We took the gondola up to the top of the mountain, explained in one of the previous posts. It was a beautiful ride up the mountain. At the top, we first shopped then we hiked around a bit before doing the luge ride. Then after that, we hiked a bit more through some forest and up and down the mountain before heading back to the restaurant at the top of the mountain overlooking Queenstown.

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The luge ride was a blast! I highly recommend doing it. But I believe the company would do better to allow two rides for the current price to allow people who are beginners another chance around to enjoy the ride even more than the first time. Still, everyone had a lot of fun riding their luges down the track, some ever so slowly.

The restaurant has a beautiful view of Queenstown and offers a really nice buffet with lots of savory seafood dishes, pies, salads, breads, stews and soups, meats and vegetables. We ate our fill!

On our hike through the pine forest, we found lots of mushrooms among the tall pines. Of course we did not eat any of them because they are most likely poisonous. But they sure looked delicious!

After all the fun on top of the mountain, we picked up our van and drove around outside the city limits to see what is just north near the Shotover river. We watched the Shotover jet boat going at that time zipping up and down the river with the riders screaming their heads off enjoying the thrilling ride. It looked like a lot of fun and everyone in the group said they would love to ride it, if we had time. Probably not!

From the Shotover, we headed back to our favorite shopping market, Fresh Choice, and picked up some more groceries.

NOTE: Most other markets in town are tourist traps and would get more business if they lowered their prices. Anyone going to Queenstown should shop at Fresh Choice to save money!

When we got back to our place, the Heritage Apartments, we began cooking our dinner. Everyone said they were not hungry, but fixed tons of food! Tons! It was huge and we didn’t eat it all, but it sure was good. Pumpkin, salad, roasted chicken, egg and cheese omelete, bread, grapes, blackberries, mushrooms (not picked from the forest) and very dark beer.

Everyone ate well. This time, however, without stuffing themselves. Now, it is time to prepare for tomorrow.

Milford Sound here we come!

More tomorrow…

Here are photos from yesterday!

What a bummer! We had our hearts set on ballooning here in Queenstown, but because the weather is Boss, our hot air ballooning experience today has been cancelled.

I woke up early this morning at 6am to call Sunrise Balloons and got their recording saying the today’s flight had been cancelled due to unsuitable weather.

Instead of hot air ballooning today, we are going to take the steepest gondola in the southern hemisphere up a mountainside to the top of the mountain and do some hiking. After a short hike, we will eat a buffet lunch at the restaurant at the top of the mountain overlooking Queenstown.

After that, still pending…

We have made it to the airport safely and gotten through immigration without any problems. There are many people here at the airport trying to get home but cannot because their flights toward Europe have been cancelled from the volcanic eruption that happened in Iceland. We, however, are fine going to New Zealand.

Everyone in the group is excited about our trip. Many of us who have traveled together previously are reflecting on our prior trips together. It is making our anticipation even greater as we talk about all the fun things we have done together.

For now, we are at the airport waiting our plane to Seoul, Korea.

More posted later as our trip progresses…

The next adventure trip will be to Queenstown, South Island New Zealand. We will stay just off the lake in Queenstown city limits at the Heritage Heights Apartments the entire time, just a walk from downtown.

Photos of Milford Sound

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Here is the itinerary:

Day 1 – Saturday, April 17

• Fly to New Zealand

Day 2 – Sunday, April 18

• Arrive in NZ
• Get the rental van and drive to Heritage Heights

Day 3 – Monday, April 19

• Champaign breakfast and Hot Air Ballooning
• Sightseeing around the area
• Dinner at a local restaurant

Day 4 – Tuesday, April 20

• Milford Sound Cruise

Day 5 – Wednesday, April 21

• Glacier Hiking

Day 6 – Thursday, April 22

• Whitewater Rafting

Day 7 – Friday, April 23

• Fly from Queenstown to Auckland
• Stay in Auckland one night

Day 8 – Saturday, April 24

• Fly out of Auckland to Japan

Day 9 – Sunday, April 25

• Arrive back in Japan

Several people who’ve been abroad with me to New Zealand, Greece and America have asked me to put together another tour. Some request we go to South Island New Zealand, while others have requested California for skiing and sightseeing or Hawaii.

However, the last tour fell apart because I couldn’t organize the dates according to everyone’s schedules. Some people gave me their schedules too late or told me they would be able to go, but then told me those dates were no good later on after I had planned everything out. In the end, I had to cancel the trip because no one could go at the same time.

If you wish to go on the next trip, please specify your name, dates you can go and which place sounds best to you.

Your choices are:

• South Island New Zealand – Whitewater rafting, hot air ballooning, glacier hiking, fjord sightseeing cruise, hot spring, horseback riding
• Hawaii Island – helicopter over Mauna Loa, snorkeling, sunbathing, windsurfing, ocean kayaking, shopping and sightseeing
• Sightseeing the states of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California on a 10-day drive from Chicago to San Francisco in a camper van!

Personally, since the yen is stronger than the dollar, I would like to take advantage and do the drive from Chicago to San Francisco!

After a long flight from Osaka to Seoul to Los Angeles, we’re finally here in Mammoth Lakes where we will go skiing in the morning.

(Sorry, the pictures were deleted. I will repost them soon! July 27, 2011)

Day1 Drive to Mammoth Lakes

The drive from Los Angeles was smooth one. We stopped a few times along the way, once for two hours of shopping for bathing suits and groceries, and then another time for gas, and another few times for picture taking. All in all, the drive took us a little over 7 hours including the stops.

There is leftover snow on the ground around Mammoth, but not much. Mostly the stuff left from snowplows piling it up on the sides of roads here and there. The mountain has plenty of snow though, and they expect more Tuesday. Good thing we rented a 4×4 Jeep Liberty to get us around, rain, sleet or snow. We should be good to go.

For dinner tonight, we ate Mexican that we bought at the grocery store and made ourselves. It was delicious!

Well, everyone is showering now and then we’re off to dreamland to get some much needed sleep before skiing tomorrow.