#164 Nomad Diary. 9-15 December 2023. Slope Point. Winton Sheep Farm. Doubtful Sound. Milford Sound. Penguins. Mountains. Waterfalls.Kingston. Queenstown. New Shoes. Mexican Food. Lord of the Rings Scenery.
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| Sunrise at Kaka Point |
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| Our Selfie at Slope Point |
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| Our Private Living Room Inside the Farmhouse |
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| Chickens at the Sheep Farm Saturday. 9. Arrive to Sheep Farm in the Oreti Plains. 2 nights at Jo and Bryce’s place. We have booked a room in their home. This home they have lived in for over 20 years and saved it from ruin and brought it lovingly into this century. The original house dated 1880’s. There are beautiful memories from the original that they have preserved throughout, seen in the overall woodwork, large windows and grand ceilings and doors. We had three private rooms for ourselves including a bedroom, a bathroom and a living room. We shared the kitchen and Jo set out some breakfast for us each morning where we could sit at our table and fix our own tea and toast. The day that we arrived had high winds and we visited for a bit with Jo and Bryce and then went on to bed. Sunday. 10. Today we attended worship online with the church in Dunedin. We went into Winton for lunch. We watched Bryce and Jo do some shearing and visited a bit with them. |
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| Waterfall Pouring From the Mountain on Doubtful Sound Tour |
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| Reflection Lake in Park with Milford Sound |
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| On Milford Sound Tour Monday. 11. Today we drove to Te Anau in Fiordland. We have an airbnb for 2 nights and 2 tours booked. Today we went on an all day tour to Doubtful Sound. The clouds were hanging low and there was a bit of rain. We stayed inside the boat and would go out on deck to take pictures. We met a US couple and visited throughout the day. It was enjoyable to share travel stories with Scott and Michelle. They gave us some interesting ideas for places they have traveled in Europe. Tuesday. 12. Today we went on the Milford Sound tour. It was an all day tour and the weather was sunny and beautiful. The tour bus had a window in the ceiling that made it nice to see the mountain peaks. We stopped several times for pictures on our way to our boat into the sound. During the boat ride we saw several waterfalls and got very close to them. We ate dinner in Te Anau and walked back to our airbnb. |
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| Having Fun Playing Fetch at Kingston |
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| Making Soup for Dinner Wednesday. 13. We began our day in Te Anau with making our breakfast at our airbnb and knowing we will check out before 10am. At 8am we dialed into our English church friends Bible study. We are in the book of Hebrews with about 4 or 5 men presenting a chapter lesson each week. After our class online we load up our car and get on the road to drive to Queenstown. It is about 2 hours of driving. We give ourselves plenty of time to stop to look or take pictures along the way. One of our stops was at a rocky lake beach in Kingston. While we were walking the beach a dog brought Darrell a stick to play fetch with him. It was so cute when he would retrieve the stick and then run out in front of Darrell and put the stick in his path where he was walking. Darrell played several volleys with him before we got back into our car and back on our drive. We stopped for several scenic pictures as we drove beside the huge lake toward Queenstown. Before we got to our destination we pulled into a picnic area and ate lunch out of our cooler. Our scenery was stunning and the sun was shining and the weather mild. Really a perfect picnic day! We drove on to Queenstown and got some ice cream and some sourdough bread at a bakery on a very crowded main street. We drove on through the busy shopping area and out of town going toward Glenorchy. We pulled over after passing filled parking spots all along the street lining a park and a lake. We were parked off the road with about 4 other cars. There was a 30 minute track/hike to Sunshine Beach. We took off through the woods on the nice trail. We got to a beautiful beach and stayed enjoying the place for a while. Then we walked back through the woods to our car. We drove back through the traffic in the downtown and on to a Pac and Save Grocery store. We bought a few items to cook dinner and breakfasts for the next couple of days. Then we drove about 10 minutes to our 3-night airbnb with fabulous mountain views. We checked in and unpacked. We met our hosts Alphie and Carolyn. Darrell made some soup for our dinner and we rested and slept very well. |
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| Riding the Skylift at Queenstown |
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| Scenic Drive Queenstown to Glenorchy |
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| Lupins and Scenery Near Glenorchy |
Thursday. 14. We went to the skyride up to the over look of Queenstown. While up on the mountain we took the hike through the woods and out onto the mountain. I sat down after about 15 minutes and told Darrell that I would wait for him. He went on and came back about 30 minutes later. We went on back down the skylift and had lunch in town. We shopped for shoes. The pair I have worn out I bought in Edinburgh in September 2022!
Friday. 15. In the morning we went to a tourist town called Arrowtown. It was busy with tourists and we walked around not really finding anything we were interested in. We had tacos in Queenstown for lunch. We took the scenic drive to Glenorchy today. It’s considered one of the most beautiful drives in the world. I don’t know who rates these drives but it was extremely nice and not too many cars either. The day is beautiful with blue skies. The scenery was said to have inspired Lord of the Rings and some of the scenes are marked on google as being in the movie. It’s all beautiful! There was one restaurant open in Glenorchy when we arrived around 3pm. We got a snack and drove on a bit further before turning around and driving back to Queenstown.
Nomad Notes. I’m writing this diary on December 25th and trying to fill in details from my memory. I spoke to some South African women at church in Wellington yesterday. They loved hearing about our travels. It sounds romantic to them. I understand. I dreamed of doing this with a sort of romanticism in my past. I still have some of that but much has become normal for us. It is essential for me to rest and see how amazing these travels together with Darrell are. It is so much more enjoyable to know that this trip and life is enjoyed along the way. I am not living in the ‘normal’ way of living and it takes the same and also a different part of my energy and attention for intention. I pray for ideas of how to connect with people along my way. I am learning as I go and it is very different to live in this way. It's not living in my house with my things. Through my days I think about my gratitude and this is my heart healer in so many ways. Today the 25th, we called two of our sons and talked to them wishing them Merry Christmas from the future! We all laughed and caught up on our new experiences and what they are doing as the year ends and the new one begins. I am so thankful for these conversations with our kids. I get a sense of why my mother called and talked often. Thanks Mom for showing me how to give and receive love and joy in simple ways. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 Thank-you God for your many many blessings!
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