Walking through the botanical garden looking back at the town.
We’re perched in the hotel restaurant overlooking the lobby and, through the glass, the driveway outside. The lobby and the restaurant have been bustling with tourists both yesterday and today. Rows and rows of luggage are lined up outside waiting to be loaded into the tour busses pulling into the drive and there is a loud chatter from the lobby below. Then suddenly things are quiet as the luggage is loaded onto the bus and the tourists queue up to board. There is a smaller batch of suitcases waiting for a smaller bus.
Yesterday, we relaxed by walking around town, with no plans or agendas. We poked into a couple of bookstores, galleries and spent an hour in an internet cafe (sans coffee) before having lunch. After lunch we strolled around the botanical gardens nearby (they had a vigorous monkey-puzzle tree in their collections) and went back to the hotel for a nap. After that we walked around town some more, went back for another hour at the internet cafe, then went to dinner at a restaurant called “Prime” which was on the second floor overlooking Lake Wakatipu. We watched the setting sunlight play across the lake and the Remarkable Range beyond while we sipped an excellent pinot noir and had a delightful meal.
Walking through the botanical garden looking back at the town.
There is a restaurant at the top of the hill, access includes a gondola from the base of the mountain.
Looking south across the lake.
The Remarkables form the backdrop of the town.
Tussock in the forground.
Rounding the point looking back at the other side of Queenstown.
Spring is in evidence in the new foliage and flowering shrubs.
A wider view.
The cone of the monkeypuzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) is about as big as a football.
The vigorous monkeypuzzle in the Queenstown botanical garden.
Some amusement was provided by a couple sitting on a bench beside the lakefront who were feeding the birds. In this case, there were about 30 seagulls and two ducks. The ducks were adept at snatching the morsel of food out of the air, frustrating the gulls. Twice, when the duck got a piece it couldn’t swallow rapidly enough to keep the gulls from stealing it, the duck would take to wing followed by almost all the gulls, so you behold over the lake a flock of seagulls . . . being led by a duck. The duck ditched his pursuit by landing in the water close to a pier and sliding under it, leaving the gulls to return to the couple with the food.
We walked back to the hotel and discussed options for our final day in Queenstown. We had discussed taking a jet boat trip on the Dart or Shotover River, but neither one of us expressed much energy about any idea except going home. So I think we’ll be hanging loose again today and getting the bags ready for the trip home tomorrow.
So we packed our bags and departed for the Queenstown airport. It was an interesting ascent out of the narrow valley as the plane (I think it was a 737) made a steep U-turn at the end of the valley as we continued our climb. Our connection in Auckland was another one of those 10-hour waits as we cooled our heels by reading and walking around the shops just outside of security. They will call your flight an hour or so before it's departure to let you know when to pass through the metal detectors. Once through, there is another wait at the gate before boarding begins.
The flight home was uneventful. Leaving at 2300, after they feed you, most folks try to snooze. I was lucky to have the seat next to mine empty again despite the relative fullness of the flight. Landing at LAX, they make everyone deplane, even the folks continuing on to London (yikes! that's a long flight!) which was most everybody. I'd say that less than a third of the passengers went through customs with us.
One of the goals I had for this trip was to see if I liked it enough to go back to walk the Milford Track - which is a 5-day walk from hut to hut (no returning to the hotel every night). I'm still interested, but Jonathan seems lukewarm to the idea right now. I suspect the lower level of enthusiasm has to do with the sense that there are other places he'd like to go before returning.
So in the meantime, we've booked our next adventure - Country Walkers "Italy: Classic Tuscany" - to which we'll add some additional time in Florence and travel to Venice with a side trip to see the Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna.