Queenstown Part II

So after surviving the Humpridge Track we took a well deserved break.  We arrived in Queenstown, showered the smell off and enjoyed fresh food for supper!  Despite what Dad had remembered, our hotel did NOT have a pool, much to the dismay of the kids.  Thankfully Queenstown has an amazing aquatic centre that is really warm, so the next day we spent the afternoon there.  The day ended with a famous Fergberger for supper.  Although the line was 30 minutes long, it was worth the wait.

After a nice relaxing day, it was back to adventure.  We had planned to drive to Lake Manapouri to do some Kayaking, but when we called ahead, it was too windy.  Instead we took a detour and drove to Te Anau.  It's a sleepy little lake side town that is half-way to the famous Milford Sound.  The road from Te Anau on to Milford Sound is REALLY windy with the distance of 118km taking 2.3 - 3 hours!  We've already spent enough money on Gravol.

A bonus of this detour was that there were Alpaca's at the tourist information site, and food to feed them.  They are pretty hilarious animals and each of them seems to have their own interesting hairdoo.

We spent the day checking out souvenir shops (the kids don't seem to get bored of the same NZ souvenirs in every town) and took a boat trip across Doubtful Sound to some Glow Worm Caves. This inland Fiord lake is majestic and the water is actually drinkable (so they say)!  The caves were amazing!  Massive amounts of rushing water flowing over limestone with walkways that wind 3km deep into the darkness with only the glowworms as a light source.  After the boat ride we devoured some meat pies (one of Jonah's new favorites) on the beach and a quiet ride home.  Driving along the lake coming in and and out of Queenstown is stunning so the adults enjoyed the scenery while the kids had their noses in their ipads.

The next day we enjoyed the beautiful weather and continued our Triathlon training with a run along the lake.  Then it was an afternoon of Canyoning!  We couldn't leave the adrenaline adventure capital of New Zealand without experiencing it first hand.  We don't have a go-pro so we have no pictures of this adventure, but it was definitely a highlight.  Here is the promo youtube video which is an excellent summary of our adventures.  It might have even topped horseback riding, but we'll let the kids decide.  4 hours of ziplines, abseiling, natural waterslides (or 'hydro' slides in NZ) and cliff jumps (Erin screamed the loudest)!  The kids managed to stay warm in the cold canyon water with their own wetsuits under the the provided wetsuits.  Then we had to pack up and get ready to fly home.