Saturday, Feb 4
We hiked a mountain today!!! As the poor college students that we are, we decided to take the scenic route and climb the mountain in Queenstown instead of paying the money to take the Skyline to the top. A little unsure of what we were getting ourselves into, we embarked on our journey right after another lunch of PB&J and apples. (We seriously need a diet change.) The man inside the Skyline place estimated that it would take us about an hour to hike. After our first few steps up the rough terrain, we realized that this hike might be a bit more challenging than we first had anticipated. Needless to say, after a few, (ok, so maybe a LOT), of breaks to “take in the view” (or breathe and drink water) we began to see the top of the mountain. It ended up taking us around an hour and a half but it was well worth it. Words cannot describe, and pictures do not do the view that we got justice. Seriously, it was breath taking. I hope to have pictures posted sometime soon to help explain how gorgeous it was, but just imagine this. Getting to the top of a mountain and getting to overlook the peninsula and land of Queenstown with parasailers literally jumping off the mountain in front of you. IN-SANE!
When we were at the top we enjoyed a snack and then Kaylee and I took on the challenge of luging! We went two different times, first on the scenic route and then on the fast track. It was so much fun. We were flying down the track and I even passed an older women while we were on the fast track…I just can’t be controlled while on the raceway! (Also pictures to prove that, so no laughing John.)
After a good while of picture taking and memory making we began the journey back down the mountain. Let’s just say that it took us about half the time to get back down as it did to get up the mountain. We were actually running down at one point because it was the easier option. On our way down we had more time to look up and enjoy the scenery, probably because we weren’t so focused on remembering to breathe. Ha! We noticed that throughout the woods there were ziplines hung in the trees as well as mountain bike trails. *Note on the mountain bike trails: Joe found one that literally had a 90 degree drop off. These things are meant for professionals only! Or at least amateurs willing to break a few bones. They looked so dangerous.
Kaylee had made dinner plans with our Australian friends the night before, so we knew we had to be back and showered by 6 pm. When we got to the bottom of the hill we had a series of vicotory dances and then sceddadled back to our hostel to fly through the showers. We all got fancied up and met the guys at the World Bar for dinner. Not gonna lie, I was a little worried we were gonna get stood up, but sure enough, when we arrived we saw the guys and we headed off to the beach for some Fish and Chips (aka French fries.) The place we got the food from was such a neat little place with only one guy working. But he was amazing at making the food and it was well worth the wait in line. Brenna and Joe decided to take the night to go on a date, which made plenty of sense. Goodness knows we’ll all be spending more than enough time together while taking our Jucy van out on the open road, so they deserved a little break from the group. We all enjoyed our fish and chips on the beach and the evening could not have been more perfect.
One of the Australian guys, Chris, explained to us how when we are in Australia we cannot sit under trees to eat our food because Drop Bears will come out of the tree and maul us and take our food. Needless to say, I quickly found out how much Australians like to mess with our minds. I’m a bit gullible. After dinner we sat around and chatted about the many similartities and differences of Australia and America, and continued to poke fun at their Australian accents (that sound VERY British…but that’s not typical of the Australian accent.) The guys invited us to come hang out at their flat for the evening, so in typical New Zealand fashion, we lived spontaneously and took them up on the offer. (I know what you’re thinking Mom and Dad. Never go off with strangers, don’t get in a vehicle with people you don’t know, yadda yadda yadda.) Here’s the thing: Dad, you said if I did anything crazy I just shouldn’t tell you until afterward, so here it is, we did it! AND, it was totally fine. The guys drove Amanda, Kaylee and I to their flat which had an amazing view of the city at night. We just hung out and listened to very old American music, but it was seriously the most awesome time ever! If we’re ever in Melbourne (aka Mel-ben, they made me practice saying it “correctly”) we have a place to stay and eat for free J. We also have now been invited to James’ 21st birthday party on April 28th…not quite sure we’ll make it to that one. It got to be around midnight and we decided to take a taxi back because it was getting late, and we had kayaking the next morning at 8.
Our taxi driver was this cute old man who clearly loved his job. He drove us back to our hostel and chatted with us the whole way there. He told us to get straight away to bed so that we did not oversleep for our kayaking adventure.
Needless to say, Queenstown has proven to amazing so far and I cannot wait to tell of our kayaking adventures.
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