LIFE IN THE ADVENTURE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

"Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The kiwis invented bungy jumping. They dive off bridges hundreds of feet above a tiny little, rocky creek. They jump off mountains with only a parachute to hold them aloft before hitting the soccer field below. They drive jet boats in narrow little canyons on water so shallow the boat slides across the rocks. Kiwis do it all; white river rafting, parasailing, luge, mountain biking, kayaking, canoeing, zorbing (whatever that is),.... And nowhere do they do all of these things except Queenstown. Here the lake, rapid rivers and surrounding mountains make the perfect environment to be able to take advantage of wind currents, fast water, scary drops and empty lakes. On top of this wonderful scenary, the weather here is spectacular. Summer is warm enough to have a wine country, but winter is cold enough to have skiing only a thiry minute drive up the mountain. It really is paradise, and if true to my kiwi friends, I would never send this paragraph to anyone. They like for it to be a secret.

So, what are the Handrons experimenting with in this land of adrenaline rushes? Well, we have been seeing a movie every night at Dorothy Browns cinema. This art house theater is at the other end of town from where we are staying, which means it is a five or six minute walk door to door from our cottage. To find the theater you have to walk between our favoriate restaurant, Saffron, and the town pub, the Blue Door, which is a semi-underground cave of a pub totally lit with candleight. At the end of this little tiny alley is the stairs up to the theater, where you grab your glass of wine, maybe a cheeseboard full of cheese and crackers if you are hungry, then find your leather cushions and comforters to settle in for the movie. Since we started coming here they have added a second theater- "the den". If you get to the den movie early (say ten minutes before showtime) you get the best seat... the velvet couch in the backrow. Otherwise you get a living room side chair or recliner. We saw Atonement last night and Evening the night before. Our idea of an adrenaline rush.

We are on our final three days here so we are doling out the places we go to make sure we hit each of our favorites before we leave. Today was lunch at the Gibbston winery. Monday night will be dinner at Saffron again.

Lest you think that all we do is sleep and eat, I have photos to prove we have been out on nature walks. It is too hot to walk in the sun, even with our super duper Australian leather hats, so we have been walking along the river bed in the shade of the trees. The lupines are in bloom and the trees create the most peaceful shade. It just begs for taking it slow and finding a spot to curl up for a nap. Adventure walking at its best.

Thanks to all of you who sent notes to Mike about EJ. He really appreciates it. I think I am going to sign off now. It is 4:00 in the afternoon, which means it is time to swing from the trees soon (also referred to as hammock time). Later,

Deanne