Days 28 - 34 of NZ 2022 Trip

DAY 28: Stuck in our room-with-a-view in Queenstown. Feeling pretty lousy today. Can't control my body temperature, very light-headed. Tired but not really sleepy. Weird. I have one icy leg that I cannot warm up.

Learnt that two of our 'slaves' succumbed to a tummy bug from back home (one that put my 2yr old grandson in hospital for a couple of days), committing all night. Can our family holiday get any better? Hope the others make it. Pete out of isolation tomorrow.

Chicken Noodle soup and toast for dinner - about all I feel like.

Quite a pretty dusk.

It felt like an age from when Alex's plane was supposed to have touched down (7:45pm I think) to when they finally got here - close to 10pm. There was trouble at the hire car place. I'd called yesterday morning to let Hertz know that one of the cars we'd booked wouldn't be picked up until today (rather than yesterday). I explained the reason, but because it was booked through a third party, changing the reservation is apparently tricky. Anyway, the lady I spoke to from reservations assured me that she would sort it out and indeed, I received a phone call later in the day from a person at the Queenstown Airport Hertz office to check all the info. When Tom picked his car up, they assured him everything was right to go. Apparently not. The guy at the desk didn't know how to get into a yesterday's reservation to fill in Alex's licence details etc. So Alex and family were left waiting ... and waiting. GRRRRRR! Incompetence, or a really dumb computer system?

Anyway, a ray of sunshine at the end of the day. A lovely drawing from Liana, my granddaughter, posted under the door!

DAY 29: Pete is out of isolation which means I am now left alone in the room-with-a-view. I have plenty to keep myself occupied.

Today is a glorious day weather-wise. My view is even better this morning.

Pete has furnished me with a few more supplies to keep me amused. As they are going out a bit today, he has brought up our camping stove from the camper so at least I can make myself a cup of tea when I feel like it. He also made me a packed lunch for later.

Here are my supplies. At least, when my eyes feel a little more normal, I've got plenty of reading to do.

Only seem to be able to manage reading in short bursts at the moment.

Everyone went up the gondola to the luge today. They seem to have had a fun time. Pete sent this video from up there.

He has bought me a heat pack for my icy leg - feels sooo good. Feeling better this afternoon after a decent midday rest.

Missing the family chit-chat.

Today I have played patience, played Scrabble on the Internet, read, slept, eaten, drunk a lot of water, written on this blog, played some games on my phone, done Wordle, done the two SMH crosswords, the NYT spelling bee, and sat and twiddled my thumbs.

Tonight's Queenstown was lovely again. First golden, then pink.

DAY 30: I've woken up to a cloudy, but clear morning. We've obviously had a bit of rain overnight because my little balcony, over which I can at least see the others occasionally, is wet. Alex, Georgie, and Sam and Ella left early to go to Milford Sound. The rest of us (minus me now) are to go on a cruise and farm tour near Queenstown here. Hopefully the grandkids will enjoy this.

I'm feeling quite a bit better. Had the sweats last night, but I am a little less light-headed than I have been. Still a bit nosy, croaky and tight-chested.

Am reading a book I picked up at some street library about a Sonja Davies, an NZ Labor unionist/politician/activist. What an extraordinary life!

Pete and Tom returned after having a good, if a little wet, time at the farm. The children enjoyed the animals and the boat trip. The others loved Milford Sound and were lucky to see many waterfalls running. They also saw quite a number of kea on the road there which was an added bonus.

While they were all away, and apparently while I was asleep, a lady next door backed into our camper causing minor damage around one of the tail lights. Luckily she owned up and is covered by insurance so it shouldn't cost us anything. But it will be a pain if we have to get it repaired though. Hopefully that can wait till we've gone home.

My children have had a powwow and have decided that they are happy if I come out in the house. They reckon they recognise the risks and are happy to take them. So I am descending for dinnertime, all masked up, from my room-with-a-view to be among the clan. How lovely! Nice to hear and see what's going on even if I can't really do anything. Not strictly legal, I know, but I am not touching anyone or anything besides the chair I'm sitting in.

DAY 31: Have woken up to a grey old day today.

It is not very good drying weather for Pete's pack. I have had it soaking for over 24 hours but it needs to dry! (He spilt milk in it the first day of our hike on Stewart Island.) The shower space will have to do.

