Day 11: Queenstown

Our first day in Queenstown - we woke up to a beautiful view from our apartment on the hills surrounding Lake Wakatipu. Pretty much all of the hilly terrain is covered by homes. It was raining till about 11am, so we took it easy in the morning and started our walk downhill around noon. We made our first stop at the tourist office to book our excursion (after much deliberation) to Doubtful Sound and the Walter Reed farm across the lake. Queenstown is considered the adventure capital of the area and offers various fun and thrilling activities to do. 

Mountain Luge track

View of Lake Wakatipu from the top

From there, we walked about 10 mins to the base of the Gondola that takes you up the mountain for the Mountain Luge activity. The gondola ride itself is super with lovely views of the lake and surroundings. At the top, they have a welcome center with facilities, a Kiwi Haka Maori show theatre, restaurant, ice cream shop and the thrilling Mountain Luge ride track.

We made our way to the line taking people up the hill via the chairlifts (just like at ski slopes). It is a lot of fun to go down the mountain in the luge. The first time, you have to go down the gentle slope  and then you can do the fast track. You will want to do it again and again!! 

We also saw the Maori show which was nice. We came down around 7pm. Definitely an activity to do in Queenstown.

Day 9 and 10: Cairns to Christchurch, Christchurch to Queenstown

Dec 25 - Merry Christmas!! We left Cairns for Christchurch. Our flight had a connection in Brisbane. With the time difference, we reached Christchurch at 12:15am. Long day! :)

Lupin flower fields

Vista point between Christchurch and Queenstown

Lake Pukaki

The next morning, we got our rental car from the Christchurch airport and started off in the direction of Queenstown. We reached Fairlie and stopped for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. (not too options - small town). From there, we drove onto Lake Tekapo - beautiful lake with Lupin flowers on the way. Very scenic. From there, we stopped at Lake Pukaki. You can also view Mt. Cook from there.

Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown

We reached Queenstown around 7:30pm after about 10 hours.

Day 8: Snorkeling at Fitzroy Island, near Cairns

Our last day in Cairns...we were on our way to Fitzroy Island from Cairns - about an hour by boat.

Recovering turtle at the hospital, Fitzroy Island

The bus picked us up from our apartment and we reached the Marlin Marina where we needed to exchange our receipt for tickets. We were at the island by 9:30am and the last boat leaves the island by 4:30pm. We could go on the trampoline off the beach shore, snorkel, go to the turtle hospital, go on the glass bottom boat and/or kayak, paddle boat or just plain swim in the ocean. Phew!!

Dried coral off the beach on Fitzroy beach

We started off with booking a spot to visit the turtle hospital (two of us went) and then got all our stinger suits, snorkel masks, fins, and if needed life jackets from the beach shack that is also run by the company that does the boat ride to the island. There is a restaurant (Foxy's) and a hotel on the island as well. You can choose to bring your own lunch from Cairns  or buy from some from the restaurant.

Fitzroy Island wharf

We then swam to the trampoline about 30-40 ft off the shore. And then off for some snorkeling by the beach. Just about 10-15ft in and you can see this amazing colorful coral - various shapes and sizes and overall, between the four of us, we spotted several fish, stingray, and a reef shark. We spotted a turtle under the glass bottom if that counts :).
We returned all our stinger suits and gear and made our way back to the boat.

Day 7: Ziplining in Daintree rainforest

The car rental guy came to pick us up from our apartment and went back with him to their office to complete the paperwork and we were then off on our day trip to the Daintree rainforest.
The route was an estimated 3 hours one way.

Sign at Mason's Grill :)

We crossed the towns of Port Douglas, Mossman on Highway 1 and 44. Closer to the rainforest, we crossed the river on this ferry that took us across into rainforest area and from there the road was much more winding and narrow. We stopped at the Floravilla Icecream place on the way for some homemade icecream. We had mango, and black sapote (among other flavors) - both of these fruits are grown in Australia.

View from the tallest tree canopy - about 260 ft 

We then came across Mason's Grill for some lunch before our ziplining appointment at 1:30pm. However, the cook was all alone and there wasn't enough time to serve us within the half hour- 40 mins we had kept for lunch. So we drove over to the Jungle Safari centre -meeting point for our ziplining adventure -  a little earlier. The guide picked us up from the centre and took us to the starting point in the rainforest.
We enjoyed ziplining between tall mahogany and other trees - overall a couple of hours of thrilling, fast ziplines.

Amazing pebble towers

We started our drive back home soon after and were back in Cairns by 7:30-8pm. On the way, we stopped at Cape Tribulation for the view and a vista point on our left where there were these innumerable pebble towers and we stopped to make one too.

We dropped off our car and walked back about 20 mins to our apartment.
Ended our day with an exotic meat dinner at Raw Prawn on the Cairns Esplanade. 

Day 6 - River tubing in Mulgrave river, Cairns

Today, we took it easy till noon and then went on a river tubing excursion from Cairns. The guide picked us up from our apartment and we reached the Mulgrave river in about 40 mins. We then walked from the van to the river for about 15 mins with our river tubes - the guide helped to pick up the kids tubes as well as his own.
All of us were off on our way down the river soon after that. We came across a few rapids - level 2-3, and that was the best part. At one point, there was a bridge from where you could jump into the river. Mostly, it like a lazy river activity - with some light thrills in between. Cameras and cellphones are not recommended, hence no pictures.
We came across some cane toads as well by the river - legally you have to kill it if you pick it up. :)
They were introduced in Australia's sugarcane fields to keep down the beetle population but it didn't go that way. Now they are a huge nuisance to farmers up and down the coast.

Anyways, :), we were done with our river tubing in couple of hours and back home to rest up for the next day. 

Day 5: Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef

Stinger suit that everyone has to wear when snorkeling in the reef

Our first full day in Cairns...we were on our way to the Outer reef for a day of snorkeling and scuba diving. We had booked this activity with Reef Experience ahead of time. Their bus picked us up from our apartment and took us to the Marina. From there, a 2 hour ride to the outer reef and you can then explore the reef on your own. Lifeguards are stationed on the boats and are constantly on the lookout. We had to swim about 15-20ft to reach the reef and then we saw various fish, blue starfish, some reef sharks down below and loads of moon jellyfish (harmless). The trip includes two locations and we were back home by 4pm. 

Day 4: Sydney to Cairns

Our flight from Sydney to Cairns took a stop at Brisbane and we were in Cairns by 9:30am. The airport is only 4 miles from the town center where we were, so we were in our apartment soon enough. Stocked up on groceries for the next five days and then went down to the tourist office to plan the missing gaps in our itinerary. We had booked a snorkeling expedition ahead of time, but other than that, we were open to what Cairns had to offer.

The Lagoon, Cairns

One of many flying foxes in Cairns

We had lunch at a Thai restaurant nearby and then we were back home for much needed zzz's, since our flight took off from Sydney at 6am. By evening, we were ready to hit the Esplanade - the ocean facing street - in short, where all the action is. We were headed for the Lagoon, the humongous public swimming pool. On the way, we saw flying foxes/ fruit bats a block from our apartment and it was the first time we had seen them flying free. Only times before were in a zoo, where  you could barely see them in the darkened environment. So, flying foxes are an endangered species in the area and there are literally hundreds of them flying around at dusk.
Our evening went by pleasantly in the Lagoon, and because of the varying depths, there is something to do for everyone.
We had dinner in the Night Markets off the Esplanade.