Day 145 - Queenstown

Now, Queenstown is a popular place in New Zealand. And rightly so. You can bungy jump, sky dive, canyon swing, lunge race, ski, snowboard, raft and kayak. You can jet boat down valleys. You can sift rivers for gold. You can drink more alcohol than you ought to for free. And you can do it ALL surrounded by the AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL mountains, known around here as The Remarkables. And rightly so.



This place is pretty. You can't stop yourself from gawking at the mountains looming over the lake, the cable car shooting almost vertically up another mountain. The reflection from the snow-caps is blinding. And every cute boy on the streets has a snowboard under his arm. Its awesome.



Anna was wetting herself with excitement about coming here, adrenaline capital of both new Zealand and THE WORLD. So after we checked in, we headed down to a nice pub for our first LAMB ROAST in New Zealand. Amazingly, it tasted like beef. But that aside, it was amazing.



Travelling is great. because when you don't have to get up for work, and you don't have anything booked to do, and you don't have to check out of your hostel, you can laze in bed all day, watch a movie over breakfast, play on the internet, and generally do NOTHING. And this, my friends, was my Monday morning. After watching Legally Blonde with my cereal at around 1pm, we reluctantly took the Laser in for its 3 repairs in 4 weeks. Killer. This time - breakpads.



But while that was going on, Anna did a canyon swing (kinda like a gentle bungy jump), first stood up and then strapped to a garden chair (you're mental Anna).



The next day I got to do something that I have been very excited about for about 2 years now. I spotted this on a documentary about New Zealand AGES AGO, and have kept it quiet ever since. But apparently, there's this jet-boat ride through a river canyon, skimming at 60mph down the valley, narrowly missing rocks and trees and doing 360 degree spins. Its like a rollercoaster on water. And it TOTALLY lived up to the hype. Me, Anna and Eve jumped aboard (sam went off for a drive... whatever sam) and within 30 minutes we were freezing our faces off as we shot down across the water, screaming at every turn. It was awesome.







On our return, Sam (very excitedly) told us she had somewhere to take us, and within 20 minutes was whisking us out of town and uphill. And before long, icicles started hanging from the rocks, snow appeared in patches on the ground, the sealed road became a gravel track, and we were transported to a winter wonderland. We threw snowballs, pushed each other over, and laughed until we had frostbitten toes and fingers.







To recover, we had been recommended a burger joint in town, so headed down. Now, I never had one (not that bothered about burgers, am i?), but the girls tucked in. And these burgers, I'm told, are the BEST they have ever had. Ever. They must be good.



That evening, after watching The Breakup, Eve and I were talked into going out and getting drunk with some boys from ireland. After WAY too much beer, way too many displays of Brodi's chest, one appallingly overpriced glass of champs (my pleasure, eve) and after watching Eve snog both boys within 20 minutes, we made it home in the early hours, before loading our still-drunk bodies into the Laser and heading off towards Lake Tekapo (Welsh and Brodi - if you get this, it was a pleasure to meet you guys).



   

On the way we stopped by a Bungy Jumping site (note, this is the only free viewing platform for a bungy jump in Queenstown. All the others cost a whopping 10 quid to just watch. what a rip!). And whilst we didn't see anyone we know jump (anna - very disappointed in you), we did have a laugh at some people, especially at Sam when she was handed a video camera and made to film one jump (with me and Anna giggling in the background).