Day 334: BeePaw Interviews Willa and James — E-biking from Arrowtown to Gibbston Valley
December 5. We land back in DC one month from today. Ten more days in New Zealand, two weeks in Japan, a week in Hawaii, then this adventure comes to an end.
I hope each of our remaining days can be as relaxing and fun as today.
It poured rain through the night and early morning enhancing the coziness of our little cocoon in Queenstown and making it very difficult to get out of bed.
We ditched school this morning. Instead, Jim came over and recorded an interview with Willa and James about this year. We asked Jim if he would do this a few weeks ago so he was ready with questions. Margaret and I disappeared into our bedroom. The kids were attentive and earnest — it’s a priceless 45 minute recording. I think we’re going to do it again before Jim leaves. Willa and James say they have more stories to tell!
Margaret made grilled cheese for lunch and then we headed into town to Around the Basin bike tours.
Margaret had booked this experience a few weeks ago — it’s a 15km ride on trails from Arrowtown (a little village about 20 min drive from Queenstown) to Gibbston Valley Winery. The trail has some crazy hills — too much for the kids. So we got three e-bikes, with Willa and James riding on these half-bikes attached to Margaret and me.
We got fitted and some instructions by a nice guy with Around the Basin. He didn’t come with us, just coached us on the e-bikes and sent us on our way.
Coincidence of the Day: Apparently the tour company names the bikes to keep track of them. We had three bikes. One was named Jim and another was named Margaret. No shit. Mine was named Darth!
A Swedish family with two young boys, approximately the same age as Willa and James were there with us and took off a few minutes before us — but on regular bikes. I thought, man, we are such pansies.
It was such a fun ride. Gorgeous scenery, lots of hills, curves and bridges. And the e-bikes are magic. I rode 85% of the ride with the little motor “off” but then when you need a boost up a hill you can switch it to one of three modes — eco, trail or boost.
About half way into the ride we passed the Swedish family. Both kids were walking their bikes up a hill — and we were to go up probably 10 more hills at least as steep before the end of the ride. Man, we made the right call on the e-bikes.
We stopped a few times for pictures along the way and then for about 20 min at a famous bungy jumping spot. We stood next to a mom who watched her daughter, son and son’s girlfriend jump. We were all impressed by their bravery. Willa and James were dumbfounded by the entire situation.
The ride ended at Gibbston Valley Winery. It’s a nice spot, though a bit commercial and touristy. It’s clearly a destination for bike groups like ours and big Asian tour groups. We shared a cheese platter and a dozen oysters, served by a really friendly 20-something named Emily. She’s from Colorado, thought college wasn’t worth the money, traveled around Europe, then made it to New Zealand and is never going back. 👏👏
James and Willa were both really talkative / curious in the van the way back to town. Willa sat with Margaret and fired the following questions at her:
Why is Hamilton so famous?
What is our bathtub made of?
Do people try to rob the Mint?
How are mountains formed?
How does Netflix work?
Why don’t you want us to look at the internet without you?
I sat one row up with James. He had a $1 NZ coin in his hand that he took from our table. We’ve been doing some studying of US currency in school. He said he wanted to bring the coin to the currency exchange at the airport. And then he started asking what he could buy with it. A banana? The Paw Patrol truck / boat we have in storage back in New York?
The guy from the bike tour company gave us a tip to check out Big Fig for a healthy selection of prepared foods. We took a couple containers and a dessert home. On the way we stopped to skip more stones in the lake. The light and backdrop is so insanely beautiful that your camera just demands to come out of your pocket.
Same story back at the apartment. We chilled on the balcony while heating up the food and a grocery store pizza. Hoping I remember every bit of this scene on January 5 and beyond.
