Friends, family, happy holidays!! We just arrived in Melbourne, Australia, after our month in New Zealand. We spent our final NZ days in Queenstown, a city on Lake Wakatipu surrounded by the Southern Alps.
Queenstown is an adventure seeker’s dream come true, and I am exhausted. Our time in New Zealand was fairly hectic as we tried to do absolutely everything, and then in Queenstown it turned manic. Something about that city made me feel like any minute spent not adventuring was a minute wasted. I took it too far (no surprise there).
First, we hit up the luge track on top of Bob’s Peak. The track is accessed by the Skyline Gondola—the steepest gondola in the Southern Hemisphere—and has incredible views of the lake and mountains.
We had a ridiculously fun time buzzing down the track and taking the chairlift back up.
The big kids did eight laps while the rest of us managed six before calling it. Lu and Ryan were a bit under the weather so they went home while the big kids and I took a steamboat across the lake to Walter Peak Farm.
We toured the farm, fed the animals, watched sheep shearing, and saw some seriously badass border collies round up sheep.
Fun sheep-related facts: First, sheep are sheared with all four hooves in the air because once their hooves leave the ground they generally just freeze. Second, because of the plummeting price of wool, the ratio of sheep to humans in NZ has gone from 30:1 to just under 5:1 in the past 20 years. Finally, there is a famous sheep in NZ named Shrek, who escaped and hid for six years without being sheared. When found, he had 27 kg of wool on him. He was so heavy he could hardly stand, and the wool had grown over his eyes. The farmer sheared him, and then Shrek met the prime minister AND was sheared the following year on a rogue iceberg floating past the south island. New Zealand is so great.
Then it was BIKE DAY! We usually mountain bike all summer, and we’ve been missing it the past six months. Queenstown has a great single-track system off the Skyline Gondola, so Ryan took the big kids up into the mountains. They were stoked to be back on bikes!
Lu was pretty wobbly on her bike, so she biked on the gravel path along the waterfront while I ran beside her. She biked straight into a tree, and I ate some gravel trying to catch her, but otherwise we had a great time.
The following day I made bad decisions. We were scheduled to go to Mt. Cook/Aoriaki (tallest mountain in NZ), but the weather was awful. I wanted to hike around the base on the Hooker Valley Track, so we went for it. It was just screaming rain. The kids didn’t want to leave the van, but we threw on their layers and raincoats, and hit the trail.
Our fancy raincoats didn’t stand a chance. We got soaked. We were just walking through the middle of the puddles because it didn’t matter anymore. Baker was begging to go back, and I lost my temper just a little bit because we were in New Zealand (land of adventure FFS!!) and I didn’t want to miss out just because it was wet. Four of us turned around to head back, but Ginny decided to finish the 10 km hike on her own (baller move). So, she was gone, I was angry, Baker was miserable, Lu was freezing, and Ryan was doing his best to communicate the virtue of persistence to a non-receptive audience. I accepted it was game over, so we ran to catch up with Ginny and all continued back to the trailhead. Of course it stopped raining by the time we returned. Farewell, New Zealand.
Now, it’s warm and sunny in Melbourne. Here are the big kids replicating some classic art in the Museum of Art and Play today. Nailed it!
It is surreal to be heading into Christmas with these long summer days. And it feels bizarre (and freeing!) to have done absolutely nothing to prepare for the holidays. But we sure are missing our family, friends, and neighbors this Christmas.
We wish you all the most joyful holiday season and send so much love to you all at home.
Love,
Madeline
ps. Yes, Santa will find the kids in Melbourne, but I hear he’ll leave a note explaining why their gifts are so carry-on compatible.
Into a tree? Really? I love her.