January 19,2017 Thursday

Checked out of our hotel ( Sir Edmund Hillary) this hotel is run by the national park service. Never saw Mount Cook; the tallest mountain in New Zealand (12,285 feet) where 138 have died trying to climb it.  It costs 6,000 dollars to hire a guide to guide you up the mountain.   In these times they fly you to the base and you start early in the morning around 1 a.m. you then  have 12 hours to get to the top and 12 hours to get down.  Since it's a nationa park you can try it on your own but it is not advised.

We left Mount Cook and headed for Queenstown.  Along the way we saw grazing sheep, dairy cows and many flowering lupines along the roadside.

Made stops along the way at a winery.  An ice cream and fruit market where we purchased fresh apricots, cherries, and yellow kiwi.

We made a quick stop at the first bungy-jump area in New Zealand. Our tour guide asked us if  anyone wanted to jump.  Most of us are retired and we were happy to just watch. I did take a video and will included it in a video that I plan to make when we return.  You see the girl jumping, they weigh you 3 times, then attach ropes to your angles, and you jump off. When you have stopped bouncing a little boat comes over with a long pole you grab it and you are gently lowered into the boat.

Before getting into Queenstown we toured a small mining town called  Arrowtown.  Arrowtown was an old cold rush town in the late 1880's

We are now in Queenstown and will be here for 3 nights. I circled all the towns we will be going to here on the South Island.