Awesome, Stunning, Incredible

So we've been in Queenstown for a few days now.  It's a stunning mountain town on the South island.  It's like Tahoe, only better.  It is also the land of adreneline junkies.  Rob and I took a tour of the downtown area where we were bombarded with videos and pamphlets for bungy jumping, cliff diving, canyon swings, helicopters rides, white water rafting, extreme ziplining, and boats that speed inbetween cliffs with only inches to spare.  We should have had a clue, as the Lonely Planet Guide,  gave out an award for one activity as "the best thing to throw yourself off." 

We settled on the Luge and Zipline for the first day, which both Kai and Mia wrote about.  We lucked out, as it rained just enough to chase people away, but not enough to shut anything down.  We had the luge track to ourselves and our choice of times for the zipline.  Our usually cautious children turned into Tasmanian devils hurling themselves down the luge track and careening down the zipline upside down or yelling "cannonball."  It was SO much fun.  Not to mention, all of this was set against a dramatic backdrop of mountains and lake.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get some of the pictures on the blog. 

We woke on the second morning to snow capped mountains and uncertain weather.  It was hard to believe the view could get more stunning.  With wallets that were considerably lighter after our previous activities, we decided for a low budget day.  There was a hike at the end of the lake that wound through a forest of beech trees to Sylvan Lake.  This area had been the scene of many movies, including Lord of the Rings and the Narnia series.  It was also the start of the famous Routburn trail.  We brought a picnic lunch and hoped that we wouldn't get rained on.  We were the only ones on the trail. 

I'm going to need a thesaurus soon as "stunning" "awesome" and "incredible" are going to be overused quickly. 

The forest was GREEN.  It was beautiful, gentle and inviting.  We started the hike, crossing a suspension bridge over an unreal blue river.  And that was just the beginning.  Moss grew everywhere, so the entire forest, the ground and tree trunks were blanketed.  It was a great hour and a half hike and we were all pleasantly pooped at the end.   Highlighting cultural differences, what we considered a lengthy hike was described as a "perfect hike for young children and the elderly" in kiwi literature.  We are clearly the unfit, lazy americans. 

We stopped at a cafe on the way back to refuel.  Kai was so excited about his coke, that when he tripped and fell, he took it on the face, still holding the coke bottle in the air, with coke fizzing all over him and the carpet.

Green lipped mussels in coconut curry broth for dinner.  Great day. 

Pictures from the hike: the forest and the kids, pretending to be eaten by a fallen tree.