A Town Fit for Queens

the remarkables rising out of lake wakatipu

For those of you wondering whether or not we ever made it off of the buses, we did! And we are now readying to fly out of this BEAUTIFUL country tomorrow. 

Lucky for you, Taylor here is chomping at the bit to tell you all about our bus ride to Queenstown.  So here we go, directly from my fine friend's mouth straight to your screen: "It was nice.  The four-day journey through this country offered an abundance of beautious sites."  The important point that she is holding from you is that there really are more sheep here than you could ever dream.  It was stunning, though, in all seriousness, and we are now finishing our week at our final New Zealand destination: Queenstown. 

a genuine NZ sheep

corie, matt, patricia, denise, keith and taylor by the beach on the southern-most point of NZ

the view from the first row of our speedy jet boat

Our lovely hosts here have been better tour guides than we ever could have hoped for at an information station.  It has been a treat to sit in the backseat of their car, and be informed of the landmarks here, as nonstop beauty passes by our windows.  They have taken us from places of untouched wilderness to the southernmost tip of New Zealand (neighbors with Antarctica!), where the beaches offer lovely gemstones and flopping flounders (Taylor stepped on one, so this part is definitely true).  We went jet boating, walking, running, and swimming.  Plus we made friends with perhaps the friendliest Swiss couple you will ever meet (currently staying with our hosts as well).  All in all, this has caused time to fly at warp speed, and we cannot believe we're wrapping up our last day in our first fabulous destination!  We're off to Australia tomorrow morning, and will be spending the next week in Sydney.  Thank you, New Zealand, for surpassing all of our expectations (high as they were).  Goodbye from us here for the last time!