Queenstown........

We were booked into the MGallery St Moritz hotel where we had a super large suite..... however if I were going again I would definitely ask to have a room with a view of the lake! This was the spectacular view from the bar area!

The amazing Remarkables.... skiing in winter is on the back side of this range!

Lots of action around the lake in the centre of the town.....

...with some charming buildings......

Wine tasting in the Otago valley....near Queenstown!

After a day in the rain on a boat to Doubtful Sound a day wine tasting sounded great! But first a visit to the Lord of the Rings film set!

The sun decided to come out, and we were treated to snow capped mountains

and even the sight of a glacier..... in the distance!

Apparently at the same time as road to Milford Sound was washed out this river overflowed and people were on the wrong side of it for over 10 hours!

... ending with a little dress up in the actual spot where a lot happened! Had I seen the film I obviously would have realised/appreciated this!

 Then on to do some serious wine tasting! In the Otago Valley.......

...where our first tasting was in a wine cave......

We tasted quite a number of the Gibbston Valley wines in there......

Then on to Kinross winery where a lunch/wine pairing had been arranged.....

 Here we got to actually taste at least 6 wines.... 3 of theirs

 and then 3  from surrounding wineries!

The Grant Taylor Valli winery has won a lot of prizes and it was certainly very good.... but my bet is on Coal Pit for the future! This has a 28 year old female winemaker from Ohio!!

...and then on to another winery, our last......... Mount Rosa......

Here, I think as it was getting towards the end of the day, we had about 10 tastings!!!!
However by now our ability to differentiate and judge had gone! Liked their lavender however!

On to Queenstown.....

It was a long drive to Queenstown from Mount Cook but we had a few stops en route! And passed quite a number of sheep!

Our first stop was for a great wine tasting at Maori Point winery.......

Wine was really great!

And then later we stopped by a bungy jumping place.... definitely not tempted!

Continuing on we stopped in Arrowtown, an old gold mining town......

Liked the fact that these were in three languages!

Queenstown was to be our base to explore the Milford Sound area.......however the road to Milford Sound got wiped out a week prior to our arrival! Exceptionally heavy rain! And it would take several weeks (months??) to repair!
So Doubtful Sound became our alternative destination!  Doubtful?????
To get there from Queenstown one has a 2 hour drive to Lake Manapouri ......
followed by a 1 hour boat trip across the lake, then a 1 hour bus ride  on quite a narrow road!

and we passed lots of waterfalls!

and then finally a 3 hour cruise on the actual fjord! A long day!

Where the fjord meets the sea.........

....and just a little further out!

Unfortunately it was raining!  But still very beautiful!

Mount Cook......

We were booked into the  Hermitage Hotel  at  Mount Cook with amazing views of Mount Cook ...
There was even a view of it from our bedrooms.......

Right next door to it was another mountain range.....which showed evidence ( sort of brown on snow!) of the smoke which was carried over the Tasman Sea from the Australian bushfires......

I have always wanted to see a glacier close up....so signed up to go to the Tasman Glacier...
This involved taking a coach for 20 minutes, then a 30 minute rugged uphill walk.... showing low lying clouds......

and finally a ride in a speedboat!

First stop was beside a 5 day old calved iceberg from the glacier......

We were apparently lucky to see it at its blue stage!

Then on to the next one......

which showed evidence of the stones the glacier carries with it....

then a quick trip to the actual glacier!

This showed an area of the glacier which had apparently calved the night before.....

By the time we reached the actual glacier area on the lake the clouds had lifted and we saw the snowy mountains as a backdrop!