Today we’re heading to the land down under.  Australia!  Our first stop is Sydney where we’ll spend 5 days exploring all the city has to offer and the surrounding area.. We’ll tour the famous opera house, take a stroll through the Rocks area, visit Bondi Beach and enjoy a dinner cruise to view the city lights from the water. We’ll venture outside of the city to explore the Blue Mountains via railway, skyway, cableway and walkway.  It’s going to be an amazing adventure. Check the Travel Blog often and follow our journey as we explore Australia and New Zealand.

After breakfast we departed from Christchurch to Queenstown driving through some of the most scenic landscapes in New Zealand.  Our first stop was the quaint Church of the Good Shepherd, one of the most photographed places in New Zealand, which features an alter window that frames stunning views of Lake Tekapo and the Southern Alps.

After this visit, we continued on past Twizel and then travelled alongside man-made Lake Dunstan before continuing on through the picturesque wine area of the Gibbston Valley and into the Kawarau Gorge.

As we emerged from the gorge, we arrived at the fruit growing region of Cromwell.  We visited the famous Jones Fruit Stall for fruit and candy.  What a treat!

And then we continued on to the mountain resort town of Queenstown and our hotel, the Novotel Queenstown Lakeside.

For dinner we rode by gondola to Bob’s Peak high about Queenstown, 790 meters above sea level.  The gondola consists of an Austrian Doppelmayer with a vertical rise of 450m and an incline of 37.1 degrees.  Dinner was at the Skyline Restaurant.