Friday, February 20, 2009
Last full day in Queenstown and not sure what the plan is. It is raining, cold and windy. We ended up doing a bunch of nothing in the morning. After finally prying Mike out of his blanket around noon, we drove downtown and walked through the shops of Queenstown. This being quite touristy we quickly tired and stopped to have Hell’s pizza. This was not at all what was advertised. Turned out to be quite bland and uneventful. So much for Hell, seemed more like purgatory. We hopped back in the car and headed back to Gibbston Valley Winery to pick up a scarf we scoped out earlier for MaryKay and Rita bought a wine book.
When we returned to the apartment, I decided to take a nap. Troy, Rita and Mike made a decidedly meaningful dent in the remaining rations including a variety of snacks and many wines. It finally stopped raining and we decided to walk the trail downtown and go to The Cow for pizza. The pizza at The Cow was much better than in Hell, and the garlic bread was excellent! They took a loaf of Italian Round and basted it liberally with butter and chunks of garlic. The bread was served on a cutting board with a slab of butter topped with chunks of garlic on the side.
Before we were seated we enjoyed a bottle of wine at the bar. Troy was taking a picture of the group when we noticed a Green Bay Packer jacket hanging up behind the bar. We laughed and tried to figure out who the Wisconsin person was that had the jacket. It ended up being people from New Zealand. The kid who had the jacket on also had a t-shirt on from Hurley, Wisconsin. The mom commented to us that the kid never heard of the Packers before but wanted the jacket. This then led to questions about why they were called the Packers, where was Green Bay, etc.
It is hard to believe the trip is nearing the end. Tomorrow we fly back to Auckland and then head out to Tahiti. It has been a great trip. We thought the trip was over-planned, but the days were not too full, and the itinerary gave us a good perspective of the entire country. Mike and Troy are now talking about going to Spain in October 2010 and touring that wine country.
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