Queenstown, Sheep, and back to Sydney

It's been a while, but we've doing quite a bit of moving around, and access to a computer was a bit challenging.

The last time we posted we were in Wanaka, NZ. Leaving Wanaka we headed to Queenstown, via the Crown Range pass. We learned this is the highest pass in NZ, and the multiple switchbacks confirmed the steepness of the mountains. Our little 4-cylinder hard to work extremely hard to get up each section.

Queenstown is quite busy and over developed in our opinion. Hundreds of shops, bars, and restaurants all crammed into a very small footprint. The place seemed to be overrun with adventure junkies, hippies, and people who had planned to be in Queenstown for "6-months before heading to Europe or Asia".

We had a great excursion across the lake on coal-fueled steamship to a working sheep station. Our guide/host Lindsey who was a laugh-a-minute showed us how to shear a sheep [not something I'd be good at], and how he and his dog [Storm] work together to bring in the sheep.

NZ has 40 million sheep, which is about 10 per NZ'er. That's a lot of sheep!

After Queenstown we were faced with a long journey back to Christchurch. We decided to break this into two days with the longest section on day one. This allowed for a short drive on day two, and enough time to visit the Antarctica Exhibit.

On the way out of Queenstown we stopped to watch the bungy jumpers leap off a 120ft bridge

Christchurch is known as the gateway to the Antarctic, and many counties, including the USA, have stations and bases in Christchurch.

The exhibit was amazing and included a sample of an Antarctic storm, a penguin feeding, and a drive in a Hagglund all-terrain vehicle, driven by a Canadian from Cambridge, ON.

New Zealand is an amazing place and we feel as if we only scratched the surface. It definitely requires a return visit. As one person we met told us,"I've travelled 30,000 km across NZ, and still know that I have not seen it all."

The next day we were up early for a flight back to Sydney.

We have a few days left, and plan to do more things in, and around Sydney. And this weekend we will have our first surfing lesson - should be interesting.

Until then, cheers.

Photo: Storm working the sheep.