Auckland

We landed in Auckland and headed to the Waldorf. Just after our arrival the fire alarm went off! We evacuated with our stuff for the afternoon and headed to mt Eden village. 

After coffee with the civils we had lunch at the garden shed. And then off to lumsden to meet Jason and Lucy. 

And fun with Jenga!

We had a great evening with beers and my favorite hells pizza. Gorgeous Monday morning to wake up to. 

And Monday morning football!!

Fun with new beer. 

Finally headed off to the airport. Ready for the longest Monday ever. Such an amazing trip, and so hard to leave....

Goodbye to Queenstown

To finish up our time in queenstown we went full on tourist and wandered down the street with a nice beer taking selfies :)

We headed to smiths for a nice flight of beer and surprisingly good bbq. I also liked the quote on the wall above. 

We carried on in search of good live music and came upon a nice pub with fancy cocktails. Pretty amazing end to the night. 

Prior to our flight to Auckland we enjoyed a nice brunch of Tijuana style huevos rancheros. 

And the always amazing flight out of ZQN. 

Welcome flats below, where we had walked just last week. Such a beautiful country and fun to see it all from the air. 

Vineyards and Cheese 2

And then down to the river for a cool off. 

Fun with burst photography as nick jumps in....

It was pretty chilly. I just splashed myself a bit.  

Roaring Meg look out along the route home. 

And final stop at Gibbston valley. Mini picnic table! 

More wine....

And then a walk to the kawarau bridge to watch the bungy jumpers. We had a lot of cheese today so needed the exercise! 

Back along the road to the car. 

Fabulous day of relaxation after all of our backpacking. Nice to have a posh day once in a while :) 

Vineyards and Cheese 1

For our last day in queenstown we chose relaxation. Starting off with breakfast at the boathouse. 

Headed towards Cromwell, stopping along the way to lookout over some grade 6 Rapids. 

First stop was mount difficulty vineyard. 

Lovely place with great views.  

And quite good wine! We met an older couple from Scotland who has been coming here to cycle each year for over 20 years! 

Took a short walk around the grounds.  

We then heard about a pop up tasting room down the road at a place called two paddocks. 

Super cute spot and gorgeous day. 

We laid out a blanket and got some snacks and an excellent late harvest reisling. 

Sam Neill, who is apparently famous, owns the place and was wandering around. We think that's him in the tartan hat in the center. 

Stop off at the bannockburn sign for a photo op!