Tag Archives: Queenstown

Glenorchy and Paradise

Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To claim our long-forgotten gold.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Far over the Misty Mountains cold . . .

Even though Thursday was technically our first full day in New Zealand, it felt like our second. We had packed more into the previous day than we had planned, partly because we had no idea how much jet lag and our 36-hour travel day would affect us. Adrenaline had a major role we think, for none of us felt too tired—though we did sleep very well. I think it helped that we arrived in Auckland before sunrise, and the day was naturally progressing. For instance, we thought we would have done the Skyline Gondola Thursday morning, but since we already did it the day before, we were free to head to Glenorchy first thing in the morning.

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Queenstown

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

There . . .

After approximately 36 hours of non-stop travel, we finally landed in Queenstown, the starting point of our New Zealand journey. Queenstown is a old-mining-turned-resort town nestled in the mountains of the South Island region of Otago. The Remarkables are the adjacent mountain range to Queenstown, and boy do they live up to their name—they truly are remarkable!

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One month till the Real Middle-earth

Thirty-one days from now, we’ll be heading off the the real Middle-earth: New Zealand!

We’ve been planning this trip for a long time. As siblings, we always wanted to do at least one grand trip together after college graduation. Now that we are all settled with steady jobs and blessed with the time to do it, we finally booked our flights this past February.

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