Ups and Downs

This morning, we had to leave the lap of luxury at the Heritage, Queenstown for the Top 10 Holiday Park in Te Anau (read: a KOA with ensuite units, dorms, and camp grounds). It’s actually not bad…kinda like camping in luxury. The plan: get settled in Te Anau for a night and prepare for a two day kayaking / camping trip in Doubtful Sound.

Before we hit the road, we had a few more things to check out in Queenstown. First, we took the Skyline Gondola (i.e. ski lift) to the top of a peak overlooking the area. From here, you get a great view of Queenstown, the Remarkables (a set of three mountains that also made an appearance in LOTR), and Lake Wakatipu.

Second, we made a stop at Queenstown’s oldest home, Williams Cottage. It was built in 1864 and remains very close to its original condition. The cottage and its garden are now the home of a neat boutique selling contemporary, made in NZ stuff. The displays provided an interesting contrast to the 1930s wallpaper (which was peeling). We grabbed something to eat and coffee before heading out to Te Anau. A few hours later, we pulled into our latest home. As we settled in, Greg went to call the kayaking company to ask about secured parking while we’re on the kayaking trip. About 10 minutes later, he comes back and throws our itinerary onto the ground, pouts, waves his arms around and jumps up and down like he’s having a fit. I’m thinking, “Uh oh, they screwed up our reservation or they don’t have overnight parking.”

Greg: “It’s canceled.”
Me: “Huh? What’s canceled? The kayaking trip?”
Greg: “Yes, the kayaking trip. The whole thing.”
Me: “Uh, how come?”
Greg: “They said tomorrow looked like it would be a great day, but the day after was going to be too windy to safely kayak.”
Greg looks really disappointed and sad.
Me: “Oh. Well, it’s probably better that we don’t attempt the trip then. Remember how sucky it was to paddle in the wind at Abel Tasman? It’s okay, we can’t control the weather. Maybe we can do an overnight cruise instead.”

So, we walk into town to investigate overnight cruises at the Information Center. Luckily there was a room left on the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise that leaves tomorrow at 12:30 PM. While a cruise is not the same as kayaking/camping, at least we’ll still be able to experience Doubtful Sound. The woman at the bookings counter said that there’ve been heaps of penguin sightings lately and a good probability that we’ll encounter wildlife. She also said that the food is really fabulous, and we wouldn’t need/want to eat for 2-days after the cruise.

Greg: “This’ll be a good test. I’ll see if I can handle a longer cruise on a bigger ship. Or I’ll discover that I’ll be completely bored out of my mind.”