Wednesday, September 10th~
Today we left Queenstown in time to hit the Kawarau Bungy Jump (AJ Hackett’s original commercial bungy) before the rush. 3 of our group took the plunge (pun absolutely intended): Laura and Vanesha went tandem and Megan flew solo. I wanted to do it so badly! I was close, but I really think my health insurance would have had a problem with it. Oh well, just another reason to come back! After the jumps, we boarded the bus for a long and boring day of coach travel. Of course, even boring days in New Zealand are pretty exciting; we saw some really fantastic waterfalls pouring down through the temperate rainforest, and we stopped to look at the Tasman Sea. There were a couple of episodes of Friends to break up the monotony, but it was a lot of sitting. Luckily I was endlessly entertained by the changing terrain outside the bus windows. New Zealand is perpetually beautiful.
Fox Glacier is the definition of a quaint little town; population 260 when it’s full, and the sole industry is taking groups to see the glacier. Laura T. and I went to our room (very nice- yet another upgrade for our tour!), had some crappy instant cocoa, and met Vicki, Emma, Vanesha, Laura B. and Debra to go for a walk around Like Matheson. Murray, the town gossip, drove us out and told us a little bit about the area. The walk itself was so nice! The clouds blocked some of the more impressive reflections, but it was still beautiful. We were walking shortly before dusk, so the light was just lovely. We came back and killed time til dinner, then walked across the street to the Cook Saddle, one of the two restaurants in town. Oh man, did I pack it in. Laura T. and I made a conscious effort to eat as much as we could. A huge chicken quesadilla, fires, garlic bread, a banana split and beer. Mmmm mmmm! During dinner, Scotty and I swapped bad jokes. Hilarious!
When we finished eating, we went on a nighttime walk to see the glow worms. It was so neat! They twinkled like pale blue stars on the trees and in overhangs. As we walked, Scotty would sneak off to try to terrify us. It worked on a couple of people, but not this girl. Walking back, we swapped some scary stories, but the rest of the girls weren’t interested in hearing them. A few of us made our way to the hotel bar, where I entertained myself with darts. In bed by 10:30. I know that I am no night owl, but even I wouldn’t mind staying up later than this!
PS. Today, Roxanne the bus died. Sad times.
Showing posts with label beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beer. Show all posts
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
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!
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!
Day 5: Losing my heart to New Zealand, one day at a time
Saturday, September 6th~
What a beautiful day! Chelsea and Scotty, our tour leaders, basically rock the house. We have a small group; usually they have around 30-36, but there are only 10 of us, all girls. It’s a pretty great group. My friend Vicki (from last night’s dinner excursion) is on the tour, too, which is fun. Here’s the group: Vicki (England), Emma (Scotland), Laura H. (England), Vanesha (England), Laura B. (Northern Ireland), Debra (Northern Ireland), Laura T. (England), Megan (England), and Tracey (Adelaide, Australia). The UK has incredibly strong representation. Word up.
Today was a lot of sight-seeing, but all sights well worth seeing, I assure you. New Zealand is an unspeakably beautiful country. The Southern Alps are nothing short of spectacular. Scotty took us on a hike to see a mini-glacier. It was breathtaking (no, not because I’m out of shape. I did alright.), walking through the valley beneath the snow-topped mountains. When we got to the end of the trail, we looked out at the glacier (which was hard to distinguish because of all of the gravel heaped around it. Apparently that’s the glacial thing to do, cover yourself in gravel.). And there, towering behind it, stood Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak. Truly an awesome sight.
This evening, we stayed at a hotel- quite a nice change after several days of hostel-ing it. We had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant, followed by a couple of drinks at the adjoining bar. I quite enjoyed Speight’s Old Dark Ale. Thank God New Zealand has a handle on dark beer!
What a beautiful day! Chelsea and Scotty, our tour leaders, basically rock the house. We have a small group; usually they have around 30-36, but there are only 10 of us, all girls. It’s a pretty great group. My friend Vicki (from last night’s dinner excursion) is on the tour, too, which is fun. Here’s the group: Vicki (England), Emma (Scotland), Laura H. (England), Vanesha (England), Laura B. (Northern Ireland), Debra (Northern Ireland), Laura T. (England), Megan (England), and Tracey (Adelaide, Australia). The UK has incredibly strong representation. Word up.
Today was a lot of sight-seeing, but all sights well worth seeing, I assure you. New Zealand is an unspeakably beautiful country. The Southern Alps are nothing short of spectacular. Scotty took us on a hike to see a mini-glacier. It was breathtaking (no, not because I’m out of shape. I did alright.), walking through the valley beneath the snow-topped mountains. When we got to the end of the trail, we looked out at the glacier (which was hard to distinguish because of all of the gravel heaped around it. Apparently that’s the glacial thing to do, cover yourself in gravel.). And there, towering behind it, stood Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak. Truly an awesome sight.
