Keeping with the Harry Potter theme from our last entry, P and Z decided to have a Harry Potter movie marathon. We stayed at home during Christmas and rented all eight movies at our local video store..but why stop there? We decided to have an all out Very Harry Potter Christmas, complete with costumes (Paul was Voldemort, in a black hoodie; Zhiling was Harry Potter), Zhiling's homemade butterbeer, Paul's fire-whiskey, penlights for wands, and a proper British meal to eat (Cornish pasties). Basically, it was a nerdfest. We lit up the Christmas tree (generously provided off of one of the nurse's farms) and set up camp next to the television. We meant to start out early on Saturday with the Sorcerer's Stone (or Philosopher's Stone, in countries outside of the US)...but we got a little impatient and started on Wednesday or Thursday instead... Nonetheless, the marathon proceded to encompass all of Saturday, in a mind-numbing blitz of teenage angst and magic, and into Sunday, finishing the series with the second half of "The Deathly Hallows"...oh Snape, you were so wronged in life... So we finished up earlier on Sunday than we anticipated and spent the day wandering about Gore taking pictures as the Southern Hemisphere is quite in the middle of Summer during Christmas.
For our holiday weekend, we decided to go back to the Caitlins. We were in search of hector dolphins and penguins again. We drove out to Cathedral Caverns to see large caves next to the beach. We had to go at a particular time due to the rising and falling of the tide, as the ocean water would completely fill these caverns at high tide. Paul got some very nice photos, which necessitated patiently waiting for Japanese tourists to get out of his frame of view to get a full shot of the cavern walls. The caverns are well worthwhile and beautiful. We felt like there should have been pirate treasure in the back.From there we went to Kaka point (no laughing) but did not see any penguins there after wandering around on some rocks for about half and hour. So we returned to the reliable Curio Bay. It was about early evening by the time we reached the petrified beach. And there standing before us in the distance was a lone yellow-eyed penguin. And he just stood there quite contented, obviously not feeling the need to entertain. We stared at the penguin for quite a long while, then drove up to a hillside opposite of where we had been standing and watched several penguins come in from the sea! We could also hear little penguins nearby squawking in the bushes. Paul got several shots of little waddling blobs on the rocks.
After returning to Gore for a three day work week (for shame!). We had ANOTHER holiday weekend for New Year's. This time Paul actually had 3 days off so we were more adventuresome. We decided to go camping out in Glenorchy, a small former mining village near Queenstown, where multiple scenes were used for Lord of the Rings. On the way up, we decide to drive through wine country, which connects from Alexandra to Queenstown. We visited several wineries, including Blackridge Winery, which boasts being the Southern most winery in the world (by their report). Here, the owner, who clearly loves his product, gave us a private tasting and really sat and explained his wine to us, and how to appreciate the bountiful bouquet of smells and flavours of each wine. Unusually, he made both a Reisling and a Cabernet Sauvignon (our favourites)...unusual because these are uncommon in New Zealand, which is more well known for its Pinot Noirs and Pinot Gris (which Paul does not typically enjoy). From here, we hit up Como Villa, which a younger winery with an interesting atmosphere of various 1860's memorabilia from a broad variety of region in the world. The wines were so-so, but did teach us the utility of well-chilling a white or rose wine. We also got to crack some walnuts in a large, barrel-top nut cracker. Yay! The final alcohol-related destination, though we didn't really drink there, was the Gibbston Valley Winery, which is a fantastic restaurant with truly gourmet dining. Paul had Red Snapper, perfectly prepared, and Zhiling experienced her first rabbit dish! Probably shouldn't have read "Watership Down" before that...Hazel, you taste so good! They also had a decent cheese platter (though, on a side note, New Zealand has pretty poor taste in cheeses, particularly for a country with so much dairy). Mmmmm. Cheese and wine. Moooo..oooooooooo. (That was a drunk cow). 
We, however, did not get drunk and continued on to our final destination; as we had miles to go before we sleep (someone get that reference, please). The road, as when we previously traveled to Queenstown, was amazingly beautiful and Lake Wakatipu, a gorgeous sapphire blue. We stayed at Glenorchy Holiday Park. The campsite was a bit different from a typical American campsite, filled with a myriad of international travelers, early 20-somethings in tents, and families in pop-up campers. There was basically just room enought to set-up your tent and park your car. We saw several people stumbling around, as they had started celebrating fairly early on New Year's Eve. This carried on into the night with loud singing and shooting off store bought fireworks. Paul and Zhiling hid in their tent in the meanwhile and played the flag game on Paul's cell phone. To top it all off, no one actually knew exactly when the New Year's started, so we actually heard several countdowns, accompanied by loud celebratory screaming of Happy New Year's over a several minute period......As we drifted off to sleep after midnight, we were serenaded by people singing (drunkenly screaming... more so) Auld Lang Syne. Happy 2012!
The next day, we escaped fairly early while the rest of the campers attempted to sleep off their hangovers. The area around Glenorchy is glorious and riddled with dozens of different hikes in all shapes and sizes. The previous evening we had taken a small detour while exploring the town, and walked around Glenorchy Lagoon, which was beautiful and home to several families of black swans. However beautiful that was, it paled in comparison to the to our next hike toward Lake Rere. This hike lasted about 5-6 hours and every minute was wonderful. It was definitely Zhiling's favourite hike...not just since coming to NZ, but period. There were fields of flowers, steep mountains, deep valleys, pristine mountain lakes, waterfalls, and a stunning blue, calm river to swim in. There was also a dead sheep's skull...awesome. We didn't follow the Greenstone Track up further to see more LOTR's film locations, but contented ourselves by throwing ourselves into the icy cold Greenstone River on a hot day. Nice. After we had fought our way back up the winding road, fording several creeks in our Toyota Corolla (who needs as 4x4, when you have a 4 cylinder Toyota), we decided to hike ANOTHER beautiful hike to Sylvan Lake. Also fantastic. Glenorchy was definitely worthwhile, and we will be returning as we still have to kayak. We also have to return to see more LOTR's filming sites, as we only saw one at Twelve Mile Delta (where Sam first sees Oliphants). Cool.So now, after another long weekend (that's right, New Zealand has 2 days of public holidays after BOTH Christmas and New Years), we have to put in a terrible 4 day work week (3 for Zhiling) prior to our next weekend. Then 1 more week of work and we're off for our next vacation. Paul's parents are also arriving on Thursday, so this coming weekend should be fun...returning to Milford Sound and going to see the Glowworm Cavern!
See you soon:-)
