David began his day at 5 am watching the New Zealand All Blacks defeat Australia in the Rugby World Cup from England.\u00a0 It was a great game.\u00a0 Rugby is clearly unappreciated in the US.<\/p>\n
Before we drove to Queenstown, we decided to hike the Diamond Trail overlooking Lake Wanaka – about a 3-4 hour hike rated moderate to difficult.\u00a0 (Little did we know at the time.)\u00a0 The hike started off benign enough around Diamond Lake.\u00a0 Next came the stairs that went on & on.\u00a0 We were planning on\u00a0heading to the Lake Wanaka viewing area and then, maybe, the Rocky Mountain Summit.\u00a0 After the stairs,\u00a0\u00a0the trail narrowed to almost less than a\u00a0goat path (no goats were seen, however).\u00a0 The view halfway up at the Wanaka viewing area was\u00a0stunning; however, there\u00a0were some really wet, slippery, muddy moments.\u00a0 We decided to take the “plunge” and do the eastern trail to the summit of the Rocky Mountain Trail.\u00a0 After practically crawling up some spots, feeling like we were mountain climbing,\u00a0\u00a0we reached a plateau with a sign – “trail damage ahead, proceed with caution”.\u00a0 This little rock climbing adventure was pretty frightening.\u00a0 If we didn’t have our footing properly on the rock, we would have fallen off the steep edge many feet down the side of the mountain – yikes!\u00a0 A part of the trail ahead had sluffed off leaving only a big rock to climb over with minimal hand holds.\u00a0 At least\u00a0that drop was only\u00a015 feet before you hit any bushes on the steep hill.\u00a0 We (not really)\u00a0decided to go for it; although, Lesley was practically in tears and wanted to turn back. The eastern trail had many switchbacks on the very steep, slippery\u00a0slope with significant portions requiring some bouldering.\u00a0 We finally did make\u00a0the summit at 2500 feet.\u00a0 The views were glorious and worthy of this life-risking trek.\u00a0 Going down the western trail was much easier with only a few muddy, slippery rock areas\u00a0 and a very\u00a0challenging steep\u00a0dry- bed creek to boulder over.<\/p>\n
We were then off to Queenstown, a lovely city on Lake\u00a0 Wakatipu, passing through Cardrona, a small ski town that was having a Breast Cancer Fundraiser (pics\u00a0below).\u00a0 On the way to Queenstown, we also stopped by Arrowtown.\u00a0 The town is a very quaint gold mining town with many well-preserved buildings used by European and Chinese immigrants dating from the gold mining days of the town.<\/p>\n David began his day at 5 am watching the New Zealand All Blacks defeat Australia in the Rugby World Cup from England.\u00a0 It was a great game.\u00a0 Rugby is clearly unappreciated in the US. Before we drove to Queenstown, we decided to hike the Diamond Trail overlooking Lake Wanaka – about a 3-4 hour hike … Continue reading All Blacks, Diamonds & Rocky Mountain High<\/span> ![\"Beginning](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dltwt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/PB014795.jpg\")
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