Glow Worms, Shotover Jets, and Saying Goodbye (January 13-14)

Julia and I did a quick yoga in the morning and walked to the Sandfly Cafe for breakfast and out around the lake for a bit.  We all checked out and took the boat over to the glowworm caves.  The boat commentary was given by a young American on his gap year.  The family went up top to look around and I stayed seated below — and they weren’t surprised but slightly amused to find him sitting at my table chatting about colleges when they returned. (He’s heading to Boston College to study business.)

The glowworm cave was super cool. Even without the worms, the water running through the cave was spectacular (no pictures allowed). We drifted on a boat through the really dark part of the cave to see the worms glow. They glow to attract food: they drop fishing lines and their light attracts insects who get caught in their lines. They live like that for 8 or 9 months, turn into an insect, lay a bunch of eggs and then die. What’s the point? Maybe them consuming so many of the water-borne insects is a good thing for us?

Not us, no photos allowed, but from the website :-)

We took the boat back and raced to the pie place that had been sold out on our first day. We started talking to Rachel about internships — the elephant in the room we were avoiding because who wanted to spend our vacation hunting for a summer job?? The cliche I pulled out was, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” To which Julia replied, “Wayne Grekski.” We were all shocked to Google and find out she was right in her attribution. Of course, she did not know who he was or even what sport he played. Turns out it was something she learned from watching The Office! 

On our drive to Queenstown, we figured out that Jim and the girls could do the Shotover Jet experience that Mike and Allyson so highly recommended. We went directly to our AirBnB which has amazing views of the lake and the Remarkable Mountains behind it. (Don’t fear, there was lots of me saying, “Aren’t they remarkable??!” throughout our stay!). I am surprised we were able to get this place for the weekend. 

I explored town while Jim and girls were on the boat — all of us happily in the appropriate place.  I can see the appeal of Queenstown — it has an Aspen-like vibe to me, really expensive shops in a beautiful setting.  I’m glad though that it worked out that we weren’t committed to spend the week here.  

We got dinner at Devil’s Burgers because there was a counter outside we could sit at. A man (who appeared to be unhoused) walked up to us after watching us for a while to commend us for how we interacted as a family instead of being on our phones!  Of course, when he walked up, I had my phone out (though I was checking something for the family!) 

We walked over to get ice cream at Patagonia, which actually tasted a little like ciaoco coco (see Italy blog for that saga) and strolled more of the town. We came home to play cards on the balcony as the sun set, and we watched an episode of our show together (Rachel still masked). We were all feeling sad and not wanting to go to bed since that would make the girls’ departure the next day come sooner.

The next morning, Julia and I woke up and read together on the deck. We had talked of watching the sunrise but it was cloudy so I told Jim and Rachel to sleep.  They had the option of separate rooms but opted to sleep in the bunk bed room together! 

Julia packed her stuff and she and I walked down to town for breakfast, stopping to poke around at the outdoor arts and crafts fair. Rachel packed and she and Jim met us at the cafe. She had been really worried about flying and returning to Vassar while still testing positive (even without symptoms) so she was so relieved that she tested negative!! (Jim was still hanging on with a faint positive 11 days in!)

Rachel and I shopped at Kathmandu while Jim and Julia waited for the food. We hung out with the girls at the airport before they headed through security. Their system is to wait to go through security until it is time to actually board your flight so we had some nice time in the airport together.  It was sad to say goodbye!

Though it seemed like the end of a really fabulous trip, Jim and I still had three more weeks down under and didn’t have any firm plans of where we would be spending them starting the next day. We headed back into town, set on finally making plans, but first needed lunch. Jim dropped me off to get a shop at the arts festival and went to find a place to park. We met along the river and walked back into town to check out the famous Fergburger.  The line was outrageous but there was no one in line at their bakery next door so we got a caprese sandwich and a smoothie which we ate while sitting alongside the water watching the ducks. (Jim also got his first boba of the trip, but was disappointed.)  

We went back to our place to figure out our next move — we thought it would take an hour or so and then we’d hike or something in the area, but by the time we figured it all out it was time for dinner.  We parked in town, bought movie tickets, and went to Fat Badgers for pizza. We walked back to Fergburger which still had outrageous line for burgers and a long, but manageable line, for gelato. We waited in it long enough to get to the front and then decided we didn’t really need it. We went back to the movie theater, got popcorn, and watched  Operation Fortune — it was completely forgettable, but it was nice to be in a theater (still masked though).