Striking it Not-So-Rich

After spending the night in Wanaka it was time to head to Queenstown. It had only been a few days since our trip had commenced and already the kids were less than thrilled each time Brian pulled "the bus" over to take photos of the scenery. But we managed to convince Kaiya to get in the pics with us on the way into Queenstown!

Just outside of Queenstown is Arrowtown...a historical mining town. We stopped at Dudley's Cottage for a brief lesson in gold panning. Once each kid "graduated" and received a certificate for successful gold panning (which has a 100% success rate b/c you pay money for the lessons...) we decided to try our luck in the Arrow River. The girls determined to find enough gold for a ring. I didn't object as I would love a gold ring myself.

At Arrow River searching for gold. We managed to find a decent amount of gold flecks...like tiny dots no bigger than a pencil point. So, no ring here. But the girls had fun nonetheless...and as you see in this pic, Mei was happy throwing rocks into the river.