Lee & I are pretty sure we just created a new definition of good luck – i.e. managing to sneak out of Maine’s sudden plunge into snowy winter during what apparently turned out to be the 1-day break between early-Feb snowstorms!  We collected the kids and left last Friday morning, managing to fly out of Boston just before the next Nor’easter arrived.  While it was admittedly a long trip (4hrs to Houston & 14 hrs to Auckland), we were thrilled to arrive in Queenstown Sunday morning to the green hills, snow-capped mountains, and blue skies of late summer  on the South Island.

We’re spending the first few days in Queenstown, exploring this beautiful small city on Lake Wakatipu.  In addition to enjoying the lakefront, we managed to stay awake the first day (gotta adjust to that time change!) by exploring the Botanical Gdns  & taking a quick hike up the nearby hillside (and rode the gondola down!).