What can I say….it’s Day 9 and my last day in Queenstown and New Zealand.  It has been a wonderful trip, one that I will always remember. This is a destination that I would definitely return to again and hopefully one day I will have the opportunity to visit its neighbor--Australia.  I don’t know how to explain it but there is just something special about this country that touched me, parts of it remind me of the U.S. and others remind me of countries in Europe.

We had breakfast at our hotel the Sofitel Queenstown, checked out of the hotel and departed for our last excursion before leaving for the airport. A few miles outside of Queenstown is the Shotover River and our last adventure in Queenstown was to ride the rapids on the Shotover Jet Boat.  The temperature was in the high 50’s, bright and sunny, so it was a great day to do the Jet Boat. The drivers provided us with long raincoats, hopefully to stay dry while as we ride the rapids, but there are no guarantees!!  We were told by our tour guides to bring a rain gear with a hood as extra protection.  We had already packed our bags and checked out of the hotel,  so most of the group (women) brought plastic shower caps from the hotel (yes I said shower caps)….they at least provided some protection and anything was better than getting our hair soaked from the water spray.  I have to say that we looked silly but fashionably outdoorsy with our shower caps, but they did help and I have the pictures to prove how cute we all looked!!!  This is an exhilarating ride so when you go flying down the river over the rapids---you are so close to the mountain ledges that you could actually reach out and touch them as you wind your way down the river.   The Shotover River is full of twists and turns so when you are racing down the river at high speeds and all of sudden do the 360 degree spins, you feel like you are going to fall out of the boat and into the cold water….talk about adventure---it is such a blast!   Yes, we did get wet, but we were lucky that the Sofitel Hotel decided to give us 2 rooms so that we could come back to the hotel, dry off and change clothes before we headed to the airport.  If you ever have the chance to do the Jet Boat excursion, go for it—it is one big THRILL and you will love it!  I give this ride a thumbs up on the rating scale.

I encourage everyone to visit New Zealand---it will be a trip to remember forever---it has everything from awe inspiring glaciers, beautiful lakes, mountains, farms, vineyards, thermal springs, stunning fjords, great fishing, boating, snow skiing and much, much more. I ask you---What is there not to like about New Zealand???  There are just not enough adjectives to describe this country---except that if you visit New Zealand, you will love it!  Call me and let me help plan your trip, and don’t forget to checkout the pictures on my Facebook page.  My trip is over and it was just too short, but I have some wonderful memories of New Zealand and the Kiwi’s!  As they say in New Zealand---- KIA ORA----hello and goodbye.  Thanks for coming along on my journey and I hope that you enjoyed the ride!  You can reach me Monday thru Friday from 9am to 5pm at 901-754-9300 or by email: Debbie@gulliverstravel.com. I can’t wait to hear from you!

I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day, I took a vacation day and so I had a long weekend and it was great just being lazy and taking it easy.  My husband grilled on Sunday and then cooked a big Pork Shoulder on Memorial Day--you just gotta love a Man and his grill!   I hope that everyone put their Flag out and prayed for our military on this special holiday!  Well it’s Day 8 and our last full day to enjoy Queenstown. Today we had the option to take one of the 4 great sightseeing tours that you, as the client would be offered complimentary if you were taking this tour. Our choices: Safari of the Scenes Tour—based around several sites where the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy was filmed; Skipper’s Canyon, which is san exhilarating adventure by 4WD Land rover following the Shotover River Valley, offering a view of the cliffs and breathtaking river gorges (a miniature Grand Canyon); Wine Tour where you could visit several of the leading Queenstown vineyards and sample the different wines that are produced in Queenstown; or a Lakeshore Forest and Bird Walk—which is pretty self explanatory—where you will see some of New Zealand’s famous species of birds.   My choice for the tour….Skipper’s Canyon…(if my husband had been with me, we would have taken the Wine tour)! We started our tour with a light rain, just enough to make the road into Skipper’s Canyon—muddy and treacherous—the road is only about 7 feet wide and it is one lane only--- no two cars can pass except in the wider portions of the road, so when I say you literally hug the road or the mountain, that is exactly what I mean! One side of the road is a straight drop and the other side is the mountain, so guess which side we hugged as we motored thru the Canyon. We saw several spots (holes) where the road had washed out from previous rains, but we just hugged the mountains and got around the holes….scary but so, so beautiful. You just closed your eyes and prayed that the Driver was both competent and experienced! By the time that we had made it halfway thru the Canyon, the rain had stopped and a beautiful rainbow along with the sun had popped out, so it turned out to be a glorious drive. The Canyon was spectacular and the scenery alone was worth the tour. Our tour lasted about 3 hours and we had a great driver/guide…at the halfway point we stopped and had hot chocolate and cookies and had an opportunity to take some great pictures. When the tour as over and we arrived back at the hotel, we had the afternoon free to eat lunch, shop and have some Spa treatments….Can you guess what I did? 

For our last night in Queenstown, we took a ferry over to the Walter Peak High Country Farm for dinner and the Colonel’s Homestead Show. After dinner that evening, which was awesome---it was in a big beautiful old farmhouse with antiques and large dining rooms, we went outside to the barn and watched an old sheep Shearer do a great comedy routine as he SHEARED the sheep. He was quite the entertainer and sheared the wool off the sheep in 2 minutes! Later we watched as the sheep dog worked the sheep down from the hillside into the paddock. It was amazing to watch the dog round up the sheep in the dark. We had one last chance to shop and buy some special wool products before we boarded the ferry and went back to our hotel for the night. We had a late night meeting when we got back to the hotel, to get last minute instructions about our departure the next day. What we did not know is that our tour leaders were able to work a miracle and got us a reduced admission to the MINUS 5degrees—Ice Bar in Queenstown for a late night drink. If you have never been to one of the Ice Bars, (there are 2 or 3 in the U.S.) it is a very unique experience. The normal cover charge is $35 NZ and includes the admission and 1 alcoholic beverage. You are only allowed to stay 20 minutes due to the small size of the bar…and they provide you with a Heavy polar coat and gloves, since it is below zero temperature in the bar. Everything inside is ICE, the walls, the bar and even the glass that your drink comes in. It has all sorts of ice sculptures and colored lights…I had my picture taken on a horse…can you imagine! When you have 30 people it is very crowded, and because it is so cold, you keep moving around to try and stay warm. It’s a great photo op and because it is so unique it becomes a THE DESTINATION!    Don’t forget to checkout my New Zealand pictures on my Facebook page or Gulliver’s Travel Facebook page.   You will love New Zealand. Stay tuned for our last few hours in Queenstown and the special tour that we took before leaving for the airport on Day 9.