Queenstown, Known as the Adventure Capital of the World

 The views from the plane set our sights high for what we were to experience, and we weren’t let down. After renting the smallest Prius I’ve ever seen, an on-the-spot upgrade when the agent realized we were driving all the way through the country from south to north, we started getting familiar with driving on the left side of the road, constantly turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals. Good thing the accelerator and breaks aren’t switched. 

On this our first day, Amy and I did our first touristy thing—had lunch at the popular Fernburger. Good thing we split the burger. They are huge. We walked around town amidst all the other tourists. New Zealand’s borders are definitely open post COVID. Having regretted purging my luggage of my down jacket given the colder temps than expected, it was a good thing Macpac, the local version of REI, had the perfect jacket. We could have spent all day shopping, but we were here to see New Zealand. We walked  along the waterfront peninsula, the Queenstown Gardens, and then up Time Walk.  

 

A local we talked with had recommended we have Fae at I-Site schedule our upcoming adventures in the south land.  I-Site had been the country-wide government-run tourism office pre-COVID, but has since gone commercial. We didn’t know that when we booked our next few days to Milford Sound and Stewart Island, but wouldn’t have changed a thing. Now that we had tickets to Milford Sound and Stewart Island, Amy and I set off for the Gondola for lunch and the luge.Three trips down were fun, faster each time.

Even though we’re on holiday, errands are still a necessity.  We returned to Snap Rentals, the car rental agency to exchange our car for one with better tires. Having passed a K-Mart, yes one of the many American brands here, along with McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and Domino’s, we stopped in to get some essentials—a knife and cutting board for all the apples and cheese we’d have to snack on along the way. A quick trip to the grocery store and we were set for our trip to Fjordland National Park. You never know what you’ll find.

New Zealand Charm

How kind to have a Trusted Housesitter host pick me up from the Auckland airport and then let me know I’ll still stay at her place over the Christmas holiday even though, as she said “there is a slight change in plans”—I won’t be taking care of her dog, Benji because he’s had some health issues. Tania’s beautiful place is right downtown, overlooking the bay filled with sailboats. I knew from emails she was a vibrant person, and she’s proving to be a fun-loving host. We walked a bit with Benji. She directed me to a place to get a Spark SIM card for my phone. She pointed out places to eat and shop, and is even open to me using her e-bike. I’m just flat out amazed at how kind she’s been, especially still letting me stay at her place. She even drove me to the hostel so I could meet up with my traveling companion Amy. 

Amy and I went out to dinner (which I promptly told Tania about, a place she’s not been, but now plans to go to after looking at the menu). We bedded down early for the night in preparation for a dawn departure to Queenstown for the start of our adventure. 

The first views of the South Island from the plane didn’t even prepare us for the spectacular sites we’d be seeing once our feet hit the ground. I never took pictures with Tania. Pictures of Auckland will follow when I spend more time there in December. 

Holiday Letter 2022

December 2022

Kia ora Friends,

Kia ora, pronounced KYOH-ra, or ki-AW-ra, is Maori-language greeting. As you read this missive, I am in New Zealand, mostly likely the southern island. I visited New Zealand for the first time in the 80’s. Some say the south island is more beautiful than the north island. Because I thought the north island was so beautiful, I had to check it out after booking a scuba diving trip to Fiji. And because I have scuba gear and am so close, I can’t miss diving the Great Barrier Reef.

My fall was a whirlwind, planning a trip to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia in between a work trip to San Diego, getting prepared to drive to Colorado to take care of my great niece and nephew and skiing, and meeting up with friends in what is now becoming my third “home”. I consider Bayfield WI where I teach sailing all summer my second “home”, while St. Paul is still my legal residence, though I seem to spend the least amount of time there. Having an actual home grounds me, so until something unforeseen happens, or the task of moving seems much less onerous than my recollection of 1985, it will stay that way.

