En Route to Queenstown

Continuing from Franz Josef...

On the Way to Queenstown
The goal of the next two days, essentially, was to get to Queenstown. We stopped a few places, but Queenstown was firmly in everyone's mind.

The rest of the day out of Franz Josef was mostly spent in transit. We stopped at a place that had extremely blue water. It was pretty neat. See:

We eventually ended up in a small town called Makarora. On the bus, one of the deals that were offered to us was a nice meal that the bus driver valued at $25 for $10. I didn't really feel like cooking that night so I took him up on it. All of the girls I was traveling with decided to make their own meal so while they all made dinner, I hung out with one of the other groups of American exchange students. As much as I love those girls, it was pretty nice to get away from them as well. Dinner was tasty: we got lamb shank, carrots, peas and mash. We also were offered mull wine, but I thought it was horrible. Does anyone like mull wine? It's wine that is warm. To me it tasted sweet in your mouth, but when you went to swallow it, it turned harsh and ultimately hurt my throat. I'm not a fan. After the meal, I stayed around—it was a cafe/lodge place where we also paid for our accommodation—and a group of us played euchre. With nothing really to do and feeling tired after a day of traveling, I hit the hay early.

Wanaka
The next stop during our journey was Wanaka. A small town, reminiscent of my perception of Colorado, it was very nice. We stopped there for some down time and for lunch. We went into a variety of shops and I bought my mother yet another gift (that woman is going to be spoiled upon my arrival, I swear). For lunch we went to a place called The Ritual Cafe. It was one of those places where the atmosphere just kind of spoke to me and I knew instantly that's where I wanted to go. I got an amazing pasta salad with green pasta noodles, feta, red capsicum (bell pepper), pesto and a bunch of other vege (it's vege, not veggies in NZ). I had been craving pesto so it totally hit the spot! On the way out, I picked up a pumpkin and chocolate chunk muffin I had been eying throughout my meal. I just couldn't walk away. (I must have been really hungry when I wrote this entry!)

Onwards
The next stop we made was at a lookout point close to Queenstown. Here are some pictures from the site:

It was so windy up at that hill it was insane. I was afraid I would literally be knocked over. Next up was an amazing fruit and vege store. It had an awesome tasting table and I had the tastiest kiwifruit I've ever had in my life. One of the greatest things about fruit and vege shops is other than how tasty it is, it's so bloody cheap! I got two or three kiwis, about two perfectly ripe red capsicum and a large fruit leather for under $5. Shortly after that, we arrived at the AJ Hackett bungy.We watched a video about the making of the bungy. In case you didn't know, the bungy was invented in the 1980's by AJ Hackett and a business partner of his in New Zealand. The place where we watched the video was the site of the very first bungy. One of the girls from our bus decided she couldn't wait a moment longer and that she needed to bungy jump then and there. It was cool to watch her jump, but it was kind of annoying because then we had to wait for her. In the meantime I had to resist urges to buy things from the gift shop. I eventually bought myself a new pair of funky sunglasses because I sat on my other pair while sailing in Abel Tasman. Below is a picture of Milford Sound (which I will get to in my next post) reflected in my new schnazzy sunglasses. Photo credit goes to Ashley Chin.
Well the next and final stop of my south island trip is Queenstown. I'll tell you all about the thrill capital of New Zealand and stop at Milford Sound, a glimpse of which you got in my sunglasses above. Much love from NZ!