Adrenalin junkie

Still in Wanaka, which is still great.

This has been the New Zealand national holiday weekend, and together with it being Chinese New Year, everywhere has been pretty busy by NZ standards.

On Sunday, we did a bit of a tour, first stop Arrowtown, which started life as a 19th century gold rush town. incredibly beautiful, and lots of effort has gone into preserving the town centre.

A Chinese gold miner's hut in Arrowtown

From there, we headed up the Kawarea river, to the bridge which is the birthplace of bungy! Stayed a while to watch, but we both remain convinced it is very much a spectator sport.

Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu and the Kawarea River

This valley is also home to some of New Zealand's most expensive wine producers, and I tried a couple of brilliant whites from Remarkable Wines.

Then it was on to the Peregrine Winery for a concert by one of NZ's top bands, Fat Freddys Drop. Great fun: watching the band AND the crowd!

Fat Freddy's friend

This morning I went for my skydive. Everything about it was great, including the views from the light plane over the lakes and up  towards Mt Cook. Before anyone thinks I've lost my mind, it was a tandem skydive. Many thanks to my new best friend Eugene for returning me safely back to terra firma.

Thanks, Eugene, safely landed!

Might do some kayaking on the lake later, before going to Cinema Paradiso to see The Revenant tonight.