Not sure what everyone's plans are today, other than mine. I will be staying here! I find the masks difficult to breathe in so I have to retreat reasonably often to my room for a literal 'breather'.

Pete and Tom left earlyish to go to a race track nearby where Tom intended driving a few laps. Unfortunately, the weather put paid to that idea but instead, the two of them were driven around the track in a Porsche SUV by a professional racing car driver. Then, because the race track people had been unable to contact Tom to cancel before they arrived, both were given free entry to a car museum there which by all accounts was worth visiting.

It seems that Pete is looking after the children this afternoon while the others have all sorts of plans for this afternoon - including something called Fear Factory, and a chocolate factory/shop. Unfortunately, a white-water rafting trip planned has been cancelled because it was overbooked.

DAY 32: I am feeling a lot better today at last. Don't seem to have the chest tightness any more and my head once again feels like it is mine.

I went for a drive, all masked up, up to the Remarkables, where Pete, Alex, Georgie and the children all went for a walk up to a patch of snow where they played for a while. I sat in the camper. Nice to see a bit more than my room-with-a-view.

Tom, Sam and Ella went MTBing down from where the gondola goes. Looked like so much fun on their videos. Can't wait to feel a little more real tomorrow.

DAY 33: Out of isolation and farewelling Queenstown, not that I've seen much of it. To celebrate, I promised yesterday to do a bungy jump, something I have always said I'd never do. I was remarkably calm beforehand but seeing the actual venue and the distance from the bridge to the water made me a little nervous.

Then the reality hit as I stood out on the platform! Terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

After watching Sam and Georgie go through the same experience and collecting my free T-shirt, I headed off to Wanaka. Some of us headed there, others to Arrowtown. I had been wanting to do Roy's Peak Walk at Wanaka for ages, but immediately post-Covid is not the time to be trying it. While Sam, Ella and Tom went on, Pete and I walked slowly up for about 500m but that was enough. Lovely view of the lake and mountains, even from there.

We then headed down to the lake to spend time with the grandchildren and Alex and Georgie.

After driving around Wanaka a little more, we headed off again towards Aoraki/Mt Cook. I'd forgotten the wild barrenness of Lindis Pass.

The lupins are in full flower down here at the moment too. They might be weeds but they are pretty!

When we finally got past Twizel, Aoraki was showing its peak and looking resplendent in its sunny snowcoat! It is a very photogenic mountain.

Pete and I did our silly but fun Insta jumps in the middle of the road in front of Aoraki.

We are now enjoying quiet time at our motel in the Aoraki/Mt Cook village. Not a bad place to celebrate my 60th tomorrow.

DAY 34: Well if today is anything to go by, 60 is the age to be! What a day. It started with a delicious buffet breakfast up at the Hermitage Hotel followed by some present opening. I have been very spoilt! Just having all the children here in this wonderful place was present enough!

We then headed off to do a walk. Aoraki put on its finest weather for us as we walked up the Hooker Valley to the glacial lake at the base of The great mountain.

We saw a couple of distant avalanches, one of which I managed to get some footage of.

The alpine landscape is stunning and there were plenty of flowers blooming, including the Mt Cook Buttercup, shown in the the third of the following photos.

I don't think this walk will ever lose its appeal to me. Easy, yet it has a real wow factor and plenty of small things of interest too. The reward of lake and views at the end is the icing on the cake.

We couldn't stay long as we had dawdled up the track and had an appointment with a helicopter to meet. Originally, it was going to be Tom, Sam, Ella, Alex and Georgie going, but Tom decided to pull out and give me his spot instead. Thank you, Tommy!

Although the top of Mt Cook was, by the time we went up, clouded over, the ride was wonderful. The pilot took us up a long way above the snowline on Mt. Brown, where he dropped down in a little patch of snow where we took photos and played silly buggers. It was a stunning location and my photos don't do it justice.

Then, to cap off the trip the pilot decided to give us another adrenalin rush on the way back to celebrate my birthday!

We went back to our rooms for a bit of R&R, before heading up to the Hermitage Hotel again for an early birthday dinner. What I didn't know, is that as I was 'dolling myself up' in the finest clothes I had brought (not very fine), the others were waiting. As I walked out, hands full of undies and clothes, they greeted me in their best 60's finery, threw me a dress and told me to get changed. What a fine group we looked in the end. We gave everyone in the restaurant something to smile at. We were even told by a Dutch guy that we would be welcome in the Netherlands dressed like this at any time!