My friend Nina and I had 1.5 more days in Queenstown before returning to Melbourne and we had to find something to do. First, after our unexpectedly successful paragliding experience, we thought of taking a hot air balloon ride over the town. This thought left as quickly as it came when we learned how much […]
Queenstown, New Zealand, Dec 2022 Read More »
Day 3 Day 4 My leg muscles had not completely recovered from the hike on the previous day. The distance to walk on Day 4 was 20 km but the trail was flat. The day was sunny, warm and with lots of sandflies. When the weather was bad, the backpack was lightweight. On a good
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Days 1 & 2 Day 3, Christmas The sound of falling rain woke me up a couple of times at night. So far, we were incredibly lucky with the weather. When we did Routeburn we only got sprinkled a little. Apart from that, the weather was pleasantly warm and dry. This area is one of
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Queenstown Day 1 The group for our other walk was again 40 people. Half of them were Americans, the other half Australians and New Zealanders plus one British. I expected to see a more diversified group. Apparently, other nationalities were not keen on traveling far. The bus went along the already familiar route with a
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Routeburn, Days 2 & 3 My friend Nina and I had no plans for the free day between two walks apart from going to an afternoon briefing at the Ultimate Hikes center. Nina suggested to try the luge. We paid for 5 rides and Nina watched them enviously while we waited in line for our
Queenstown, New Zealand, Dec 2022 Read More »
Routeburn, Day 1 Days 2 & 3 We got up at 7 a.m. and started our day by making our lunches. Everyone prepared sandwiches from the ingredients on the table: ham, cheeses, green salad, pickles, and vegetables, took an apple or an orange, and a small powerbar, filled a water bottle. We carried our lunches
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Australia to New Zealand Routeburn, Day 1 Our group was 39 people plus 4 guides. The age varied from school children to senior adults over 70. The majority of the walkers were locals, either New Zealanders or Australians, and a few Americans. The bus left Queenstown and slowly wound its way along Lake Wakatipu and
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As cold weather descended on Colorado, I faced my annually recurring problem – where to go to escape winter blues? The Southern Hemisphere was a good option, summer was just starting there. My records showed that the last time I was in Australia in 2008. Perhaps, I should revisit the country of my second citizenship.
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