We're Here ... Part 1

The day began early with us out of bed at 4:30am and from there, it's been a go go go day.  Mum and Dad were kind enough to drop us at the airport where after a little confusion in acquiring GST Refunds and having my Grenade confiscated.  Who'd of thought they wouldn't let me put a grenade in my luggage ... I mean really?)  It's not like I tried to take in my carry on . . .

Finally in the Qantas club Lounge, we enjoyed a little break with some light refreshments and waited until it was time to begin the journey and board our flight to Queenstown.

As it was a tiny plane, there was only 3 rows in Business Class and we were in row 1, nice and close to the action ... or not.  Very comfy and our Hostess Diane was just lovely.  Thank you Diane.

They do put on a nice breakfast in Business Class and yes, we both avoided the Champagne.  It was breakfast after all.

Yes, they're still tiny ... even the toilets don't get any bigger in Business, so Diane was kind enough to give me a shoe horn into the loo's to help me relieve myself of the 20 or 30 coffee's I'd downed since awakening. 

From there, it was pretty much all smooth sailing, with beautiful blue skies all the way.

The scenery coming in to Queenstown is truly beautiful.

The excitement is finally startingto build as I think it's actually setting in that we're actually going, because we're nearly there

Queenstown airport is quaint and although it seemed primitive to have to walk down stairs and across the tarmac, the views are totally worth it.  We picked up our Hire Car, a zippy little Rav4, loaded the bags and headed for Queenstown Centre, where the first stop was the Vodafone store, to buy a sim card for my phone, a micro sim for my iPad and a wireless modem for the laptop, just so we could show you these photos and let you read this blog of course.

Next stop was Rydges Lakeside where we have our lovely king lake view room.

Until next time, thanks for reading and if you'd like to see all the photos from our trip, please visit our Picasa Web Album.

For those of you interested in seeing what we're up to, we'll be attempting to post updates and photos on our BLOG, PICASA WEB ALBUMS and FACEBOOK PAGE when time and Internet connections permit.

Warmest Regards ...
Darren & Kathy Gardiner