Roberta joins in

I landed in Queenstown to join Jared and his parents.

Shot from the plane

We are cruising around in this hot little Britz-mobile. A few more amenities than Esther, perhaps.

We stayed that night in Queenstown, and the next morning Ron and Lynn went skydiving. We had planned to go parasailing but it was too windy. The skydiving was still a go, so we caught up with them to watch and take pictures. Yes, I agree, it is a little ridiculous that Jared’s parents went skydiving and we watched from the ground like wimps... I have no defence other than that we were being lame-o’s.

The nice thing about skydiving is you get a good view of the place from the sky. Ron and Lynn said they could see for miles around and got a great look at The Remarkables, the mountain range in Queenstown’s backyard.
That afternoon we took the Gondola up and got some good views of Queenstown. While up there Jared and I went luging. We started racing and things got a little competitive. I might have cut him off hard and made him veer off the track....twice. I had to apologize for my behaviour.

The next morning we started driving towards Dunedin. The country really changes (yet again), and gets really open and arid.

We drove out on the Otago Peninsula and went to the Penguin Place. This is one of the few places left that has yellow-eyed penquins, the rarest penguin in the world! They have a huge system of bunkers and trenches that you walk through to view the penguins without disturbing them.

Penguin pics

We stayed out on the peninsula that night and then drove into Dunedin the next morning. I really liked Dunedin. It feels just like a European city. Dunedin is gaelic for Edinburgh, and there is lots of Scottish influence in the city. We walked up and down the streets and took in two churches- St. Paul’s and First Church of Otago.

We started heading back for Christchurch as Britzy had to be returned soon. Along the way we stopped at the Moeraki Boulders. Not too sure how they were formed, but basically the same theme continues where the combination of limestone, water and time can make cool things happen. Such a cop-out answer.....

 

We got Ron and Lynn sent off safely. They are heading to the North Island for a few days up there and then a week in Fiji. It was so nice to have them come see us on the other side of the world! It would be cool if my parents would do the same.

Until Next Time!