Queenstown

I have a feeling my blog post about Queenstown will not be as entertaining as Janet and Will's (http://janetandwill.blogspot.com.au/) I will try....

I arrived in Queenstown Thursday morning and was already impressed before I left the airport. Besides the amazing mountains that surrounded me and the fresh crisp air that greeted me as I stepped out of the airplane, I had a strawberry chocolate muffin that was probably the best muffin I've ever had in my life (actually not kidding right now).

Janet, Will and I started out exploring downtown, interestingly enough Will ran into one of his coworkers! He had forgotten that she was taking a family trip to NZ. Small world. We didn't waste any time checking out Fergburger, which I was a little disappointed about. There was way more bread than meat.

We did the gondola ride up the mountain. Janet and I decided to walk down, which was the worst idea ever. Besides getting lost, the trail was way too steep and we could hear in the distance trees being cut down. There also wasn't a view. But the time up on the top of the mountain was amazing! After an afternoon exploring we headed to Te Anau for the night.

beautiful Queenstown

The next day we drove to Milford Sound, which was beautiful. Just amazing. After Milford we took our time getting back to Queenstown, stopping a few times to check out Mirror Lake, the Chasm and a few other short walks. Of course we also counted road kill and deer and sheep farms while driving back. Yes friends from the States, they have deer farms here. It's weird. No Kea spottings unfortunately.

Almost perfect...
waterfall in Milford


Milford Sound

The Chasm




Queenstown

Friday night we went to Moon's Thai (dad I figured you would appreciate that, more appreciation will come later...) where the waitress asked how old I was. For those unfamiliar to NZ, most restaurants and bars have signs that say "Please don't be offended, but if you look under 25 you will need to show ID." So basically the waitress refused to serve me because I said I was 23. Janet had to go up to the manager and explain the situation and eventually the laws of NZ. But the story ended happily, because I was served!


After that we went to the Mac's pub by the water and watched a little Rugby. Saturday morning Will go up early to go sledging, while Janet and I had breakfast, walked around town and went to a local crafts fair (nothing "crafty" about it). Then it started raining, hard. So we went back to the hotel, waited for Will to get back and then went to Gibbston Cheesery, for a cheese and wine tasting, of course! Not just any wine tasting, but my very first wine tasting! I've decided I'm a sauvignon blanc and riesling kind of gal.

After Gibbston, we went to the Winehouse where I remembered why I don't like red wine. Then to the Kawau bridge. Janet, Will and I got hooked watching all the bungy jumpers. And before we knew it we were all planning how we would want to jump. I would want my hands to lightly skim the water, while Will liked the idea of jumping with a few other people to get a good bounce....I think you know where this is headed...

And if you know me at all, you know there is no way in hell I jumped!

But Will did!

Will gets ready to bungy jump!

After the jump, we went back to town and had dinner. After dinner we went to Winnie's (dad, more appreciation here). I met a German guy, who was nice, but also kind of annoying me at the time so we went to look for a local bar to watch the Otago vs Australia rugby match. But eventually we figured out that there are no locals in Queenstown. All of the bouncers we asked for local bar tips were all foreigners and everyone just looked like tourists. So we ended up back at Mac's to watch the rest of the rugby game.

I've decided that I could like rugby, if I knew the rules. It's kind of like a car accident, with all the injuries, but you still just have to watch. Blood seems to be all over their faces and clothes at the end during their wrap-up interviews, while others faces are so swollen you can't see their eyes. It's disgusting, and yet strangely entertaining...

Anyways, Sunday was my last day so we had breakfast in front of a fire in Arrowtown (probably the best pancakes by a fire that I've ever had) and walked around the town. Then we ended up doing more wine tastings! And eventually I made my way back to the Queenstown airport.

Basically the best weekend ever. I never wanted it to end. I loved traveling with Janet and Will too.

A Weekend in Wellington

My weekend in Wellington had a rough start that included me almost missing my flight. Thank god I have an extremely supportive and awesome sister who rushed me to the airport at 530 am when my flight left at 6. This was my first NZ domestic flight, which was...different than the States. I didn't have to show ID once to get on the airplane. I got to keep my shoes on as I went through security! I could take more than 3 oz of liquid in my carry-on! Overall, all very surprsing facts about the safest country ever.

When I got to Wellington I dropped my bags off at my hostel and walked to a cafe that I had found in my guidebook. I explored the city until 1, when I checked in to the hostel. So after breakfast I set out to the I-Site where I got a map of the city. It was sunny and chilly, but I knew the next day would be raining so I wanted to do as much outside as possible. I checked out the botanic gardens where I discovered the largest bee I've ever seen in my life (photo below). After the Botanic Garden tour I walked down and found the Beehive building. The Beehive building got its nickname from the fact that it looks like a beehive.

Of course the only view I could get of the building had construction going on.


Botanic Garden's rose garden.

I finally made it back to my hostel and crashed for a few hours. Later I met up with Jacob and went to dinner with some of his friends. It was really fun and nice to be with a group of people after exploring all day by myself. One thing I kept thinking was "wow this is a really cool place, I wish I was sharing this experience with someone." Interestingly enough, Jacob had a friend from Monmouth who was visiting. He was supposed to leave on a ferry the next morning, but all ferries had been cancelled because of the "weather bomb". What's a weather bomb? Apparently a flash storm was going to sweep through the North Island the next day. More on that later....

As some of you may know, this was my first hostel experience. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't my favorite place in the world. I blame my mom for spoiling with all of those nice hotels we would stay at when we would travel. I'm just glad that I arranged to stay in the all-girls floor.

So back to the bad weather, the next morning I woke up to dark skies and rain coming down. The "weather bomb" was completely overrated. I decided to go explore and find a place to have breakfast. It was so cold outside that I ran to the nearest cafe. After breakfast I went and bought an alarm clock just in case my phone didn't go off becauseI refused to get stuck in Wellington and I was feeling paranoid that I would. The wind was so strong during my walk I almost got knocked over. Not surprising since Wellington is called the windy city. Something tells me it would put Chicago to shame.

The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the Te Papa museum with Jacob and Ross (Monmouth boy). We later went to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I really enjoyed. For dinner we went to Sweet Mother's, which was AMAZING!! Hands down the best burrito I've had in NZ.

The next morning at 5am I left Wellington. It was werid because when I was looking for a taxi there were still tons of people out at the bars. Of course I know bars here stay open late, but it was weird to wake up and immediately be exposed to people at bars... My taxi driver had an East African accent and really wanted to have a discussion with me. All before I had a coffee.

The biggest bee I've ever seen, it was so huge I had to get a photo