This evening, we stayed at a hotel- quite a nice change after several days of hostel-ing it. We had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant, followed by a couple of drinks at the adjoining bar. I quite enjoyed Speight’s Old Dark Ale. Thank God New Zealand has a handle on dark beer!
Day 4: Look, ma, I'm in New Zealand!
Friday, September 5th~
After a 1am fire alarm at the hostel, I managed to get up and out by 6am to catch the airport shuttle. I have never had an easier time getting through security and customs, and everyone was all goodness and kindness. Happily, I was able to catch up with Shir one last time in the Duty Free shops. We were both heading to Christchurch, NZ, at the same time, but weren’t on the same flight. Bummer. But it was cool to see her again. We convinced each other that candy was an appropriate breakfast.
From a great distance, New Zealand looked to be framed by wide sandy beached. However, as we got closer and closer, those sandy beaches turned out to be the mighty snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps. Magnificent!
Upon arrival in Christchurch, I found a shuttle, checked into my hostel, and took off to explore Cathedral Square. First, I checked out the cathedral itself. It’s an impressive building, dark grey stone rising out of a large paved square, closed off to all traffic but trams. I paid $2 to climb the tower, and it was well worth it. Well, first of all, (for those of you who aren’t aware) I kind of have a thing for spiral staircases, so I got my fix for a while. But the view was just lovely. Looking out over Cathedral Square, I watched people milling around some carts laden with wool scarves and gloves and trucks selling kebabs and chips; I watched men playing a game of chess with super large pieces on a board at least 2meters X 2meters (heh, I said meters. Embrace the metric system). I spent all of my batteries snapping shots from the heights, so I headed back to my room to charge them. On my way, I ran into a couple of girls from the shuttle and they invited me to join them on a town tram tour. It wasn’t bad; Christchurch really is a lovely town, but I don’t think the tour was worth $14.
At this point it was only 4:30 in the afternoon, but we (Marie, Vicki and I) were hungry, and opted for an early dinner. After some aimless wandering, we landed at Valentino’s. An excellent choice! We had a really nice cabernet/shiraz/merlot blend and I had an absolutely delectable lamb dish. Delicious!
After I had said goodnight to Marie and Vicki, I hit the bar connected to the hostel for a beer. There, I met Luke, a delightful Canadian from Alberta. We enjoyed some conversation over a few beers (Monteith’s Original; New Zealand beer is waaay better than Australian beer!), but by 10:15, I called it a night. Up early for the tour!
After a 1am fire alarm at the hostel, I managed to get up and out by 6am to catch the airport shuttle. I have never had an easier time getting through security and customs, and everyone was all goodness and kindness. Happily, I was able to catch up with Shir one last time in the Duty Free shops. We were both heading to Christchurch, NZ, at the same time, but weren’t on the same flight. Bummer. But it was cool to see her again. We convinced each other that candy was an appropriate breakfast.
From a great distance, New Zealand looked to be framed by wide sandy beached. However, as we got closer and closer, those sandy beaches turned out to be the mighty snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps. Magnificent!
Upon arrival in Christchurch, I found a shuttle, checked into my hostel, and took off to explore Cathedral Square. First, I checked out the cathedral itself. It’s an impressive building, dark grey stone rising out of a large paved square, closed off to all traffic but trams. I paid $2 to climb the tower, and it was well worth it. Well, first of all, (for those of you who aren’t aware) I kind of have a thing for spiral staircases, so I got my fix for a while. But the view was just lovely. Looking out over Cathedral Square, I watched people milling around some carts laden with wool scarves and gloves and trucks selling kebabs and chips; I watched men playing a game of chess with super large pieces on a board at least 2meters X 2meters (heh, I said meters. Embrace the metric system). I spent all of my batteries snapping shots from the heights, so I headed back to my room to charge them. On my way, I ran into a couple of girls from the shuttle and they invited me to join them on a town tram tour. It wasn’t bad; Christchurch really is a lovely town, but I don’t think the tour was worth $14.
At this point it was only 4:30 in the afternoon, but we (Marie, Vicki and I) were hungry, and opted for an early dinner. After some aimless wandering, we landed at Valentino’s. An excellent choice! We had a really nice cabernet/shiraz/merlot blend and I had an absolutely delectable lamb dish. Delicious!
After I had said goodnight to Marie and Vicki, I hit the bar connected to the hostel for a beer. There, I met Luke, a delightful Canadian from Alberta. We enjoyed some conversation over a few beers (Monteith’s Original; New Zealand beer is waaay better than Australian beer!), but by 10:15, I called it a night. Up early for the tour!
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