15/11/2011 - Queenstown

I love Queenstown. It's contemporary yet relaxed and pretty, the weather changes very quickly and there's plenty of night-life. A night-life I took full advantage of. The time I spent in Queenstown was not enough, and mostly involved drinking lots of Toffee Nut Lattes. Yes, that's right, Starbucks has it's red Christmas cups and Christmas drinks in NZ too and it's safe to say after drinking three grande lattes in one day, I developed a slight addiction. In my defence, they are a limited edition for about 6 weeks and Taupo doesn't have a Starbucks - I had to make the most of it. Aside from drinking lattes and making a Wodka Club playlist of Spotify, a couple of nights were spent out getting 2 for 1 drinks at the Buffalo Club, playing pool (badly) at Harry's and getting $2.50 beers at Brazz. Woke up late, stayed up later and spent lots of time watching How I Met Your Mother with Lucy. Also ate a massive burger which is apparently famous, the Fergburger, it was pretty good.

Turned out that the hill I mentioned before wasn't a difficult hill at all really, in fact it probably done my legs lots of good (and helped with the high-calorie lattes...), as long as you're not carrying 20kg on your back then it's all good. I could happily live in Queenstown, very happily. The scenery is gorgeous and the people are kind.

I spent a good time trying to get my hip pierced but places were closed, maybe it's a sign I shouldn't get it done. On my last day there, the weather was beautiful, so Lucy, Rob, Harrison and I spent some time sitting on the grass near the lake, playing cards in the sun. I got a little burnt, of course.

Yesterday, I flew back up to Auckland then got the bus down to Taupo. The flight was fine, the bus was not so fine. An overly touchy-feely Japanese couple sat in front of me, which was a bit awkward but I managed to get a bit of sleep. It's good to be back in Taupo and see Gen, who met me from the bus and we took a b-line straight for Maccas. It's so so good to be back in a home, with real food and tea, and be able to shower when I want and lay-in. Very very nice to be back.

Beautiful Queenstown

10/11/2011 - Franz Josef/Wanaka/Queenstown

Ended up staying in Franz Josef for two nights, which I wouldn't say was a bad choice but I will say that Franz Josef has one main street, and about two other streets. Suffice to say, it's a little small. Rob and Lucy arrived not too long after I wrote last time and we spent the evening watching Lord of the Rings and then we took a walk around night time Franz Josef which was really nice, seeing the stars and snowcapped mountains. The next day was chilled out, watched The Life of Brian and went to the bar with the guys where they played pool (I tried, and failed), so instead a British guy from Cambridge swapped in and I chatted to his wife instead.

The next morning was a horribly early start since my bus was supposed to leave at 7.30am, but even though it was there at 7.30, it didn't leave for at least half an hour. We drove through Fox Glacier and past Lake Matheson, which was beautiful. Sadly, it was raining so there aren't any pictures. We then passed through Haast and finally arrived at Wanaka, a little town by the lake of the same name. Rob and Lucy were down at an ice cream shop called Tangos, which I got a very nice hot chocolate from when I went to meet them. It was still raining, so we decided on fajitas and a movie night, where I finally watched the Little Shop of Horrors.

The bus journey today was shorter, but still longer than it should be, but the views towards Queenstown of the sapphire blue water were amazing. We stopped at the birthplace of bungy jumping, the AJ Hackett bridge, and I watched terrified people throw themselves off... or get pushed in some cases. We also stopped at Arrowtown, a little town on the outskirts of Queenstown which is really historic and the buildings in the main street are all olde worlde.

I like Queenstown. I'm in Queenstown now and even though it's a city, it's small and lovely. Can't say I enjoyed the walk up the hill to the hostel with the backpack, hangbag and food bag, but I made it, I'm alive. I went underwear shopping this afternoon, since the situation was getting dire (TMI?) and then met Rob and Lucy at a bar that had a $2.50 beer special. ff now to shower, get ready then go to the world bar.

Yep, I'm aware this is a rushed, boring post. Fun times!