the food was very good at most places including our hotel. we actually found a decent mexican restaurant (Sombreros) we ate at several times. early in the week, katherine misplaced her rings so we went by the police station to report them lost (she later found them). while we were there we ran into a guy who was picking up his passport after being arrested for attempting to use a friend's pass at Coronet Peak. he's been banned from the NZ snow fields. i have a shot of the article from the local paper below.
we took a bus/boat tour over to Milford Sound. it was a sunny, cloudless day - perfect for the incredible mountain vistas we travelled trough and the cruise on the Sound. (misnamed as it is a fjord and not a sound - that is, it was caused by glaciation and is not an old river bed filled by rising sea level). the yearly rainfall on the east side of the mountain range we passed through to get to the Sound makes the area one of the wettest in the world (6-7m/year - yes, that's meters/year) while the west side is relatively dry - in the rain shadow. we were lucky to get such a perfect day.
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Flying in to NZ
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View from our room (ski areas are off to the left)
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Maori Te wero statue at the Queenstown police station
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Maori Te wero story
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We ran into this guy at the QT police station retrieving his passport
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The police station had a collection of police patches from the US and around the world
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Queenstown Harbor view
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Queenstown harbor panarama
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Maori piece in local gallery
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The Remarkables from bus to ski area)
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Approaching The Remarkables
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Panarama view from the ski lodge at The Remarkables
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On the slopes of the Remarkables
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On the slopes of the Remarkables
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