Heading to airport to pick up rental van and car soon. Looks like a beautiful morning.
Reached the Queenstown Airport by taxi with Rich Rediker just at 8:00. Walked over to the Hertz building near the car park only to find we had to go into the terminal. Anita helped us check in and we rented the 12 person van and a upgraded full size car as originally planned. After we got out to see the size of the van Rich thought we could get away with just the van. Cancelled the car rental with no problem. Jumped into the van and headed back to Queenstown to pick up the rest of the people. It turns out that we JUST were able to get all the bags into the van. One more bag and it wouldn't have worked!
Got on our way towards Lake Wanaka about 15 minutes late but we were soon headed up the winding more scenic route past the airport. Eventually arrived at Lake Wanaka at 10:45 and found Carlos our guide and all of our kayaks ready to go.
Headed out and went along the edge of the lake until we reached the point where we would go out across more open water to Ruby Island.
Reached the Queenstown Airport by taxi with Rich Rediker just at 8:00. Walked over to the Hertz building near the car park only to find we had to go into the terminal. Anita helped us check in and we rented the 12 person van and a upgraded full size car as originally planned. After we got out to see the size of the van Rich thought we could get away with just the van. Cancelled the car rental with no problem. Jumped into the van and headed back to Queenstown to pick up the rest of the people. It turns out that we JUST were able to get all the bags into the van. One more bag and it wouldn't have worked!
Here's Peter Shapland and our loading effort. It turns out we did have to try and load one more bag as the last bag came out after we thought we were done. A bit of readjusting and we did it. Whew!
Got on our way towards Lake Wanaka about 15 minutes late but we were soon headed up the winding more scenic route past the airport. Eventually arrived at Lake Wanaka at 10:45 and found Carlos our guide and all of our kayaks ready to go.
We got the usual kayaking instructions - these kayaks had foot pedals to control the rudder for turning. We also had a "skirt" that we wore and snapped in place where we sat in the kayak to keep water out. Nice!
Headed out and went along the edge of the lake until we reached the point where we would go out across more open water to Ruby Island.
When we got out as far away from the land as we could be Carlos had us link up for a group photo. Here he is shooting us with me shooting him doing it. He used one of our cameras and I'll get that one later to see the group.
From there we headed around the edge of Ruby Island (which really didn't look like an island from the lake). Grounded the kayaks on a small beach and Carlos began setting up our "shore lunch". We went for a short walk on the island while the lunch was being prepared. He was able to bring a LOT of food with him in several of the storage holds on the kayaks. Sandwiches, crackers with different sides and a home made brownie to boot. Quite a feast! Afterwards he heated up water to prepare hot chocolates, mocha lattes, etc. Awesome effort and well appreciated.
Here's Carlos getting ready to slice up some delicious home made breads for our sandwiches. Quite the interesting dude! A bit of a hip hop persona with a real zest for life. We liked him a lot!
We were running a couple of hours behind when we finally returned to the beach and our van. Got a few beverages and began the 3 1/2 hour drive to Dunedin. MANY props to Rich Rediker who drove all day today starting at the airport and getting us all safely to Larnach Castle tonight. We stopped in Dunedin for a delicious meal at a Vietnamese Restaurant before finishing the day at the castle.
We have checked into the castle and are in our rooms ready for some adventure tomorrow! Can't wait to see this wonderful castle in the daylight. Looked pretty awesome lit up at night!
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