Truly Remarkable

1-Did we jet off to Asia for the weekend? No, it just looks that way because a Korean prison movie set from 1986 still stands in front of the Remarkables mountain range.
2-Our toll collector, Don.
3-After hiking up the ridge instead of taking the gondola, John relaxes above Lake Wakatipu.
4-We have terrible luck. John fell off the same cliff Aragorn did in "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers". Fortunately, he's recovered.
5-Taking a leap of faith, MK hops over the Remarkables.

Though the week days get us down sometimes due to the daily drudgery of every day existence (it's not ALL a vacation here) a little bit of weekend fun goes a long way.

This past weekend we ventured off to NZ's adventure capital, Queenstown. Up until now we'd just caught glimpses of Q'town from the shores of Lake Wakatipu on our way to Arrowtown and Wanaka. We'd not been too tempted by Queenstown's multitude of expensive ways to hurl yourself off mountains, into lakes and down river rapids. It's a major tourist destination and major party town, and being the prudes that we are we thought it best to be avoided.

Since it's between water and snow seasons, however, we thought we'd check it out. Now we plan to return a few times over the next month or two before the ski bums arrive. It turns out there are plenty of walks, yummy restaurants, and tamer activities to keep even the boring two of us entertained. The town made me sad with its ugly architecture and strip malls, but the setting is otherwise beautiful.