Mt Cook, more luge and homeward bound

Thursday, March 23, 2017
Twizel, South Island, New Zealand
Thu Mar 23
-I let the crowd wake up slowly and have a mellow start to the morning . Happily we had only a 1.5 hour drive to our next town of Twizel. While the group got organized I went over to the info center and sadly got the grumpy lady was of little help and had no enthusiasm at all
-after a mishap with the frisbee in the neighbors yard, we were underway. We made a brief stop at the Old Town which had been relocated prior to the flooding of the dam. The drive went quickly and we stopped at the info center in our town. Here a cheerful woman pulled up a live view of Mt Cook and told us that we really should take advantage of the clear weather and head up there today. Not ideal, but ok. 
-the boys were a little disgruntled that another 45 mins of driving was in store and more so that there was a 3 hour hike ahead. We ignored them and followed the advice and drive straight there to the Old Mountaineers Cafe. We are cafe food and enjoyed the blue skies
-soon we were parked at the trail head and got going slightly after 3. The trail was crowded for the first hour but soon gave way to lighter crowds and a magnificent view of Mt Cook . Laura was very glad that we had come up this way. 
-we enjoyed a nice hike n views n pictures. Finn led most of the way trying to hurry the group and the pace but in a pleasant way. We were back at our car before 6
-we had another latish dinner of leftovers and then off to bed

Fri Mar 24
-we had no big plans for the day so we let the boys hang out while we went to town to fulfill Laura's coffee addiction and get some ideas at the info center. The same cheerful lady recommended more, steeper hikes at Mt Cook but fearing revolt by the kids we declined. She showed us a more local walk around the lake which looked nice. 
-under some protest from Finn we packed up and drove along the canals and fish weirs to the trail head. It ended up being just like a walk around a California reservoir like San Antonio. Same kind of scrub brush and exposure
-after about an hour we found a rocky beach to have a picnic. Ty built a rock pier. Finn started one but converted his to a basketball hoop . We had fun shooting rock hoops from our log perch. 
-we all agreed that we'd seen enough of the hike and returns home. Along the way we stopped to feed the highest altitude salmon. The salmon farm had almost no information posted other than a secluded n faded article. They had really missed an opportunity to educate and inform people. 
-we hung out at home with rambunctious kids and card games. I decided I wanted to drive north to Lake Tekapo just to look although expectations were low based on the info lady
-sure enough it was pretty much more of the same and sort of ended up being a useless 1.5 hour drive. Oh well. I now feel pretty secure that I have seen the variety that NZ has to offer. I'm glad we came to see Mt Cook even though today was a bit of a down day
-we all opted to skip showers n play cards instead. We would take them tomorrow on our travel day. We all agreed that it had been a fun trip but also that we were ready to go home

Sat Mar 25
-despite plans to get up and get rolling so that we could ride the luge one more time, the boys were rambunctious and unhelpful . After some frustration I realized that there was no reason for me to try and motivate them and lead the charge. Instead Laura and I left for town center to get the addict a coffee and use wifi. The boys knew what needed to get done and we would leave when they performed
-eventually we got rolling and drove back to Queenstown stopping only for gas. Laura was hungry so we found parking and got shwermas to picnic up by the luge. It was a nice plan and we had nice views
-we rode the luge with the usual giggles all the way. On the first run I got a good bump in on Finn and he got revenge on the next one. The kids tricked us into going down the scenic route on our own for the third run and that was fine with Laura and me. We raced with her passing me first and then I scooted by her later. Cackling and almost crashing into a wall, I was happy to get off my steed. I decided that was a good run to end on and we have the remaining tickets to the boys. 
-They each had 4 more rides and came by with grins on their faces. The timing worked out perfectly and we took the gondola down and hustled to the airport. With the usual final packing n returning the car n checking bags shenanigans we loaded the plane to Auckland as they made the final call. We had started our journey home after a fun and successful vacation in NZ
-layover in Auckland went quickly with plenty of time for food. Laura won with a Caesar salad with a poached egg. It was so good we ordered another one for the group to share
-The 9 hour flight from Auckland to Honolulu departed at 9pm and was a restless one . We could not quite get comfortable to really sleep, so we all snoozed about 4-5 hours. So we arrived Honolulu a bit groggy.. -We cleared customs and made it to the Hawaiian Airlines gate well within our 2 hour window and soon we were on our way home on the 22 minute flight. It is always fun to travel, but it is always nice to be home to Maui.




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