Queenstown

Thusfar, Queenstown has proven to be nothing short of strikingly beautiful. When Joe and I pull into town, first thing we do is check into a bargain backpacker spot, and then immediately head up Bob’s Peak (or something like that), which, as promised, is ridiculously tiring. The views from the top are incredible, nothing but dark blue water, light blue sky, and golden mountains all around. On top, we meet a Kiwi fellow that pretty much makes fun of Austrailians the entire time, hilariously so.

Pretty tired from the night we settle in with some free soup provided by the hostel, and watch a few movies with some new friends we have made. Watching “Lord of the Rings” was awesome, as many of the locations are spots that we actually hiked to and can recall exactly.

Today, I wake up and decide to take a kayak out on the water, as the clouds had cleared up and the wind had yet to pick up. The wind never really clears up, there is not a cloud in the sky, the water is some of the clearest I’ve seen (I could easily see huge trout swimming all around me), and I absolutely fall in love with this little town.

To gain back some calories we head over to the famous burger joint in town, Fur, I mean Fergburger. Hands down the best burger I’ve ever had. Joe is even raving about his veggie burger, which is called the “Holier-than-thou-burger”. After the feast I walk around the gardens (only after picking up a cone from McDonald’s, obviously), and spend the afternoon reading in the sun. Very relaxing here, and it is easy to see why so many people say Queenstown is their favorite spot on the South Island.

Tomorrow, Joe and I have made reservations to “embrace the fear” at the 140 m (450ft) bungee jump. That’s a long way down and I’m pretty intimidated, but expect a solid set of pictures/video tomorrow.