Queenstown

We were definitely in the more touristy part of New Zealand now. Roads were crowded and traffic lights were all around. There were people everywhere, bus loads of asians who have a different understanding of photo etiquette than we do. It also had more restaurant choices, and things were opened until 6:00PM instead of 3:00PM.

We got an Airbnb just outside of Queenstown. For reals, this was our breakfast view.

An evening panoramic...

Queenstown is a ski resort in the winter and playground in the summer. It claims to be the adventure capitol of the world, and it really does have every high adventure you could think of.

We rented bikes in Arrowtown from Arrowtown Bike Hire to ride the Queenstown Trail. But first we walked around Arrowtown, a perfectly well-preserved gold mining town from the mid-1800s. It had a Park City vibe. I wanted to browse the streets for hours, but we didn't have the hours.

This picture below cracks me up. Look at Ceci hanging from the top since she wasn't tall enough!

It was a perfect fall day, ideal for a bike ride.

Irresistible cottage!

Geoff communicated with this goat for about 10 minutes. It made the most hilarious sounds; we couldn't tell if it was scared to death or just super talkative!

We came upon a well-known bungee bridge, the FIRST bungee bridge (for recreation). Man it looked scary! Both of the girls could choose an adventure while in Queenstown, and Ceci, after watching and gaining courage for awhile, decided she wanted to bungee jump. She was the last one of the day. I'm sure I felt enough anxiety for the both of us, but in typical fashion, she didn't even hesitate. Here are the pictures the adventure place provided for us.

She's nuts!

She bounced up and down before the raft at the bottom came to get her and lower her in. She let out a whoop and gave a big wave at the end. She loved every minute.

She jumped 141 feet. With her feet tied.

Queenstown for dinner by the lake.

Adele planned to parasail on a super long line. It looked like so much fun! She was so excited, but the darn weather was whipping up the water. The guy even took us out, set up the sail and explained all the details, but in the end he wouldn't risk it. It would be too rough. We didn't have another day to try, so Adele missed out on her adventure. Very disappointing.

We took a drive to Glenorchy, which was not on our itinerary, but people kept telling us it was a must-see. The drive was along the water, with mountains rising all around. It was beautiful, but it was windy there too!

We were lucky to snap a quick photo of the mysterious lake monster's head...

We stopped to skip rocks for awhile.

It was Palm Sunday while we were in Queenstown. We attended the smallest branch of the church I have ever been to. It had maybe 20 people, max, at least half of us visitors. One family with kids, and they had six!

As we walked through Queenstown we passed by a Catholic church just getting out. They handed us each a cross.

This kicked off our Easter week and devotion. Even though we were on the move and traveling, we still made time to read the events of the eventful, Easter week.