Queenstown: The Capitol of Fun (Apr 3 - 11)

When we arrived in Queenstown I knew straight away that it was a happenin' spot, because while walking into town to get some cash I saw 5 paragliders floating down into the city; pretty effin cool.

Queenstown is kind of a hard place to write about, because I didn't really do much, except going out and drinking; basically what Queenstown is about, extreme fun and extreme drinking. The bar promoters would come to the hostel every night and hand out free drinks/shots tickets or 2-for-1 drink tickets, so it was kind of hard to wake up and do things in the morning while I was there. While there I did do the luge, which was fun because we had like 12 people and we could race 7 at a time; I ended up getting flipped one time but I still finished the race strong. I also went up Ben Lomond, this was pretty dope, it took me about 4.5hrs to get to the top because I took the scenic route from town, then I took a gondola back down; round trip was probably around 6hrs or so (see my pics from the top on flickr). This was probably the highlight of my stay in Queenstown. Oh man was it cold at the top, I had to find a little spot sheltered from the wind to eat my summit lunch (two sandwiches + two nashi pears).

I wanted to do the Nevis bungy while I was there, which is the highest bungy in New Zealand, but I decided it was too expensive and I could do with a little saving. The reason I needed to save was because I was spending so much money on FERGBURGERs, holy mother these were delicious (Recommendations: If you're drunk get the Big AL, if not settle for the Double Ferg w/ Cheese + fries and if you're a little baby girl just get a normal Ferg). It's basically just a very large burger, but it's so tasty, and the only thing open until 4am in Queenstown. This also seemed to be the place where I met EVERYONE that I had previously met in New Zealand. I kept running into people I knew which was kind of cool, but sometimes awkward...Oh heeeyyyy....you're umm..THAT girl.....yeah..Ok, see ya later....

After spending a few days just drinking and being lazy, we decided to take a day trip to Milford Sound and take a boat tour. I finally found out what a Fiord was, very deep inlet from the sea (300m down I think) with mountains coming out. This was really cool, it's about a 4hr drive from Queenstown, but it was well worth the journey (...maybe not the $230 speeding ticket for Andy...Oh SH----!). The drive up was really nice and scenic as well, and because its fall here the mountains are all snowy and look like post cards. Unfortunately I heard Doubtful Sound was better, bigger mountains, but we never got that far so I'll have to add that to the list of what to do next time I'm here =).

This was the place I spent the most time while in New Zealand, and it was definitely because of the parties, checking out at 10am is just a plow to keep backpackers buying another night... Who's going to wake up before 10am to check out?!

Next stop, Stewart Island for some much needed rest and nature walking.

Peace & Love