February 18th – 21st, 2015
Today we flew to New Zealand we had a bit of a mishap at the airport. They are so strict with people coming into their country that they hassle you. Â They checked the bottom of our shoes they even took my purse that was handmade by palm leaves. Â We understand why they go through this but they should go about it in another way. It was uncomfortable especially since they had multiple signs that said we will be charged a lot of money if we had dirty shoes.
We checked into The Dairy – A Boutique Hotel and we were greeted at the door by the owners and we had a great experience. Â The hospitality, service, and breakfast were amazing. Â I would definitely recommend everyone who visits Queenstown stays at the Dairy.
Once we got settled into the hotel we decided to take a walk around town and took a lot of the pictures of this beautiful place.  After having a quick bite to eat we decided to get back to the hotel and get ready for tomorrow.
February 19, 2015
Today we had a Milford helicopter cruise over the Southern Alps to see glaciers and frozen lakes. We woke up in the morning and while we were getting ready we got a phone call that the helicopter tour was canceled due to weather. Â Since we had the day to ourselves we decided to take a scenic walk around town. John wasn’t feeling good so we decided to go to the doctor and get him some antibiotics other than that we stayed local.
February 20, 2015
Today we woke up to horrifying news that a helicopter from the same company we hired had gone down even though they had bad conditions the owners son and a seasoned pilot decided to go up and check things out and somehow flew into a mountain.  Since that happened I had told John to cancel the helicopter ride that we had scheduled at the Franz Josef Glacier. I was a bit nervous going on a ride since that happened. After dealing with the news we finished getting ready because we had a wine tour scheduled. The winery tour was amazing we tried some really nice Chardonnay’s and John and I preferred Pinot Grigio but now we are fans of Chardonnay. We visited the Gibbston Valley Vineyard and the Felton Road Vineyard. I ended up purchasing lavender oil, lotion, and ironing water which were made by a local in the area. If anybody knows me well they know I LOVE anything handmade or homemade.
Follow us on our journey the next and last destination on this trip is Franz Josef, New Zealand.
