Days 3 & 4

May 10

This was our first day in Queenstown, and we had nothing planned. Mike and I decided to go up the mountain behind our hotel on the gondola after we had breakfast at a little cafe. I have been on gondolas before in Colorado, but it was Mike’s first time riding one. It was pretty fun riding up, and apparently this gondola is one of the steepest rides in the world! Once we were up to the top, we went straight to the viewing deck. The view was amazing and we could see everything from the Remarkables - the mountain range around Queenstown, and the body of water - Lake Wakatipu. Not only were those amazing, but we also saw the entire village of Queenstown. Queenstown was a gold mining town, but it was deserted in the mid twentieth century. Now it is a huge tourist attraction, especially for adrenaline junkies. After hanging out on top of the mountain for awhile, we rode the gondola back down and walked into town.

We wandered around for awhile before getting lunch at the Thyme restaurant. Afterwards, we walked to the wharf. Mike and I decided to take the SS Earnslaw, the steamboat that travels across Lake Wakatipu. It was a beautiful ride - but it was incredibly windy. This steamboat was made in 1912 and has been on the lake ever since. We were able to see how the steamboat works by looking into the work area of the boat. It’s really surprising how often we have run into other Americans. We met an older couple on the boat who took our picture and the woman had a friend who went to Albion. What are the odds? They were interesting people to say the least, but they were also very friendly.

After a beautiful afternoon, we stopped at the indoor mini golf place right by our hotel and played a round. While Mike won, I was still able to have a good time. (ha!) It was a really cool course, each hole was based off of a different part of Queenstown, and they were all run electronically. For instance, at one hole you putted your ball into the chair lift building, and then you watched as your ball travelled up on a chairlift and then went down the hill into different areas of the green. My downfall was definitely my lack of putting skills - oh well!

We met up with our tour group for dinner at Winnie’s. It was a delicious pizza place, and we got to try at least four pizzas. There was a charity event going on for some New Zealand team that was going to take place in some sort of Amazing Race type of show I think - it never really was explained. The team’s name was “Good Bye Pork Pie” which is apparently a New Zealand classic movie, and the director was there to talk about the movie. He reminded me of Steven Spielberg, and because of his thick kiwi accent, I had little clue of what he was actually saying.

Our next stop was the Minus 5 Ice Bar. We put on huge down coats and gloves before we entered a tiny room where everything was made from ice!! It was really cool (literally...). There were many ice sculptures: dolphins, tikis, kiwis, etc. A couch and chair were even made out of ice (covered with deer skin though so you didn’t freeze when you sat down). Even the cups were made out of ice! We were only in the bar for half an hour, but that was definitely long enough because it was literally minus 7 degrees Celsius. Overall, we saw a lot in one day! It was great.

May 10

I slept in really late, but even so, woke up with a cold. I blame the Ice Bar. Mike and I conveniently ran into Pete and Ashley as we walked into town for lunch! I had been hoping to see them since we were both going to be in Queenstown, but neither of us had cell phones here (very un 21st century of us). We made a plan to meet up later after dinner.

There was an optional tour of “hidden gems” through our tour, so we decided to go. The first stop was Arrowtown. It is a gold mining town, and it’s very historic. We walked along the historic avenue, glanced at the museum, and went to the old Chinese settlement that had old houses of Chinese miners. The trees on the surrounding mountains were all changing colors! It reminded me of Michigan in Autumn.

The next stop was AJ Hackett’s Bungy Bridge to learn about this history of Bungy jumping. To let everyone know, we didn’t even have any idea where this tour was going to take us before we got on! After watching a video about the history, we went out to the viewing deck to see the bridge where everyone jumps. No one was jumping sadly... and then Mike turns to me and he says “Can we do this? Do we have time?” I was so shocked I don’t know what I said besides “well go ahead and ask.” I turn and he is asking a member of the crew, and moments later he was gone into the building. Soon he was was walking out onto the bridge (like a crazy person). It happened so fast - he got strapped in, waved to his entire audience (pretty much our whole tour group) and just jumped!! It was over a river and he told them to dunk him a little, so his head and shoulders were soaked afterwards. I personally think he is insane, jumping off a bridge hooked by his feet, but I suppose he was not scared at all, seeing as after the first drop down he swung back up, gave two thumbs up and stuck out his tongue.

After that adventure, the last stop was a mountain lookout. We could see towns, a river, and of course other mountains!! It was beautiful. After eating some cheese and crackers, we made our way back to Queenstown.

For dinner, the group went to Fergburger where we all had HUGE but delicious burgers. Afterwards, Mike and I walked around and then met up with Pete and Ashley where we shared stories about the guys’ bungy experiences and caught up since we had left each other in Australia. I was really happy to see them one more time before heading home!

Today we will be heading to Doubtful Sound to stay on an overnight cruise. I’m really excited!!! Sorry I have not posted pictures, internet access is slow and does not allow for loading them. Cheers!!