From Queenstown to Auckland

February 14

Today is Valentine's Day, but that is not our primary concern.  We are in a mad dash to drive about 2 hours south to the city of Queenstown, return our rental car, deal with any impending damage assessment to our rental that was returned in Wellington (north island) and fly out to Queenstown.  The drive is uneventful until we stop by a rest area and discover that it is, in fact, a bungey jumping operation.  We enjoy watching perfectly sane people hurl themselves off of a 300meter high bridge and toward the rushing crystal blue waters below.  Amazing!!!  Sam debates whether he might want to attempt it or not....the rest of us are scared out of our wits.  In the end, he decides to forgo an attempt and we all pile back into the car for the remainder of the trip.  We arrive ahead of schedule to Queenstown and as we fill up the car with gas, we discover that the airport is just around the corner.  Since we have a little extra time, we enjoy a wonderful lunch at the Bombay Palace.  We haven't had a great meal like this in quite some time as we have been cooking the most basic food possible on our two burner "hob" inside of our little cabins.  Paulie has eaten all of the sandwiches and bread and cheese he can stand and so we celebrate Valentine's Day with this great lunch.  We eat and are on our way to around the corner to the local airport.  We return our rental car and learn that there is no charge for the scapes on the side of our car - they were able to buff them off in Wellington.  Yea....one small victory for the pocketbook!

We get our luggage to the Jetstar counter and learn that we now must pay to check any bags over 10kg...bummer....we have been so focused on the size of our bags and less interested.   We are charged $80 per baggage up to 20Kg....we are able to shift items around and end up only having to pay for one extra bag......not sure if this is considered a victory or defeat for the pocketbook....guess I should be happy that it is not worse :)

We have an uneventful flight and arrive in Auckland right on time.  We call for our hotel to pick us up and are driven to a fairly horrid little motel in a "colorful" part of town.  Since we are only here from late afternoon until 4am....guess its not too bad.  Paulie, Sam and I decide to venture out to seek out a dinner spot.  We walk right and only find fried foods and a Mobil gas station....not the cuisine we had in mind.  We walk back to the left and cross a very busy highway emerging on the other side and finding a couple of options.  We select a restaurant that serves seafood and share a sampler platter.  That is a yummy treat.  We pick up some chocolates and return to the hotel to share them and head to bed.