riverECHO

We spent a rainy Monday driving around Queenstown, making phone calls, visiting flats, and slowly weeding our list of rooms for rent down to about three that we really liked. We, of course, ended up at the very first one we looked at and moved in right away. We have two roommates – Ali and Steve – a couple from England who has recently gained Kiwi residency. Steve works as a concierge in a local hotel and Ali, an ex-CSI, works at a clothing shop and is 6 months pregnant. They are super nice and really easy going. I think we found ourselves a good match . . . and a great view. We are just a short drive, and about a 30 minute walk, from the booming downtown Queenstown. We weren’t expecting to end up in a bigger city, but it’s a nice change of pace to our quiet little hometown in Idaho. There are trails everywhere and every mountain peak that surrounds Lake Wakatipu seems to be calling out “come to me.” After a day of work at our new flat, we met up with Brad, Gretchen, and an old paragliding buddy of BJ and Brad’s, Smiley, this evening for dinner. Brad, Smiles, and Gretchen spent the afternoon around Coronet Peak, a local ski area, and got in an hour flight, the longest one yet. They hope to get BJ back out there and playing with his paraglider soon.