Queenstown and then a scenic drive

There is one unfortunate event we can plan on experiencing just like clockwork each and every family trip we take.  And that is Ethan getting the flu.  It's not truly the flu because in the past 8 years not once has anyone else gotten sick.  Not once!  But for whatever reason Ethan does.  Partly it's because he never stops to let himself rest (Isaac and Miles both will lay themselves down or fall asleep in a car if they're really tired- Ethan NEVER will) and partly it's dehydration and lack of nutrition.  Ethan tends to not eat or drink if he's not feeling good and that only adds to him getting sick.  

So as usual, Ethan started throwing up Wednesday night and was fine, but really dragging by the next morning.  We tried to hang at the hotel as long as we could and then met up with the others in Queenstown for lunch.  Which turned out to be an ordeal with so many in our group and different opinions on where we should eat.  So the kids entertained themselves at the beach.

With sticks and ducks.

My kids are just as entertained by ducks as by go-karts.

And lady bugs.  Which Isla kept trying to eat.

Then after a quick lunch it was back into the car for a long drive.

The kids were happy to entertain themselves with their ipods.

And randomly Barbara called us to say we needed to stop at some zoo in a town we were passing.  Apparently someone at a gas station had given her the recommendation so even though we wanted to just be done driving, we humored Barb and piled everyone out of the van.  And thankfully we did because it was nice to stretch our legs and the little zoo was really a riot.

This parrot would repeat anything you said and when Miles screamed in delight that the bird had copied him, the parrot screamed back at him and scared him to death.  It was SO loud.  And he kept doing it.

Isla escaped the screeching and went to check out the wallabies.  What?  We're in New Zealand.  Of course a little park with a little bird and chicken zoo should also have wallabies right?

They were SO cute.

And much smaller than regular kangaroos.  That's Taylor next to the closest one.

And this one even had a baby in it's pouch.  You can see it's head and tiny arms sticking out to try and get some of the leaves.

This 4 hour drive from Queenstown to Timaru was supposed to be one of the top 10 most scenic drives in the world.  It was pretty and the flowers were blooming everywhere, but in truth I think it was the same as all the rest of the driving we'd done.  New Zealand itself qualifies as a gorgeous drive.

There are cows and sheep grazing almost everywhere you look.

And Taylor driving on the wrong side of the road.

And the clouds seem to just roll and in out all day so it's really picturesque.  After the drive, Taylor and the kids had McDonalds for dinner and then crashed while I took the night off and went to a nice dinner with the rest of the adults.