Haven’t had much free time to post anything this week – too busy rendering my liver the consistency of pate de foie gras with gratuitous quantities of food and wine down in Queenstown.
It’s been wonderful. To be fair, it hasn’t all been about excessive consumption – we did do three brisk 2 – 3 hour walks in the local area, full of wildlife and gorgeous scenery,
and watched a French movie – albeit with English subtitles. A great way to get a taste of France in our own country, because our French guide was with us all the time so we could practice our French whenever we liked. And no jet lag! The hotel we stayed at on Queenstown added to the illusion of Frenchness – it was in the style of a Western European chalet, right down to the continental breakfast.
The company who organized it, Antipodes Travel, normally escort groups of French speaking tourists around New Zealand, so this is a bit of a change for them – enforced by COVID – but even though we’d all lived in NZ longer than our guide, Yoann (and he’s been here 18 years), we all discovered more about our country, and his, during the trip. Highly recommended! They do a similar package in Dunedin and also Akaroa.
But now I just need to detox for a few days.