The BBQ Bus & Beyond

Wednesday night, Laura, Tom, Jeff and I went out to a going away celebration for my friend Sophie.  She is leaving me for 3 months to visit family in Louisiana! :(  It was a pajama party/ bar crawl of sorts, and we had a great time.  Tom, Jeff, and I finished off the night at the casino, with little luck.

So we're up to Thursday.  Thursday was a lovely day, and Jeff had off Thursday and Friday!  We started the day off by going to Arrowtown for crepes and coffee, and a short stroll through a creek and up a mountain!  Jeff and I were the only one who got crepes, but they didn't know what they were missing out on.  I had booked us a lunch at the Amisfield Vineyard and Winery because I had heard what a great lunch they had.  The restaurant and vineyard was beautiful, and the food was delicious, but they were out of a few of their main dishes, so we were a bit disappointed.  We had a wonderful bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc as well.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Laura riding the tractor at Amisfield

Awesome view from the Remarks!

In the spirit of filling our days to the brim, we decided to rent some mountain bikes from the Hilton and bike around the Kelvin Heights Peninsula.  This was Nancy's least favorite activity, but she seemed to enjoy most of it.  It was about a 2 hour bike ride, and we found ourselves especially "hiking with a bike" at some points, but the view was beautiful at all times, and there is some amazing architecture in Kelvin Heights!  The bike riding was one of my favorite activities and I definitely want to rent a bike and do a longer trail before winter comes.  After the somewhat exhausting day of tourism, we took a short ride halfway up the Remarkables for a picture perfect view!

I cooked up some tortellini and ravioli for dinner, and we all enjoyed a cheap and easy dinner at our Fernhill house that night.  It was the perfect end to a very busy day, and we all went to sleep pretty early because we had a 6:00 breakfast and 6:55 BBQ bust to catch!

Friday was our trip to Milford Sound.  We originally opted for the biggest company with the nicest buses for our day tour, but they were booked (which is apparently somewhat uncommon), so we were suggested the BBQ bus, which is a smaller bus where you stop and have a proper BBQ on the way.  We figured if at the least it would be a funny story to tell.  The bus ended up being quite comfortable, and the BBQ was amazing! We had chicken on a stick, beef kabobs, and pasta salad, and we ate right at the foot of a mountain.  Another amazing thing was the weather.  Every guide we talked to said this was one of the most beautiful days in a while.  It was so clear, and we were very lucky for a day like this in a place that rains 300 days a year!

We arrived at Milford Sound after a fantastic BBQ and a 4 hour bus drive.  We were set up on a 1 hour and 45 minute cruise of the sound.  It was beautiful to see the waterfalls from the mountains and where the sound opens up to the sea.  It makes you feel so small!!  It was a lovely, but very long day.  We got back around 8pm and grabbed a casual dinner, a few drinks, and hit the sack!  

Lovely Milford Sound

I must go to sleep now, but I will finish up the trip summary in the days to come, and tell you more about how Queenstown has been treating us in the past couple of months!!  Also, I will post some more pictures of Milford Sound and the trip on our Flickr page now!

Cheers!