstown. And if we don’t come home in May, you’ll know where to find us.
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| Air New Zealand’s youngest employee distributing candies |
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| Crazy hair day! |
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| Incredible Wanaka! |