Day 25 The sky at night

Again word of warning - post for day 24 was also done today so you might want to look that one up before reading this!

So back in Queenstown and what a most beautiful day.







We had a lazy brunch and then did some souvenir shopping before heading out on TSS Earnslaw for a cruise on lake Waikatipu.








The lake views were stunning and Callum went mad with my camera. Thank heavens for digital photography! It was great fun and you could see how the double steam engine worked and watch what was happening in the engine room, so I was in heaven!














We ended our day with a trip up he gondola again. We did a few more trips in the luge and then stayed to do a group astronomy session after dark. It was truly amazing. Seeing the Milky Way so clearly was magnificent but also to see the satellites and some shooting stars was brilliant. We can now find the Southern Cross and have seen Alpha Centari. We were also allowed to view things through a pair of 11" telescopes and we could see a binary star system, a cluster and the best part was seeing Saturn with 2 of its moons ( there are 63 we learnt).

As there were no clouds and no moon, we were also lucky enough to see the Magellenic clouds ( google it!) which basically look like clouds to the naked eye. It was a very special evening and brought back memories of star gazing with my dad and hopefully inspired Callum, although he seemed to know a fair bit!






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Location:Queenstown, New Zealand

Day 20-22 Sun and Snow

Monday was another early start as we headed off in the dawn light to drive over the mountains to Cardrona.

It was a windy route but eventually we entered Cardrona Resort. It is a full 20min drive from the entrance to the resort up a windy dirt track up the side of a mountain! That being said, Cardrona is a great resort and you could turn up here with no ski wear and hire clothes and kit and head out for the day.

Callum is booked into the kids programme, called Skiwees. He is with them from 8.45 - 4pm and skis for about 2hrs each morning and afternoon. His instructor is a lovely English girl called Charlie, who is keeping him under control! He is now working on maintaining his parallel turns and even went down some black modal bumps today! Not surprisingly his favourite place is the junior freestyle park. I have some videos to upload later.



Today was our third day on the slopes in glorious sunshine. The resort has lots of lovely blues and green trails and the lifts are never too busy. It also has a big freestyle park which you can watch while on two of the lifts. Everyone is very friendly as well. The lift guys are always asking if you are having a good day.

Tonight snow is moving in, which could be a problem, but we will have to wait and see.

The only downside is that we would love more time here in lovely Wanaka, but most evenings we are just too tired.




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Location:Cardrona Ski Resort, New Zealand

Day 24 puzzles

Yesterday was a horrid foggy, icy , windy ski day. It was shame for the children but they still got out on the slopes and also showed off their skills of skiing downhill in pairs holding each other's poles doing 360deg turns.

Day 24 was the final day on the slopes and Callum was showing off his new parallel turns. Looking really good I must say. Richard has improved a great deal this trip and we can now safely travel down blue runs without too much stress or agro. I have found that my own skiing has improved in speed and confidence since Monday, I even did the jumps in the children's freestyle park and one little box.

Callum loved the freestyle and if you are on Facebook you can see a video of him going over the jumps.

We left the slopes early at around 2pm to go back to Wanaka so I could take the boys to what I consider to be the best maze in the world.


When I did it in 1995 I loved it, so I wanted to share that with Callum. Thankfully it held up to my description and we all split up and tried to find our way to the towers. Shamefully Richard beat me by miles (although I was the only one who knew the way to the exit - having visited it 3 times !) and although I beat Callum, he did the 4 towers of the maze in the correct order, so I was really impressed. The place now also has an illusions room and that was a sheer delight to Callum, even though the slanted room made me feel very queasy.





We will have to get the old photos from travelling in '95 out to compare pics and prove I really did go there.

Finally we drove back to Queenstown using the longer route past loads of local vineyards to get back in time to return our skis and have a final Fergburger!

Location:Puzzling World, Wanaka, Otago, New Zealand

Day 19 - There and back again

NOTE: this is my second post today, so you need to click on "previous post" to read it if you missed it

Today we headed off to the top of Bob's peak, a mountain that over looks Queenstown. There is a gondola up to the viewing station and cafe, but Callum wanted to walk, so we agreed.

It is a steep climb on a rocky path through the yew and pine trees. It was great fun and reminded me of Bilbo and friends heading through the woods. Would we get eaten by spiders if we strayed off the path? We made it up in just over an hour, our thighs burning and our energy sapped, but feeling very elated.

After a reviving glass of mulled wine, we were ready to tackle the luge track situated up there. You have take a chair lift to the start of the luge and then hurtle yourselves down a concrete track. There are two different tracks and we tired them all and Callum went several times on his own. It was great fun and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.







Callum chose his own bone necklace and is embracing his adventurous side very well, asking to go kayaking, paracending and jet boating.












Tomorrow we head over the mountain to get to the Cardrona ski area south of Wanaka. CJ is in ski school (skiwees) for 4 full days and we will be cruising the blues. Not sure what to expect but we will give it a go. Sadly no new snow is expected this week, but it is the best weekend they have had all year apparently.

I will try to report back for all my ski addicted friends soon.


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Location:Queenstown, NZ

Day 18 - Welcome to Queenstown

A very early start on Saturday morning (thank you James for the lift to the airport at 4.15am) resulted in our arrival at little Queenstown airport in time for lunch. As the plane came in over the southern snow-capped mountains the memories came flooding back from my time here over 18 years ago!

Queenstown is a most beautiful township, situated right beside a huge blue lake. Even though it was only 6 degrees, the sun was shining and it set the whole scene alight. Callum's speechless reaction was amazing and he has since declared that he never wants to leave here!

If you saw the photos on Facebook you will see in more details, but here is one from today.




We spent our first day eating at the local "best burger bar" called Fergburger. Quite simply delicious "fast" food, which is cooked to order, so takes about 15-20 mins, but the local brew Speights is tasty enough to sup while we waited.

After that we spent some time exploring all the adrenalin-filled options available, with help from a lovely lady at the tourist info. Then we headed off to Minus 5, a sub- zero ice bar, where we supped cocktails from glasses made of ice, surrounded by ice blocks and ice sculptures. A unique experience.

We walked back to our hotel, which is slightly out of town, along the lake shore admiring the sunset. Stunning honest.

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Location:Queenstown, NZ