My Favorite Vacation Hands Down - New Zealand

I have decided to join in, "Show Us You Life - Favorite Vacations" from Kelly's Korner.  This is a trip we took to New Zealand.  It is a seriously beautiful country.  The first set of pictures were taken around Christchurch. 

We hired a tour guide and she took us to one of her friends vineyards David Schuster Winery.  To this day still one of my favorite wines.  

This is the breakfast table we sat at every morning.  This is a lodge called Grassmere.  The family has owned it for generations but the grandson built lodging to house guest in the summer.  The air is so pure that I could smell the rose bush right outside this window.  It was lovely.

This was the view from our room. The morning we arrive, by train, it was cloudy and these mountains were shrouded in clouds.  You can imagine my surprise when I looked outside and this is what I saw.  Check out the wine glass.

This is the ranch from across the road, you can see the original house a white Victorian, where we had dinner every night with all the guest that were there.  Made for interesting conversation.  They ranged from London, to Germany to us.  It was a ton of fun.  The picture may be to small for you to see the house and the lodge.

One last parting shot of the grapes grown in the region.  

Next, we went to Queenstown.  This must be one of the extreme sports enthusiast favorite places on earth.  They have snow skiing in the winter, bungi jumping, para sailing, speed boat river riding, hiking, you name it it seemed to be here.  Great town for the young and the young at heart.  An interesting fact about New Zealand, there are no predators, no snakes, no bears, no anything to get you in the mountains, just mosquitoes.  Isn't that interesting. That's why hiking is such a big deal here.    Also, this is where the Lord of the Ring was filmed.  No wonder it's super beautiful. 

The water, everywhere we went was so pure and clean that the blue color was fascinating.

I love burros, have I told you that lately?   One of my favorite collections in the house is paintings of burros.   Hey, Kelly maybe that could be one of your future post; the things we collect.

The last morning in Queenstown.

NEXT;  Invencargil

 

 the most southern spot on the south island. 

This was an interesting house right on the beach.

This is a picture of what the wind does to the trees.

Last Stop was this lovely small town, I don't remember the name of it, sorry.

They are celebrating the fact that they successfully bought the remaining historical homes for preservation.  Seems an someone was buying them up and re-building on their spot.

The kids were having fun, so were the older folks.

Awe so quaint, I could just sit down, read a book and hang out here for a while.

Parting shot from our bungalow, isn't it beautiful.

That's it or at least enough of it.  I have more, trust me.  I have to say that this was a very genteel (or gentle) country, so laid back and calm.  Every time I look at these pictures I relax. 

What a beautiful creation, thank you LORD.