Happy Waitangi Day!

Today is February 6th and marks the day that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the English and native Maori in 1840. The treaty is an agreement between the British Crown and signatory Maori chiefs, establishing British law in New Zealand while guaranteeing Maori authority over their land and culture. The treaty is still honored today and celebrated every February 6th.

Kearse and I left the rainy Mount Cook valley this morning, accompanied by a rainbow on the way to Twizel. Twizel is a township that was built in 1968 to support the gold rush. The snow-covered mountain range and grassy fields outside of Twizel served as the backdrop for the largest battle scene in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Battle of the Plennor Fields. The film crew chose this remote location because there was practically no sign of people or civilization (it's true), but there is a town nearby to provide the necessary infrastructure and amenities. Almost every person living in Twizel took part in the filming, and They say that pubs in Twizel in the evenings would fill up with actors still in their warrior makeup talking about the battles that day. How fun! 

After a brief stop in Twizel, we drove along the Lindis river, passed Lindis Peak (towering at 1226 meters), through Lindis valley, and over Lindis Crossing. I don't know who Lindis is/was, but Lindis River is where gold was discovered and the gold rush began! Perhaps Lindis was one of the discoverers.


Then we drove down the length of Lake Dunstan to Cromwell, a town that was established by gold miners and now sits in the Central Otago Wine Region. Old Cromwell Town is now a ghost town from the mining times, but it has been maintained by Cromwell's townspeople and is now used to host fruit markets and craft fairs. Cromwell's treasure today is stone fruit and grape growing for it's famous Pinot Noir wine. Cromwell is home to numerous vineyards and wineries, and you can stop by any one to taste their wine and hear their grape growing stories. Making wine is such a detailed process and an exact science. It's fascinating! My favorite wine was not a Pinot but a fruity dessert wine called Tickled Pink from the Wooing Tree Vineyard. The Tickled Pink is this vineyards first dessert wine, developed last year and sold out in only one month.


As we neared Queenstown, we stopped off at the Kawaru Bungy, the world's first and most famous bungy jump! The jumping platform is 43 meters high and suspended from the middle of a bridge over the turquoise Kawaru River. Jumpers can even reach the water on their first bounce. The Kawaru Bungy outside of Queenstown was built in the 1980s and put Queenstown on the map as a place to go to seek thrill and adventure. Oh how Queenstown has grown since then!


Kearse did his first bungy jump ever, and loved it so much that he went again, the second time jumping backward off the platform. Both times he not only touched the water, but was submerged head first up to his shins. Pretty awesome! I had zero interest in bungy jumping and was perfectly content taking pictures :) Bungy is not my type of adrenaline rush.

We moved onward toward Queenstown, passing through the suburb of Frankton. Both Queenstown and Frankton are built on the shores of beautiful Lake Wakatipu (310 meters deep, 11 degrees Celcius, and carved by a massive glacier 15,000 years ago) and are surrounded by Mount Aspiring National Park and The Remarkables Mountain Range (a popular snow skiing site that opened in the 1940s).


Queenstown is just lovely. It is a bustling town with a blend of the serenity of an alpine village and the thrill of adventure. It is the adrenaline capital of the world! Visitors come to Queenstown from all over to go jet boating, bungy jumping, canyon swinging, sky diving, white water rafting, snow skiing, rock climbing, and mountain biking. We wandered by the shops in Queenstown for a bit and met a Georgia Tech professor, Dr. Harrington. She's teaching the Australia portion of Tech's study abroad Pacific Program, and jumped the pond two weeks early to explore New Zealand. How exciting to meet a fellow Techie abroad!