Finally in Queenstown!

I can now say we are in Queenstown and having a wonderful time! Yesterday, as many know, was a non day for us as after waiting for hours at Sydney airport in a huge holding room of many airlines waiting to board, our flight was finally cancelled…there was a bomb threat in Queenstown and they had to wait hours to get equipment from Christchurch…etc etc…(and of course it ended up being a false alarm - it was just a boot warmer that someone thought looked suspicious)…so we had to return home as they booked us for the same flight next day, change our flights on to Nelson which would have been today, change hotel bookings etc…very frustrating, and for everyone on the flight…there were weddings, birthday parties and all the usual…

So this morning we again got an Uber at an ungodly hour to repeat the whole procedure, but this time went straight to the Amex lounge and had a peaceful breakfast before joining the chaos in the holding room! And we boarded on time, left on time and all was well! Phew…we gradually let go of our angst. Had a pleasant meal with a glass of wine, (called it NZ time but still only 11.30am and 9.30 in Oz!) .

Landed amongst the mountains, still with some snow caps, and remembered how beautiful Queenstown is. Got a bus into town, which we will take back in the morning to fly to Nelson - easy. Then we found our hotel and I want to report to Jess that is fabulous!! Not the flea-bitten hostel that she thought it might be, but just what we like! We have a tiny but immaculate room with bathroom, view out to the funicular up the mountain. Right in the centre of town, though nowhere is very far away.

So after dropping our stuff we set out walking, beautifully cold - wore my down jacket and wouldn’t have minded gloves. Lovely views along the lake, trees just bursting with new spring leaves - don’t know if these are exotic to NZ or they have native deciduous trees, but it was gorgeous. We also sussed out somewhere to eat tonight - so many choices, but settled on a light Vietnamese meal (don’t worry Denise, we just need something light!!)…

So now relaxing, Amr is listening to something, I am writing up, and we’ll set off for a drink and dinner later.Read more