Hopefully most people reading this will already know, but I thought it was about time that we informed the internet of our engagement. About 3-4 years ago, I asked Sally to be my girlfriend near a sketchy mini-mart in Pittsburgh. I decided I’d better step it up a notch for the engagement. So after hiding an engagement ring deep in my suitcase, I shook her awake one early June morning for a surprise trip to Queenstown.
Our house is right by the airport, so it was easy to keep the trip a surprise. Even when I parked in the airport carpark, Sally still thought we were just there to meet someone. It was great weather to fly out of Wellington.
The flight path to Queenstown is surrounded by snow-capped mountains. At one point, we got close enough to quite clearly make out the skiers.
Combined with gorgeous views of the mountain lakes, it was easily the most scenic flight we’ve taken.
As we picked up the rental car, we saw a sign announcing we were 45 degrees South…the closest to the south pole that Sally has ever been.
We drove along the lakefront from the airport into the city. A very pretty drive, and a beautiful day for it.
I’d previously picked out a small boutique hotel, a short walk from the town centre, and with free wine tasting every night. The staff knew that I was planning to propose, so they’d given me a free upgrade to one of their fanciest suites with mountain views from every window.
Fortunately Sally is not the suspicious type, and genuinely believed it was all just an early birthday present.
I hadn’t been to Queenstown for years, and had no engagement spots in mind. So as we went for a walk into town, I was trying to scope out a good place. I’d previously decided that I wanted to do it outside, somewhere private, with beautiful scenery in the background. Fortunately, I was spoilt for choice.
Being the middle of winter, it was fairly chilly (about 5 Celsius, or 40 Fahrenheit), but we found a bar with outdoor heaters and a nice view, and Sally occupied herself with artistic photographs.
At this point, I was fairly exhausted, because I’d been up all night packing for the trip. In my sleepy state, there was grave danger that I would try to push the ring onto the wrong finger, and so I decided to leave the proposal until the following day. We walked back through the gardens to our hotel for the evening’s wine tasting.
The next morning was the big day, and I had numerous proposal locations in mind. Unfortunately, it was raining, and so we went shopping while I desperately hoped for it to clear. Along the way, we stopped for some mulled wine to calm my nerves (and to lower Sally’s standards).
When the rain continued into the afternoon, I decided I had to be more proactive, and so we went on a drove around the lake in search of better weather. Thankfully, the rain was eventually replaced by a light snow – far more fitting for a proposal.
Seeing a spot the fulfilled my goal of beautiful scenery and a private place, we stopped at a lookout point, which had a short track leading down to the lake. Thankfully, Sally is a fan of both lakes and snow, and so she was happy to leave the warmth of the car.
I got down on one knee (Sally was considerably closer than in the re-enactment below), and thanks to the mulled wine, Sally accepted.
We had a panorama of snowy mountains, but the mist obscures them from the above pictures. So here’s a close-up of one of them.
It’s a stretch, but I proposed on this rock, thinking it was shaped a bit like a heart.
My back-up proposal plan had been the restaurant at the top of the gondola. Earlier, I’d had an argument with the woman on the phone, because she refused to guarantee me a window seat even when I’d said I was planning to propose. I’d still made a booking though, so now we got to dress up and celebrate.
Luckily, the woman was a lot more cooperative when face-to-face. We ended up getting the best seats in the restaurant, right in the corner with full-length glass windows. They even gave us free champagne to celebrate.
The next morning, Sally video-skyped her parents with the news. Then, we headed back to the airport to fly home. All-in-all, a very memorable weekend!
