Since we've been traveling more than two weeks now, it was great having all day yesterday to relax in Wanaka. But now we must move on, because "So much to do, so little time. “

Leaving Wanaka we drove by the Car Museum, and Bob photographed an unusual car that caught his eye. Instead of backing up in it, you move to the seat facing the opposite direction; there is a steering wheel on both ends.

We traveled through Central Otago, a region with pastures filled with sheep and cows, fields of vineyards, orchards of stone fruit, and of course, many lakes, rivers and the Southern Alps. In Colorado we call these large valleys encircled by mountains "parks" so I'll call this area “NZ’s South Park."   We then crossed the 45th parallel.

We passed Cromwell, which is known, as the Fruit Bowl of The South; they even have a big sculpture of fruit on display.

The road through Kawarau Gorge is steep and twisty and offers views of the river. We stopped at Roaring Meg lookout, which is where the Roaring Meg stream connects to the Kawarau River. The Roaring Meg was named after a redhead barmaid who had a feisty personality.

We stopped at the Gibbston Valley Winery, the first in the “Valley of Vines.”  There is also a creamery there, and they offer tours inside their wine cave.

Then we stopped at the Kawarau Suspension Bridge where the first commercial bungee jumping operation started in 1988 by the dare devil, A.J. Hackett, famous for his jump off the Eiffel Tower in 1986. Jumpers dive 142 feet from the bridge to the river. They even have a bar to provide some liquid courage. The oldest jumper was 94 and the youngest only 10. I walked on the bridge that was built in 1880, but I certainly didn’t jump.

We had a late picnic lunch in Arrowtown, which is a restored early gold-mining settlement that looks like a set for an old Western movie. The town is among lots of deciduous trees.

It is only a bit farther to Queenstown, known as The Adventure Capital of the World.”  As they say here, “You’re spoiled for choice.”  You can choose to sky dive, hang glide, ride a jet boat, white water raft, ski or even golf!

The town is located on Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by the Remarkable Mountains. (I saw a sign advertising “Remarkable Vets.”  Yesterday I saw a building in Wanaka with the sign “Aspiring Engineers.”) Lake Wakatipu is another large, blue, glacial lake, but it has the unique property of raising and lowering 20 cm numerous times a day, thought to be due to changes in temperature and atmospheric pressure.

Our adventure of choice was to ride the Skyline Gondola to the top of Bob’s Peak, and that was almost more excitement than we could handle. The gondola took us 1500 feet straight up! The views from up there really were worth the trip up and down.

On top there are restaurants, shops, hiking trails, a luge, a Ledge Bungee Jump, a Sky Swing, a bike trail which goes down the peak, and the chance to hang glide from the cliff.

The Gondola was within walking distance to our Campervan Park, and we made it back before dark!