We woke in our lovely house in Waitomo, packed and had an easy drive up to Auckland airport. A uneventful flight down to Queenstown. We were blessed with a beautiful clear day as we flew over the southern ranges mountains - in particular Mt Cook.

We landed and marvelled at the beautiful mountains either side of Queenstown. We caught a taxi into town to our apartment on Adelaide St. It's a great place with a lovely view of the water. We dropped our bags and then walked into town. We walked around for a bit - especially around the foreshore shops and restaurants. We were feeling peckish so we bought some dumplings and groceries for dinner and walked back home. I BBQ'd some burgers and we spoke to Granny Dee and Papi pete in France. A long day over we were soon in bed.

The next morning was clear and cold - it's beanie weather! Leigh went for a run and the kids and I joined her at a great cafe Vudu that Leigh and I went to last time we were in Queenstown. A delicious brekkie later and we walked over to the Skyline Gondola.

What a great experience- the kids loved it. It's a steep rise up to the top (790 metres). Leigh decided to walk up as training for her run. We then went on the luge - suffice to say we all had lots of fun- the kids could have done dozens of runs (Spencer and Eleanor loved the scarier red run). Our twenty runs over we caught the gondola back down the mountain to town. We had planned to have a hamburger at Fergburger but the line up was crazy so we walked around the town in glorious sunshine. Last time we were here we went to Madame Lu's for dinner so we decided to try there for lunch. It was delicious!

We wandered back to the apartment for some quiet time. The boys and I then went to play frisbee golf in the Queenstown botanic gardens. What a great game! The boys loved it. It was a combination of par 3 and 4's and the "hole" is a metal net that catches the frisbee as they fly. The park itself is very beautiful and we had a great couple of hours and the boys were very well behaved (yes it can happen). The girls went ice skating and had a great time too.

Spencer and I went into town to pick up some groceries and then wandered back home to cook up some noodles and pork chops! It was to be an early start the next morning so we were off to bed.

The next day was our Milford Sound day trip on the BBQ Bus. We were picked up at 7:30 and then Nigel our driver took us out around Lake Wakatipu. It was to be a long drive out to Milford Sound so we paced ourselves - having morning tea at Te Anhue and then a delicious BBQ by Cascade Creek in the National Park.

It was a cloudy rainy day which gave us some perspective on the majesty of the mountains around us. It was clear to see how the glaciers had carved out the valleys. Nigel was a great driver - good humoured, informative and did a great job including the kids in conversations.

After lunch we drove through the tunnel and into the valley - spectacular. A bit of a drive later and we arrived at Milford Sound town to board our cruise boat. We cruised around the fjord for the next 2 hours - the kids loved getting up close to the waterfalls as they washed the front deck. All in all a spectacular experience.

The cruise over we boarded the bus home (tempted to fly back to Queenstown but a little expensive!) Nigel showed a video of primeval New Zealand - interesting information about the flightless birds of NZ due to their being no predators - even the bat will walk rather than fly!

With sleepy kids we arrived back in Queenstown around 8:30pm and back to our apartment for a quick dinner before bed.

The next morning was our last in Queenstown so after Leigh went for a run we had breakfast at Vudu cafe again. I then caught the bus to the airport to pick up the hire car while Leigh and the kids went shopping for souvenirs.