It’s nice to have family in Colorado, where I spent the first part of the year dodging snow storms which hit with a vengeance then quickly disappear. Inevitably that’s when I’m visiting friends in Denver, sometimes getting stuck there rather attempting to drive back to Longmont on unplowed roads. Because the sunshine melts the snow by noon the next day, the 80 or so snowplows I’ve heard Denver has don’t seem to get much use.

Luckily when I skied in the mountains, the roads were clear. I skied midweek, avoiding the massive Sunday afternoon traffic congestion back to Denver I observed from the west bound lanes. My Minnesota connections allowed me to ski with a friend and stay at another friend’s condo in Beaver Creek. How nice is that? I also skied with a friend from Colorado, whom I met in 1975 while touring Europe. We skied at Vail and Keystone. And I finally skied with my brother-in-law for the first time ever, and niece.

Season ski passes are now the norm. It seems strange that I was able to use my Epic Pass (the one I bought to ski at Vail, Beaver Creek and Keystone) at Afton Alps in Minnesota. This year I’m renting ski equipment for the season rather than use my 20 year old skis which this past season I referred to as “conversation starters”, because they did spark conversation. I’m looking forward to skiing with my great niece and great nephew this winter.

I happily dog sat and kid sat for family in Colorado in the late spring. How fascinating to see the differences in child development at their young ages of 2 and 4. How happy to be remembered from my previous visit several months prior, and how heart-warming to have the kids running up to me and jumping in my arms. But it wasn’t so fun when family members came back from a wedding and presented me with COVID. Yes, my sister and brother-in-law did just that. Not such a nice present for taking good care of their cocker spaniel, even as much as I love Lucky.

 

What I learned after the fact was that it wasn’t a good thing to get on a plane within 24 hours of exposure to COVID. Apparently that’s when I was most likely to give COVID to someone else. I’d never heard that. So I spent the Memorial Day weekend in isolation instead of touring Boulder by e-bike with my family.

Face masked as is protocol was how I taught my first sailing class of the season in early June. I taught almost non-stop all summer. I still love sailing in and among the 22 Apostle Islands out of Bayfield and the occasional 180 nautical mile round trip to Isle Royale, the largest island in Lake Superior WI. Visiting lighthouses, listening for bears or moose while hiking, viewing the northern lights are just part of the magic that keep me in love with Lake Superior.

It is nice to have a work gig in San Diego with executive MBA students focusing on team building in the winter, spring and fall. It has its fair share of challenges. Most students have no sailing experience, and some are afraid of being on the water. Teaching sailing, helping effect team building and asking students to think of sailing analogies to the work environment is challenging and certainly keeps me engaged in a different way than my normal teaching.

These last three COVID years have been my busiest ever. I recall a three-day break at the end of July, then an easy first half of August. Other than that it was long days, so when asked if I work full-time or part-time, I don’t know how to answer. When working, it is full time. When not working, I certainly enjoy hiking, picking berries, kayaking or paddle boarding if weather permits when in Bayfield. Back in the Twin Cities, I tend to cocoon, catch up on reading, crocheting, spending time with friends, hard-core exercising, and planning for my next travel adventures.

Instead of spending time with family this holiday season, I’m spending Thanksgiving diving in Fiji with a special feast for us Americans, Christmas dog sitting in Auckland, and New Year’s cat sitting two beautiful felines in Melbourne. How can you be that far from home and not take in as much as possible? And when you’re that close and realize you know a local in Cairns, getting reacquainted has to happen. I’m hoping to check a few things off my bucket list with this trip—as much scuba diving in the Pacific as possible, including the Great Barrier Reef, the south island of New Zealand, culture in Auckland and Melbourne, and loads of nature everywhere, especially the nightly parade of little/blue/ferry penguins. Who knows, maybe I’ll even find someone who will take me out on a sailboat . . .

Having been in Australia twice before during the December holidays, I know it will be more like celebrating the 4th of July. I may even be at the beach, rather than shivering in snowy Minnesota or Colorado or Massachusetts. Who knows? I may even update my blog.

I hope your holidays are filled with warm cheer, love, and family and friends.

Vicki

vstaudte@gmail.com 651-452-5422 nauticalnomad.blogspot.com