So Queenstown was pretty much the party place I thought it was going to be. It was so good to be in one place for a few days, the longest I've spent anywhere since Auckland when I first arrived. And to spend it with a bunch of people has been fun. Although we were spread out in different hostels we kept in touch through texts and bumping into each other in such a small town.
I think I'm a bit broken now though! Too many late nights and pub crawls. I've picked up Hannah's lurgy, one of the girls I was sharing a room with and now have a lovely sore throat and a few aches and pains. But hopefully a bit of paracetomol and a couple of early nights will fix that and I'll be right as rain in no time. No time to dwell on being ill after all.
So what else did I get up to in Queenstown apart from partying I'm sure you're wondering? A few of the girls and I went up in the cable car to take in the amazing views of the surrounding mountains and lakes. The photos look positively unreal, as if you're standing in front of some fake backdrop. Then we had a laugh doing a few luge runs down the mountainside, trying to race each other and get a group photo taken near the finish line. It reminded me of being a kid in the little cars we used to ride on the beach somewhere in Devon (was it Woollacombe?). Except this was a bit quicker on the old downhill run.
The next day Kate and I went on a walk to Frankton about 9km around Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown. Although the town (or is it the top of the mountains, I'm not sure) is over 1500 metres above sea level, the bottom of the lake is below sea level so it's pretty deep in places. But everywhere you go in New Zealand the water is so clear.
Later we met up with Hannah and Micki and caught the bus over to Arrowtown, a beautifully quaint little place reminiscent of a wild west town. It was a goldmining town originally and looks like it with all the little shops and buildings. A great place to stop for lunch or a beer in the warmth of the sunshine. We did lots of cooing about how cute it was and all the photo opportunities.
That night we went on an organised pub crawl as it was meant to be cheap drinks and a bit of food thrown in. The things you'll do when money is tight and you want to have fun eh! It was a good laugh and Hannah and I won a dance off at our third or fourth bar. I was pretty chuffed that I could show these youngsters a few crazy retro moves. I think I surprised a few people! I did a bit like I'd gone back to school when by the end of the evening most of the group had pulled some random stranger. There were a few sore heads the next morning but I felt surprisingly sprightly. So after wandering round the shops and the lake to take a few more photos I headed to the information centre to book some kind of activity that would occupy my time for the afternoon.
I had left it a bit too late to go skiing, not having sorted out any gear hire or lift pass or anything but I spotted a leaflet for snow shoeing and thought that would be the next best thing. Some fresh air, a trip up the mountain and some stunning views to make the most of the area and its beauty. So what is snow shoeing you may ask? It had the rest of my group stumped but it is what it seems really, walking in the snow with something a bit more useful on your feet than tennis rackets. Kind of a cross between a crampon and a mini ski. It was a small group with our lovely kiwi guide and two French-speaking women from New Caledonia (I had to ask where that was as I was unsure).
We headed up to the Remarkables snow fields and walked up the slopes until we managed to get off piste and headed for a frozen lake where they filmed a scene from Lord of the Rings (you can't go too far in New Zealand without going somewhere near a scene from the film). We then explored some little snow caves that some school kids had built and slept in a week or so ago. Then when we headed back down in the bitterly icy winds the snow field was closed and we had the whole place to ourselves. It was beautiful and I'm so glad I did it, although I did wish that I'd sorted out some skiing and given it a go again.
After another night out to say goodbye to the rest of the group it was time to head off on the bus again with about half the previous volume of travellers. Nice to be in a smaller group for a while and get to know some of them a bit better. We headed off to Fiordland for a boat trip in the Milford Sound, something I was looking forward to. But I think all the late nights caught up with all of us and we were a bit underwhelmed or maybe it was just the cold weather encouraging us to head below deck for the free tea and coffee. But we did see penguins, dolphins and seals on the way back to the dock. The waterfalls and mountains were stunning, as was the drive from Queenstown where was a lot of snow along the way.
I felt a little overwhelmed by the huge busloads of tourists (mostly Asian) as soon as we hit the road to Milford Sound and I felt like I was back in China, the last place that felt so crazy busy with people. Everywhere else has been pretty quiet in the winter. So it was odd to be surrounded.
No comments:
Post a Comment