Had an absolutely awesome time, really tired today though!
We ended up flying into Christchurch, our plane attempted to land twice in Queenstown but winds were over 100km/hr (bit scary to be honest), so we diverted to Christchurch. We didn't want to stay there, the city's got enough going on and trying to find accommodation would have been difficult, so we hired a car and drove straight through to Queenstown, was a looooong day after getting up at 3.30am and arriving at 10.30pm after over five hour's driving. We hooked up with two cars full of Aussie boys on a golfing holiday and drove in convoy with them (with regular obligatory pub and subsequent toilet stops lol).
We did so much! Shotover Jet, 4wd tour up to Macetown (old mining town), took a light plane to Milford Sound and did the cruise, went parasailing, ate waaaay too much good food and imbibed in some of the local wine, lots of shopping & walking, went to the Skyline and did the Luge watched the crazy bungee jumpers and swings and generally had an incredibly awesome time
Favorite day had to be one of the simplest, we went for a drive and watched some bungies, drove to Arrowtown and wandered around there (absolutely gorgeous with all the autumn colours), had the BEST meal of the trip at the New Orleans hotel (cajun chicken open sandwich on garlic rye with aioli, yum!) and skipped stones over the river in the autumn sunshine.
The weather was absolutely perfect, beautiful clear sunny skies every day until the last two days which became a bit cloudy with a sprinkle of rain overnight Thursday night. The view from our hotel was absolutely incredible, that first morning we opened the curtains and gasped at the (truly) remarkable sight of the Remarkables spread out before us. There was snow on the mountains for the first few days, but it soon melted in the sunshine, couldn't have asked for better weather. Chris, I would highly, highly recommend the villas at the Heritage Hotel, definitely go there, it was sensational (recommend a hire car with a little one in tow, though).
Lots of photos and videos of course, I'll get some up later, but for now, here's a couple of videos of my son, just turned twelve, who has turned into the adrenaline junky from hell. He was talked into bungy jumping by a crazy Welsh lady called Kate at the AJ Hackett bridge (she was absolutely awesome, funny, funny girl, kept calling my husband a pussy for not jumping lol), and after his first jump we just couldn't stop him! He's addicted
First video is his first jump, he then went on to do a further four jumps (three from the Ledge over Queenstown, he did the Matrix and the Pendulum here, my heart was in my mouth!), then the second video is him and Kate doing a tandem back to back jump at the Bridge.
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So much more I could tell you, but I'll stop there for now at least lol. In a nutshell, the best holiday ever and the kids are badgering us to move there lol! Heading off again in a few days, but back after easter
