"Simply Queenstown"

When Richie and I were planning this trip, we booked our accomodation in Queenstown first. Our stay in the South Island town was going to be what we would plan the rest of our stay in New Zealand around. It was somewhat ostentatious of us - a mini-break in the middle of a three week one!

Having left a pretty cold and gloomy Franz Joesph we headed South again and picked up the major road to Wanaka and lunch. I did my stint in Huyandai's finest and gave the wheels to Rich, while I giggled like a kid and took pictures of Wanaka and the lake..oh the lake!

Tummys full (not to mention memory cards!) we ploughed onto Queenstown and to images that will stay with me for an eternity. Superlatives aside, drving along both Lake Wahea and Wanaka was a simple and unexpected joy. Its something that I just cannot describe. It was one "of those moments", you know. You wince and chuckle a little when friends list them, as you cynically doubt that events, people or places, possess the ability to infuse and affect your life in such a way. Don't worry, I'm not going to list mine here but, suffice to say, they revolve around the above.

So I'm going to file this one under "places". I took another half-dozen pictures in a vain attempt to replicate the feeling that coursed through me that Friday afternoon when I get back home, though I doubt I'll be able to. Visual heroin? Quite possibly.

Queenstown is not a very big place. With a population of just over 10,000 (all of them have probably done a bungy jump!) it wraps itself in mountains (The Remarkables) and just loads and loads of trees. Our first night was pretty quiet, apart from nearly eating ourselves to oblivion in the "Lone Star" restaraunt. We sprinckled a couple of beers down our necks in a vain attempt to ease its passage, and then we rolled back to our hostel.

Saturday was more productive. A late rise and a proper breakfast (the first in days!) meant that we careered down the hill from our hostel and attacked the short, but steep hike, to the Cable Cars that would take us to "Bob's Point", Queenstown's highest viewing platform. Again, said great pictures were taken and the views were marvelled at once more. We bumped into a English guy while in Wellington and he said that he was suffering from "scenery fatigue". Odd choice of words but as yet I am not showing any symptons of suffering from such an ailment - I mean come on, I have a mountain and a lake competing for space in my hostel room window!

Unfortunately the day was marred by Richie's (he'll say that it was my choice, but I deny that big-time!) choice of "eatery". Obviously the establishment will remain nameless but it was quite literally the worst curry I have ever had in my life!

Sunday was again a late rise but an eventful day. The main even in this case was the "Shotover Boat Trip" Basically, it was a boat red in colour with what can be only described as having a jet engine lashed to the rear of it (sorry, bow!), that propelled its occupants around the Shotover River like nothing I've experienced before. We did 360 degree loops, sharp turns and missed stone banks and edges by millimetres! I laughed and screamed all the way up and down the river. Upon indicating that he would be doing another 360 loop (a waving of the driver's left index finger in a clockwise motion) Richie cried "where???". He was right, it was the thinnest part of the gorge. How we did it I don't know but river water was inhaled and expletives spat out in the direction of our mad kiwi driver. He joked before we set off that he had been up drinking until six in the morning. Joking?

Today (Monday) has been spent doing a bit of driving, to Glenorchy and more picture taking. Richie wants a new screensaver and I think I might have just got hime a couple. The weather is still pretty good and we are off to Dunedin tomorow morning to start our journey north.

Oh before I forget. Ant, we went to a restaraunt last night and had the largest steaks ever! They were bigger than the size of my hand. The jacket potatoe we had with them was just dwarfed. Laughing while having chewing on steak is not advised!