Raving Queenstown

The journey from Wanaka to Queenstown was relatively quick and as Seb and I planned to only stay for a night (in order to go further south and return to Queenstown on 31st October which is Seb's Birthday and Halloween), we opted to stay in a hostel that was near to the bus station. So we stayed in the Discovery Lodge which is centrally located and is less than 4 months old. Sounds good? Well it wasn't! It was expensive, it was full of Kiwi Experience travellers (i.e. generally younger, less experienced travellers who think life is all about drinking and flirting (which it is, but I'm no good at that any more!)), and the kitchen was shockingly small.

To be honest, I was quite disappointed with Queenstown. It seems to be a Mecca for pissheads, adrenaline junky dudes and Japanese tourists who think that Queenstown is probably the only place worth visiting in New Zealand - which it isn't (possibly the opposite!).

That evening we tried to have an early night as it was an early bus the next day - we watched 6 or so people make up the largest meal I have ever seen backpackers make (it was a roast dinner) and they all threw over half of it away! I was disgusted - not just because I hate to see food go to waste, but because it just showed them up to be the absolute travelling tosspots they really were.

After that we watched a bit of TV in the, uncomfortably hot, lounge room (it also smelt of farts but that could have been me), and then we attempted to get an early night, however, the two girls in our dorm (sisters no less) had decided to drink an entire bottle of vodka and giggle/scream/fall over in and outside the room well into the night. Great fun!

The next morning we were up early and we even stole the sheets from the hostel to serve them right for being a downright shitty place. We arrived in Te Anau by mid-morning and we were glad that it was quite different from Queenstown. We checked into the hostel and got a few bits and bobs at the shops. We also spotted a good deal to do an overnight cruise on the Milford Sound for $129 (50 quid) which was possibly the best bargain I've seen so far in NZ. Also, as absolutely everyone has been talking about it, we booked ourselves to do a Bungy jump when we get back to Queenstown on the Nevis Highwire which is 134m high! A good way for Seb to celebrate his birthday I think!

For the rest of the day we walked a part of the Kepler Track to Brod Bay which took just over 4 hours - it was a nice walk around the lake and there was a NZ bird sanctuary en route which had all sorts of rare and not-so rare fauna - there was a Takahe there which is possibly one of the rarest birds in NZ which looks almost as ridiculous as the kiwi when it walks. There were also Paradise Ducks which mate for life and they have a peculiar quack. Walking the rest of the track was OK but the sandflies were out in force and we got bitten to buggery. We did have a chance to discuss our prospective Halloween costumes though and we were starting to get excited about it - what's even better is that it'll hardly cost a thing!

That evening, we watched Whale Rider which is a nice little film about Maori Culture and I enjoyed it a lot. See it if you get a chance but don't go out of your way.

The next morning we were allowed to have a bit of a lie in before we went to Milford for our overnight cruise. It was raining but I didn't mind as the Fiordland is reputedly just as pretty when it's pouring down. The coach driver stopped at every possible stop on the way - Mirror Lakes which aren't very mirror like when it rains, Monkey Creek which doesn't have monkeys (dissapointed!) and The Chasm which was quite amazing as the force of the water had made huge holes in the rock by a waterfall. On every stop there were a few cheeky Keas which are large mountain parrots which are inquisive and a bit of a nuisance to vehicle owners as they tend to tear up windscreen wipers. ("Beautiful plummage!")

We had to wait for a few hours until our boat departed so we went to the coffee shop and played coin football (the school lunchtime classic) and table football in which Seb humiliated me - I used to think I was good at it at one time but those days have gone.