Bikes, Coffee, Wine and Wanaka

Ryan decided in the morning to go mountain biking up near Mt Coronet, so we drove up the mountain path which provided stunning views of Queenstown in the valley below. Ryan got kitted out with his bike, helmet and arms and leg protection and off he went to the chair lift up. I decided I wanted to wander around town so managed to grab a lift back into town off one of the workers there.


I decided to part take in one of my favourite hobbies, so I grabbed a paper and sat happily outside Starbucks in the sun enjoying my coffee and cake - bliss!! After wandering around the shops and looking at the beach and lake, Ryan had arrived back in town. We had decided to check into a holiday park for the night to get some power for the fridge. We thought it was a shortish walk into town as we stayed in Frankton which is just 5km from Queenstown but it was about at 50min walk and a $5 bus ride each way! That was pricey for NZ. So the money we saved not stying in the one in Queenstown was about to be lost until I suggested trying to hitch a ride in, after about 10 mins of walking in the blazing heat (it was 6.30pm!) and some thumb aching two local guys picked us up which was brill.
We sampled the local Speights Brew pub as we had a taste for their summer ale mentioned in a previous blog. We then went to the much recommended Fergburger for some hamburger action. They weren't wrong.. they tasted great.
After another drink at a nice bar with a terrible band, we found a smaller drinking hole for our "one for the road" and then took to the road to walk back hoping for a ride. Not long into our thumb holding did we get another ride back to the entrance to the holiday park. People are really nice here for hitching! And I didn't even need to hitch my skirt !!! Well it was pretty short so best not.
We woke to a light rain so decided it would be a good time to Internet and grab another Starbucks - its not that I love Starbucks that much its just the only place in NZ I have found filter coffee, everywhere else does espresso based black coffee and that makes me crazy.
We decided to drive to Wanaka and stop at a couple of vineyards on route as we were in Pinot Noir country. Ryan told me that we were on the same latitude as Oregon which is also big on Pinot's so it must be good growing latitude! Ok science bit over..
On route we passed the home of Bungy http://www.bungy.co.nz/ and no we didn't give it ago... my stomach turned just watching those people! And I have heard that it can detach your retina's so given I have paid a great deal of money to have my eyes lasered last year I wasn't going to chance it (that's my excuse anyway)
After we drove to Chalk Farm, a lovely little vineyard and tasted some great wines, I bought a nice bottle of 2004 Chardonnay (unoaked) which was gorgeous.
After another vineyard we finally got to Wanaka, a cute little town on a lake. We decided to not use a camp that night so drove up towards Mt Aspiring to bed down for the night. We found a little lay by where you were not suppose to camp but a family next to us was so we agreed safety in numbers. We were next to a sheep field and saw about 100 sheep coming down the road to be brought in for the night! It was a funny site as we couldn't see the farmer until he drove past later with his dogs in tow. After dinner and cards, we went to bed under a beautiful starry night.