New Zealand Trip Part II

2/16 Monday Day 5 – Here Comes the Sun and the Opera House. After a rainy day in Wellington and some rainy days in Sydney we finally caught a window of blue sky. Adam, Tom and I took advantage and hit Bondi beach. It was a short few hours in the sand, just long enough to get sunburned and slapped into the sand by a massive wave, but it felt like the first true escape from Seattle winter.
Later that night we hit the Sydney Opera House to see a performance by Gidon Kremer and the Kemerata Baltica. It was pretty standard string orchestra set up and they played a nice mix of modern and classical. We were in a box surrounded by tourists, and I got a little sleepy, but it was nice. Later that night I caught some additional live music across from our hotel. It was a band doing among other things a cover of “Viva La Vida,” by Coldplay and “Glitter” by Fuel I think. Not quite the same caliber, but still enjoyable.

2/17 Tuesday Day 6 – Here we Go Again. With the half day we had before leaving for Sydney we decided to try to our luck with the Sydney Tower. Once we were inside we found the ride up the big elevator also comes with a ticket to a 3D motion ride. After the Wellington experience we were a little hesitant, but fortunately this time there was no associated aches or pains. After a quick flight across the ocean.We ended the evening watching rugby in a casino in Christchurch.

2/18 Wednesday Day 7 – Off to see the Queen. We burned half in the day in Christchurch picking up the Campervan, the rugged road warrior that would accompany us throughout the rest of the trip (for better or worse.) We also made pilgrimages to two holy places before leaving town: 1. the Anglican Church established by the original utopians around the turn of the century (Tom, Adam and Feed waited in the car), and 2. The top rated photo shop in New Zealand. We left Christchurch around 3 p.m. and spent the rest of the day driving to Queenstown through the Utahesque terrain dotted with sheep and the occasional, “impractically blue” lake. In Queenstown we elected to bifurcate so Tom and Feed could sleep in a hotel and Adam and I would sleep in the Campervan parked outside the hotel.

2/19 Thursday Day 8 – Mistakes and Misteaks. At 8:30 a.m. the next morning a knock came at the campervan door. “Ad, I think there’s trouble.” I could tell by the sound of the knock. Let’s just say we had to park a little further away from the city for the rest of our time in Queenstown.
Since Thursday looked to be the one nice day of weather in Queenstown, the adventure sports capital of New Zealand, I opted to go Jetboating and Riverboarding, which turned out to be a huge mistake for a few reasons. 1. After more time there it was obvious a flight to Milford Sound, which doesn’t happen in the rain, should have been the priority, and 2. I strained my neck riverboarding and wasn’t able to go bungee jumping the next day. 3. While I was Riverboarding Tom, Ad and Feed found a place to go lawn bowling with a bunch of old dudes. Dinner was also a rough go at this place we were all excited about called the Beefeater.

Day at the Beach con Ukelele.

Passing through Hyde Park on the way to the Opera House.

I'm not sure where we are in this one.

Feed raising his hand on the Sydney Tower when they asked if anyone was uneasy.

Impractical Blue.