Day 7: Queenstown! Self-proclaimed Adrenaline Capital of the Wolrd!

Monday, September 8th~

This morning, I was up by 7 on the Milford Mariner. Another great breakfast buffet before the boat started cruising around some more. We were going out to the Tasman Sea before returning to port. It got a lot rougher when we left the safety of the fiord. A whole bunch of us were leaning over the rail on the bow when a large and unexpected wave drenched us. Give the events of the previous day, no one was surprised that I would up wet. It was neat being out in the open sea, though. Looking back towards the fiord, you could hardly tell it was there; in fact, when Captain Cook himself drew the first map of New Zealand, it was nearly perfect, except for the omission of Milford Sound. It wasn’t discovered until generations later, by a man named Milford, if I’m not mistaken. On the way back through the fiord, we saw seals sunning themselves on the rocks and penguins bobbing alongside the boat. We were all bummed out not to see any dolphins, but I think we got over it pretty fast. The waterfalls and cliffs were too spectacular to spend any time lamenting absent dolphins.

We got back to Milford and headed to Queenstown, adrenaline capital of the world! On the way, we stopped in Te Anau again for lunch and watched Dirty Dancing on the bus. Naturally, “Time of my Life” became our unofficial theme song for the rest of the tour. As we trekked, the scenery looked so much like Rohan it couldn’t have been anything else. After arriving in Queenstown, I took off to explore the town. I caught up with the fam (well, some of them), thanks to Skype and an internet café. Then I went on a hunt for mittens. No dice, but I did find a really fantastic turquoise hat, so that was cool. I met the group (sans Laura H. and Laura T.), to go and experience the Shotover Jet. The Shotover Jet is a high speed jet boat that operates on the Shotover River, which is lined by steep canyon walls. What a thrill! The driver would swerve as close as possible to the canyon walls (sending Emma into absolute hysterics), and take us into drenching 360⁰ spins. It was like a 25 minute roller coaster ride, but with a Wild Water Rapids spin. I think it was totally worth it to do, and I somehow even managed to convince myself to splash out (no pun intended) for a souvenir photo pack. I’m glad I’ll have something to remember it by. Once again, though, I managed to get soaked. Now I’m that girl. Great.

Later, we met for dinner; Ferg Burger was the destination du jour. It’s a burger joint with a really nice array of burgers (go figure). I was assured that they were the best burgers ever. I don’t know that I would go that far, but I did have a pretty spectacular meal. I went for Mr. Big Stuff: 1/2lb of meat with bacon (American-style streaky bacon, which is infinitely better than crap Aussie bacon- no offense), mild Edam cheese, bbq sauce, and all the fixin’s. Everything I like in a burger! Next, we went next door for some ice cream. After far too much time deliberating, I settled on a cone of Fruit Salad sorbet. I assure you I was not disappointed. We hung out at Fraser’s (a bar), until we could get into our next destination: Minus 5⁰! The bar is completely made of ice, so we got kitted out with parkas and gloves, paid our $22, and went in. It was so much fun! The drinks (all vodka cocktails), were served in glasses made of ice; the bar was ice; the walls were ice; there were ice sculptures everywhere! It was -7⁰C while we were in there, so it was truly the real McCoy. Quite the experience!

Afterwards (‘cause you’re only allowed to stay in there for a half an hour), we went back to Fraser’s for a few more drinks. I disappeared from the group for a little bit to call Babs for her birthday, then met them in time for some bar dancing (not me, I assure you). As they say, it’s all fun and games… until a bar stool falls on someone’s foot. In this case, Megan’s. I’m not sure exactly how it all happened, but she was in a lot of pain. So a contingent of people walked her home, and the rest of us made our way to the World Bar. Finally a really good dark beer! Monteith’s Black, a nice porter. Everyone thought I was drinking Guinness, which was just silly. I tried to explain the difference between porter and stout, but they weren’t interested. Who can blame them? We were all too busy doing shots from a tea pot anyway. It was a fun novelty, but the shots were all really really sweet. At one point, a guy came over and stamped our hands so that we could get free drinks for the rest of the night. I never figured out why, but I am not one to question. I had a few more beers and called it a night.

Highlight: the played Crabbukkit!!! I was the only one excited about it, but my excitement waaay over-compensated.

Indeed, the nightlife in Queenstown is none too shabby!