Day 3 – South Island Tour – 28th February 2010

It’s Sunday. Had a lay in. Got up at 9:00am. Such Luxury. Had breakfast and wandered through Queenstown to the gondola and went up to the top. Great views and loads to do up there. You can get a chair lift to go even higher. There is a luge that looked very tempting but with my track record probably as well we didn’t go on it. There is a bungee jump but fortunately it didn’t open until Noon and we had to be away. Otherwise I would have done it. Honest.

At 12:30pm we departed for a wine tour. First stop was at the Gibbston Valley Estate. We went to the cellar for the tasting. Didn’t get much of each wine but had four different wines to sample. Wine is really expensive in New Zealand and is no cheaper at the vineyard. After the wine-tasting we went to the on-site cheesery. This is on the site of the winery! There wasn’t a butchery! Such a shame. Had five different styles of cheese. All very nice, then went for lunch. Even nicer. Had some decent quantities of wine with the lunch. We selected the Pinot Blanc and it was a light, dry white with a distinct green tint in the glass. Nuances of citrus and a decent after taste, IMHO. Needed a second glass to confirm initial findings. The photo on the left is where we had lunch. Splendid!

We then left to visit a second winery and had another four wines to try. I could get to like this. We were then brought back to the hotel and guess what. Had a kip!! After the kip I had a nice long soaky bath. It is now 8:00pm and you just wonder where the time goes. Will have an early night tonight as we are off again in the morning at 8:30am for a sail along the full length of Milford Sound. It is a fair old drive to get there and then we have a fair old drive back to Te Anau to stay at the Village Inn.