Time to move on so said goodbye to Beryl...who told us of all her guest, only one other couple seemed so calm & relaxed & it bit her abit at ease. We headed back to Auckland for a quick night stay near the airport, jumped on an early flight to Queenstown, SNZ then bussed to Arrowtown. We spent the afternoon exploring this old gold rush town where they'd preserved most of the original buildings and today they are filled with places to eat or fancy clothing, art & jewelry stores. Their museum was amazingly authentic ...right down to an outhouse with a guy sitting inside and flies buzzing all around. When you opened the door, he shouted "Hey Matey...can't ya give a guys some privacy??" We also walked through the remains of the Chinese settlement where hundreds of these hard working Chinese came hoping to get rich. Most died poor. The gold rush only lasted a few years but fortunately, the town figured out how to find "gold" other ways...tourist! Reminded me of Traverse City in the summer. Star Wars was showing at the tiny cinema where you could bring your own wine & order a cheese platter. Since we'd hope to see it, we went. Movie was great...popcorn not. Next morning, we were off biking a trail along the Arrow river. Up, down, over long suspension bridges, past spectacular scenery, gigantic cliffs & gorges, waterfalls, deer & Swiss goat farms, grapes vineyards and the famous Kawarau Bridge where we only watched crazy people buggy jump the 120 feet bouncing just barely above the river. We were both glad neither of us were THAT crazy! After 12 or so km, we plopped down at a creamery and ate our fill of fresh made cheese and bread & fruit...and Diet Coke and a flat white coffee (Rog's favorite drink here). Then we headed back...now with the sun brightly lighting up the countless hues of greens. Tired? Yup! Ready to hit the sack--we're staying with Seb who after work biked 28 km with 500m grade. Show off!!
