Queenstown: the Adventure Capital of the World

Queenstown was always a definite in our plans. It's known as the adventure capital of the world because it offers so many extreme sports. It's also where Bungi jumping began. We left Arrowtown on the 6th and arrived in Queenstown late afternoon. We finally found the Black Sheep Lodge to stay at because it would be difficult to find somewhere we wouldn't be fined for sleeping in the car. We jumped right into the craziness of Queenstown.

After talking to our other hostel roommate, an Israeli girl named Segal, she told us about this famous burger place called Fergburger. We decided we wanted to try it before heading to an ice bar. I ordered just a regular burger with Bree cheese not expecting a big deal. OMG it was delicious! They were really big and they had a fantastic sauce. Elyse got a Cajun Chicken that she liked and Lannette was able to finally get American Bacon on her burger (quite an accomplishment). Overall, we were all extremely happy and I've decided they are the BEST burgers in the world.


Then we wandered over to the ice bar. The fact that Lannette and I wanted to go to a bar named Minus 5 blew Elyse's mind (she's from Michigan, she doesn't understand we've never been that cold as Californians). She came nonetheless. We had to wear parkas and only could stay in for 30 minutes or so. We found out it was actually minus 7.7 that night. The bar was ice, the cups were ice, and there were ice sculptures everywhere. We each got a drink and a shot with our entrance fee and they made an incredible mixed passionfruit drink.

The morning of the 7th was the first night we had slept in since leaving for the Road trip. While I was getting ready for the day, Jill in the reception of the Black Sheep had convinced Lannette to do the Shotover Canyon Swing the next day. Then Lannette convinced Elyse, who then decided with Jill that we were all going to do it. Somehow in the 30 minutes I was showering and getting ready, I was going to go on this swing. Jill signed me up without me saying yes and then looked at me and said "cash or credit?" The only way I was going to pay to jump off a cliff, was if someone was going to do a LOTR horseback riding tour with me. Elyse agreed to and so we planned the next day starting with the Shotover Canyon Swing, a LOTR horseback riding tour, and a pub crawl that night. So we decided we should relax today.

We chose to go luging that day. This meant taking the gondola up to the top of a hill overlooking all of Queenstown. From there you could either enjoy an incredible buffet, see a Maori show, paraglide, bungi/swing, or luge. We got our helmets and jumped on the ski lift to take us even higher. We had to go on the scenic easy route first. The luge was basically this big plastic thing that we sat in with our legs in front of us. It had handles that you pulled back to go, and if u pulled all the way, it would stop the luge. Then it was time to go.

We got 5 rounds each and it was so much fun. There were twisting turns and hills and tunnels. I felt like I was a little kid all over again whipping around corners to try to pass Lannette or Elyse. The harder route was even more fun with hills so high I thought I was going get air and sharp turns that may have wiped me out.


Once we caught the gondola back down, we wandered through the Botanical Gardens which had really cool trees and rose gardens.
Then it was time to retire back to the hostel and prepare for the following day. And by prepare, I meant watch the Fellowship of the Ring to know what we were going to be looking at on the horseback riding tour the next day. Also to distract me from the cliff jumping the next day...

Rob Roy Glacier and Arrowtown

The next day we awoke bright and early and drove back into town to stop at the Department of Conservation (DOC) office to find out about this hike we wanted to do. It was listed in the Lonely Planet as being really great because there was a swing bridge, waterfalls, and glaciers; sounded perfect to me. So we picked up a map and found that it was about an hour away on mostly an unpaved road. This was slightly concerning but we decided to not worry about it.

The drive towards the Rob Roy Valley was beautiful as we drove out of Wanaka and along a wandering river. Up ahead we could see the glacier and along us were heaps (kiwi slang for a lot) of sheep and cows. We were admiring the waterfalls on our left while yelling "SHEEP!" at the sheep on our right when all of a sudden, we heard a pop and the sound of gurgling. Mind you, at this point we were about 40 minutes in with nothing in site for miles. Turns out Bluebird had overheated and her coolant had exploded. We were helped by a couple of men who told us to fill her back up and take her slow until we could get her looked at. I've learned on this trip, no matter how little a man knows about cars, he will undoubtably stop and pretend to know about them for a group of girls.
Us above the Rob Roy Valley

We continued on to the car park for the hike where we had lunch before hitting the trail. There was indeed a pretty fun swing bridge and the hike led upward towards the Rob Roy glacier. We were above the river almost all of the way up and continued to follow it to the lookout point for the glaciers and waterfalls. It was extremely green and reminded me a lot of what its like to hike in hawaii. We finally got to the top which consisted of a valley with a bunch of giant rocks where everyone was enjoying food and the view. It was gorgeous because there was a glacier about 1/3 of the way around the top and everywhere tiny waterfalls from the melting ice.
That white part towards the top is the glacier.

Once we got down we attempted to drive back to Wanaka. Of course Bluebird had other plans and we once again had to stop so she wouldn't overheat. And on cue, two men came over to check her out, but we already had the situation under control. This situation repeated multiple times on the way to Arrowtown and we considered turning around and waiting in Wanaka. Fortunately, the way to Arrowtown was mostly downhill so we finally made it to the mining town of New Zealand. Arrowtown reminded me instantly of Knott's Berry Farm with its store fronts resembling frontier stores. We found the New Orleans Hotel with hot fires and the kitchen still running (despite it being 9:30 pm). I warmed up by the fire with a ham and cheese and enjoyed their comfy couches. Then as the bar closed, we went to find a place off the highway to sleep.

