Jan 11 & 12: Riding & Cycling Back to Dunedin

Tuesday morning found everyone finding alternate means of transportation.  Katie and Jim headed out first thing in the morning on a horse ride around the hills surrounding Queenstown.  Who knew that Katie had previous riding expertise, but she put her talents to work and got to canter with her horse!  (Even if you don't know what this means, just know that it is a notable achievement.)  It was another lovely day, and they said that they had a great time.

If you take a jumping picture while riding a horse, this is what it looks like.

Back at holiday park, Vanessa, Graham, and Simon were getting ready to leave for their three day bike ride back to Dunedin.  After a last minute run-around to the local Queenstown bike shops, they were on their way.  See you in Dunedin!...or so we thought.

V&G packing up the panniers

Simon, Vanessa & Graham...bikers extraordinaire!

Todd and I spent the morning having a lovely breakfast on the water and having surprise encounters with large replicas of New Zealand native extinct and endangered birds.

A kiwi & me (endangered)

A moa & Todd (extinct)

When Katie and Jim returned from their horse ride, we headed out of Queenstown and back home to Dunedin.  About an hour from Queenstown, in Cromwell, we saw some folks we knew by the side of the road and stopped to see if we could help.

Biker Road Crew at your service

Our dear friends were fixing puncture number two in one of Graham's tires.  As their Biker Road Crew, we stopped to help out and brought out the big tire pump we had in the car.  Laura to the rescue!  OK, not really.  They were fine on their own.  I just helped pump the tire.  Shortly, they were off on their way again.

Unfortunately, the rest of their trip would not be so easy.  They had three additional tire punctures before they made it to Alexandra, their stopping point for the night.  The next day, the winds were so crazy (they were pedaling DOWNHILL) that they only made it about half of the distance they intended.  These biking enthusiasts (who spent 6 weeks biking through France, Switzerland, and Austria a few years ago so are not lightweights) tried again on Thursday, but the winds were once again INSANE.  I drove out to Middlemarch to pick them up, and while it was sad that they weren't able to finish the trip, but they were troopers, and I'm sure will tackle this trip again.

Back in Dunedin, we served the traditional 229E Highgate welcome meal - beans on toast - and then took Katie and Jim to see the glow worms.  On Wednesday, we released Katie and Jim into Dunedin's business district to finally buy the souvenirs we had prevented them from buying on the trip saying 'there's no room in the car' and 'you can get that in Dunedin.'  Dunedin proved its reputation true and it was a balmy (read windy and drizzly) 11 degrees Celsius (about 55 degrees Fahrenheit) in what is equivalent to MID-JULY!! Grrr, Dunedin, grrr.

In between the shopping and the eating at our favorite places, we took them to Baldwin Street, the Steepest Street in the World and scene of Todd's Jaffa head wound.  Note the change of weather in the pictures.  They took place within a span of about 30 minutes, and you'll practically see all four seasons.  Ah, Dunedin.

Trying to demonstrate how steep the street is, but it's hard to capture on camera.

Katie and I at the top and in the rain.  Thank goodness for our flash raincoats.

 

Sorry my foot is in the picture!!! Bad photographer.

After shopping and packing and relaxing, we headed over to Zucchini Brothers, our local neighborhood (delicious) Italian restaurant for a farewell dinner.  We celebrated the trip, their time in New Zealand, and gave them each a pounamu (New Zealand jade) necklace.  Katie got a koru, and Jim's was a fish hook.

We gave Mijin a pounamu (double twist) in Franz Josef.  I got my pounamu (double twist) from Vanessa for Christmas, and Todd got his (tiki) for his birthday.  Here's Todd doing his tiki face with his tiki t-shirt on while wearing his tiki pounamu.  Pounamu plays an important role in Maori culture and is only found on the West Coast of the South Island.  It's often given as a gift to visitors (Vanessa says you can't buy your own - it has to be a gift), and if you see someone outside New Zealand wearing a pounamu, you can be pretty well assured they've spent some time in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

And after we dropped Katie and Jim at the airport on Thursday morning to head back to the States, our roadtrip around Aotearoa, (Ah-teya-row-a) aka Land of the Long White Cloud aka New Zealand, was officially over.  I was lucky to be able to do this with so many good friends.  It was more amazing that I could have imagine and more fun than I could have asked.  You have to come to New Zealand.