Part Deux: Queenstown and Bound

            After a few days of much needed rest back in Christchurch, we resume our tale in Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world.  

The night before we left ChCh, a group of us went to a Super Rugby match at AMI stadium downtown between the hometown Crusaders and the visiting Stormers from South Africa.  After pestering a rugby-playing friend every two seconds of the first half by asking what was going on, I finally got the hang of the rules and Josh finally got to watch the game in peace.

Crusaders huddle

Now to Queenstown! Danica and I flew out of ChCh bright and early on Sunday morning and were welcomed to the airport by the sight of the entire Stormers rugby team from the night before.  After cursing myself for not bothering to put my contacts on or taking a shower that morning, we hopped on our 45-minute flight to Queenstown.  The views from the plane were incredible and even the Queenstown airport had some beautiful views. 

In the name of adventure, we decided to get a rental car so we could do some exploring outside of Queenstown.  Despite a rough start with touchy brakes and figuring out the blinker lever was on the opposite side than in the States, my left-side driving was impeccable.  We picked up another one of our friends and then headed to lunch at the famous Winnie’s Gourmet Pizza Bar.  All other pizzas have posters hanging in their delivery boxes of the pizzas they serve at Winnie’s.  I ordered the Montonara which had chicken, sundried tomato, brie, spring onion, sweet chili sauce, and a topping of pistachio sour cream.  The next time someone asks me what three things I would bring to a desert island with me I’m going to say 1)Mon 2)Ton 3)Ara.  Even a week later, I’m drooling while I talk about it.  I washed down the Second Coming with a classic L&P, a NZ soft drink. 

THE Montonara

            After lunch, we waddled to the gondolas that took us to a scenic overlook of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu and then headed back to the hostel for a nap and a shower before heading out for the night.  After a little bar hopping, we did what any normal people would do: sample fudge.  We tasted everything from tiramisu and crème brulee to cookies & cream and red velvet cake (shout out Maria and Brittney).  Feeling guilty about taking advantage of the free samples, I was obligated to by a small brick of the red velvet.  I’m not even a big fudge fan, but my purchase was consumed before sunrise.

            On Monday, we picked up another friend at the airport and then headed out to Wanaka for the day.  We drove about an hour to this beautiful town on Lake Wanaka and then drove another hour further to do some walking tracks: Thunder Falls, Fantail Falls, Haast Pass Lookout, and the Blue Pools.  After a long day of driving and knowing we had a long day to come on Tuesday, we decided build up our energy stores by going to Fergburger, essentially the gourmet burger counterpart to Winnie’s.  This place has lines out the door from the time it opens at lunch to when it closes very late at night.  We waited about 45 minutes to get our food.  My choice is called the Southern Swine: NZ ground beef, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, tomato relish, and aioli sauce wrapped in the loving arms of a thick and chewy bun.  Did I mention it was the size of my face? 

Blue Pools

Lake Wanaka

The Southern Swine

             We called it a night early and headed back to the hostel under the dark cloud of our 4:15 AM wake up call to drive to Milford Sound the next morning.  And by drive I mean I drove while Abby and Kate slept and Danica was having a passenger seat driver anxiety attack.  Other than almost running over a bunny with a death wish, we made it unscathed and ready for our early morning cruise of Milford Sound.  The views were just indescribable, and in my attempts to get my camera to accurately capture how beautiful it was, I got a little trigger-happy.  The cruise lasted an hour and a half, and we went all the way out to the Tasman Sea before turning around and heading back, seeing some fur seals, and getting sprayed by a waterfall (some more than others).  Since it had been completely dark for most of or drive to Milford, we mad some stops on the road back to Queenstown and had an unexpected run in with some Kea parrots.  Everyone kept their fingers so it was a successful encounter. 

Our dear friend the Kea Parrot

            After a long, long day, there was nothing left to do but relax. WRONG!!!!  Wednesday morning meant bungy jumping!  Danica and I signed up to do the tallest bungy in NZ and the second tallest all-season jump in the world according to one of the guys that worked for the bungy company.  After psyching myself up for the jump all week, I was nervous that I had used up all of my mojo and would freak out last minute.  After edging out to the end of the platform and giving a thumbs up to the camera in front of me, the bungy guy started his countdown.  Now, we had been instructed that the best way to jump is to go as soon as they guy says “1…2…3…BUNGY”.  If you don’t go then you start to psyche yourself out and it’s harder to make yourself jump.  And the guys holding your harness don’t push you either; you have to do all of the pushing off the platform by yourself.  So, “1…2…3…BUNGY!!!”, and I  swan-dived for my 8.5 second freefall.  Nothing gives you an adrenaline rush more than jumping face first for 400 feet towards the bottom of a ravine. Bungy jumping: CHECK. 

Looking down

            With our bucket list shortened, we met back up with our friends in town and went to some of the local shops and enjoyed a market on the boardwalk with local artists, psychics, and massage therapists selling their wares.  Wednesday night we went on a sponsored pub crawl to six of the bars in Queenstown that included a trip an ice bar.  Being the prepared person that I am, I wore my Chacos for the occasion.  Danica and I also decided to wear our bungy jumping tshirts out 1) because we were so impressed with ourselves for both jumping without hesitating and 2) I had already packed up all my clothes for our early morning bus ride the next morning.  We had a great time hanging out with the locals and two of our roommates at the hostel.   It wasn’t such a great time the next morning when we had to wake up at 7 AM to catch our bus back to ChCh.

Now it's back to Uni for another six weeks of class, another week off, and then two weeks of exams.  Here's hoping it doesn't go by too quickly.

Cheers,
Bess

Vocab
milkshake-flavored milk
ice block-popsicle
judder bars-speed bumps
dairy-convenience store