An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
We reveled in our spacious apartment all morning, catching up on various things and enjoying a room service breakfast. We finally set out for town after noon. The town was fun to walk around in, and quite quiet, as this is their low season (between the wild summer convention/outdoors activities and ski season). The setting is, as mentioned, breathtaking — right on a large lake (which actually goes off in three directions around the many mountains), is right at the base of some small mountains and across the water from the aptly named Remarkable Mountains, the sawtooth-topped majestic range. With the crisp late fall chill in the air - in the low 50s - we could have been in any western U.S. ski town. We admired all the local woolens, knitware, and polar fleece items, then bought yet more film.
Lunch was at The Cow, a locals-type of place in a small stone building with a large crackling fire. We had spaghetti with seafood in a white wine sauce, and a pizza bolognese, served by the toughest waitress in Q’town. We also had a few Steinlager beers, which were very good. It was then time for Milton’s 4:00 appointment to get his hair re-buzzed for that get-up-and-go, ease-of-travel look. Since it didn’t take all that long, we had enough daylight remaining and so strolled over to the gondola and took the steep ride up the hill.
We went out on the viewing platform and gaped at the wonderous view of the lake stretching off in three directions, the little town, the many mountains (including some high snow-capped peaks just visible in the distance beyond the Remarkables) and all of the fall colors dotting the hillsides. We then caught the 5:00 showing of Kiwi Magic, a humorous sort of mini-travelogue of some of New Zealand’s natural sights. This country truly has the fjords of Norway, the lakes of Canada (and Scotland), the mountains of Switzerland, the coastline of northern California (and of Maine!), the gardens of England (well, almost), and more ways to enjoy all of it than anywhere!
As it was getting dark, we descended back to town and did some shopping (mmm, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner! featuring the local Sanitarium brand peanut butter). We returned to NP and, aside from the catastrophic breaking of a large bottle of V8 which was efficiently cleaned up by the so-nice Judy from housekeeping (we’ll be sure to remember her at check out time), we enjoyed a quiet evening at home.