The following morning we had a delicious breakfast at their amazing bakery. I had french toast with berries and enjoyed having a legit breakfast again. Then we dropped Bluebird off at a mechanic. This meant we had the whole day to explore the town. Turns out they had two scenes for LOTR shot here and Lannette wanted to mine for gold. It was convienantly a beautiful day so we spent it relaxing by the river.
We found the exact spot where Isildur is killed and kinda maybe found the spot the black riders ride towards Arwen in the first movie. In general it was nice just to relax and enjoy the beautiful fall trees and the trickling river.
This is exactly where Isildur is attacked in the Prologue.


Heres a link to the trip from the start to Arrowtown! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173183&id=665896295&l=c875d7d7cf

Let the Road Trip Begin

Alright, I know you have all been waiting for it, and it's finally here! I've been back for a week now, but because Elyse wanted to photoshop my pictures, I put off doing an entry. But seeing as its now 2:30 in the morning, I figured what better time to begin writing about the awesomeness that was my mid semester break. You will notice one of the themes of this trip is LOTR.

So we began our road trip on Saturday the 3rd, later than originally expected (I really hate packing). Our original plan was to drive all the way to Wanaka as a stopping point before Queenstown. However, with our late start and a few stops here and there, we arrived at Lake Tekapo around 6ish and figured it was a good first stop. Lake Tekapo was carved out by a glacier and because of the sediments, has a milky color, which is reflected by the sky and creates the most beautiful shade of turquoise. Can you tell I'm smitten with the lake? So we had a lovely dinner of cheese, salami, bread, and cucumber, which would later become the usual, before we went to the only bar in town. Turns out, we were practically the only young people there. Most people were over 50 but they had incredible live 80s music. Pretty entertaining.

Meet Bluebird, our beloved car


That night we slept in our car (Bluebird) right on the lake and we were so lucky to have it instead of a tent. It poured and hailed that night and I had an irrational fear that the lake was going to overflow. However, we awoke Easter morning to a fairly nice day and started off with a delicious breakfast of eggs on toast with bacon. Then we stopped off at the tiny stone church to barely look inside and "go to church for easter". After more gawking at the lake, we hit the road.

Pretty blue water makes me happy!


It didn't take long for our second stop. I saw a sign that said free food- 1 meter. Free and Food may be my favorite words as a college student. Turns out because so many people drive long distances in New Zealand, they have driver revivers. This one was by the State Insurance and we got free Coffee, Sausages, Cookies, Water, and an Apple. It was fairly exciting. Elyse also was super stoked because the Burt Munroe Motorcycle was parked behind someones car and she got to sit in it. Apparently it's a really famous story, I think the movie is called the Fastest Indian.

I swear I spend half of this blog talking about food.


After that short stop, we made one more in Twizel. We didn't really get out of the car, but we did look out over Pelenor fields (the battle in the 3rd LOTR outside of Gondor). We then came into Wanaka just before sunset. Wanaka is also incredibly gorgeous as a lake town. We enjoyed wandering around the craft fair before snacking on the beach watching the sun set behind the mountains. Wanaka was also used in LOTR for when Gandalf is riding the Eagle away from Orthanc. Overall, a perfect way to end the day. Then we found a "gourmet burger" place for our easter dinner. I originally thought it was pretty good, but that was before Fergburger (more to come on that). We planned out a general idea for the rest of our trip before retiring to the car.

However, our night's sleep got cut short. I heard Elyse say "Oh no" as I rolled over to see a light shine into our car. Turns out the parking lot that said no camping had slowly emptied throughout the night. We were now the only car and the bright light was the security guard saying the cops were right behind him and we should leave before we got fined. I drove at 4 in the morning out of town to sleep on the highway area and will from now on have a big fear about being woken up while sleeping in cars.

Beautiful Wanaka

The Magic of Mid Semester Break

Normally around this time of year, everyone is leaving college to head home or somewhere exotic for Easter/Spring Break. Since home is not an option, and I'm already somewhere exotic, I guess that means a road trip! Another magical thing is that it's not Spring here, it's Autumn, so instead of a short week before starting another quarter, I get a whole two weeks. And you can bet I'm going to make the most of it.

We don't have much of a plan, it's more like general areas we would like to see. We are planning on heading South to hit up Queenstown, Stewart Island, Milford Sound and the Fiordlands. We plan to leave tomorrow morning to arrive later in Wanaka, just outside of Queenstown. It's less touristy and is supposed to be pretty amazing.

After that we will go to Queenstown which is known as the extreme sports capital of New Zealand. While I most likely wont be doing any skydiving or bungy jumping, there might be a possibility of Zorbing in my future. It's basically a giant hamster ball for people to roll down hills. Pretty much as extreme as I'm planning. Queenstown also provides another thing that makes me happy; Lord of the Rings locations! Hopefully my LOTR location guidebook will make itself useful.

Next would most likely be Stewart Island, but due to the expensive ferry ticket, it will most likely be the thing that we cut. It's known for having many a kiwi (the birds) and beautiful tropical tracks. It's also really close to Antartica. If we don't end up there, it will most likely be the Fiordlands or Milford Sound for some really great tramping (hiking). I'm still on a search for a great backpacking backpack, hopefully I will find one in Queenstown. Apparently they are practically a requirement for New Zealand and not having one makes it very difficult.


So basically this is extremely unplanned. We will probably sleep a large amount of time in the car, a Nissan named Bluebird. I can't really say what to expect besides seeing the beauty known as the South Island, but I can tell you it will be an adventure. I look forward to sharing with you all the tales of my travels in two weeks when I return!

"The road goes ever on and on"
-Bilbo Baggins

Queenstown


Milford Sound