The past couple days have been great. Fine weather finally, sunny and +25-30ish every day and enough breeze to make the waves crash.

The rest of my Coffs Harbour time was pretty relaxing. Not long after posting the last update I took a walk out to the Muttonbird Island Nature preserve at the end of the harbour. Looking back at town gave a fantastic view of the bay and the buildings rising up on the hills then you could cross to the other side and look out into the open pacific and at the waves crashing below. Colour aside the Pacific just has an epic feel to it that the Atlantic can’t match. On the way back to town I stopped by the aforementioned fisherman’s coop to get some tasty fish and chips. Absolutely delicious but the seagulls were beginning to swarm around my park bench to Birdemic levels by the time I was done. I ended up walking along the coast to the south for a while afterwards, but after a while I was simply jonesing for a swim.

After walking back to the hostel and changing I headed down to the Jetty beach and walked out onto the jetty. It was close to low tide so the thing was more or less at its highest as I walked out to where everyone was splashing down. Pleasantly enough there’s actually stairs up from the water at that point so one doesn’t have to swim all the way to shore (probably 200m or so) in between jumps. I ended up jumping a few times, but it was quickly getting close to sunset and I wanted to hang out in the waves a bit before heading back. The water was lovely and warm (despite some aussies whimpering about how cold it was) but the waves were fairly gentle since it was such a protected beach.

That night I decided to treat myself to dinner out since I was pretty wiped from all the walking and swimming and found a decent thai place not far up from the hostel. Afterwards I was going to go for a beer at the same hotel as the trivia but there was a cover in place because it was apparently topless waitress night so instead I grabbed a bottle of wine from the bottleshop and headed back to the hostel. I ended up sitting around the pool for a while in between doing a load of laundry. By the time I went to bed at around midnight there was still no one else in my room so I celebrated some privacy for once… I must have been tired, because when I woke the next morning there was a guy in the other bottom bunk and enough unpacked that he must have had the light on and been making lots of noise. It must have been late though as he hadn’t so much as stirred by the time I left the next morning.

Annoyingly the bus out to Byron the next day wasn’t leaving until five or so. I had to throw my luggage in day storage and pay a day fee, but I made up for it by walking up to the creek that cuts the town in half and walking up it a ways to the Botanical Gardens. Afterwards I walked down to the surfing beach and then across the creek and through the waves back to the harbour wall. For whatever reason there are few things I enjoy more than wading around where a river/stream meets the sea. Something about the rapidly changing currents trying to knock you over and the swirling different colours is just a blast. The beach on the other side of the creek is known for strong riptides and waves that crash right onto rocks on one side so it isn’t meant for swimming. It is however without question the most beautiful off leash dog park I’ve ever seen and I was visited by a number of very cute (and mostly very wet) pups as they flew around enjoying the sand.

The bus to Byron ended up having a few of the same people I’d ridden into Coffs with (a few of which I hadn’t seen at all since checking in) though we all do seem to be taking fairly different paths after Byron. One of the girls was a German named Sabina who was interested in learning to surf and is (at least initially) intending on spending two weeks in Byron Bay. (Side note: I have met and become friendly with 9 German girls on this trip so far. All but one has been named either Sabina or Andrea…) We ended up chatting a bit since she wanted someone to split a chip combo with her at the meal stop. She’s actually been here since September but worked the first 3 months, we’d done a fair number of the same New Zealand things so we gave an English bloke a few tips before he heads off there from Brisbane in two weeks.

The meal stop was a story in itself as we pulled into a petrol station/terrible lunch counter combo. We passed a fast food plaza at the top of the hill 2 minutes after getting back on the bus and no one who had ordered from the gas station was too impressed. Sabina and I had done the two bags of chips for four bucks combo as I anticipated the food would be pretty terrible which was quickly confirmed. Bad food aside, the real adventure of the meal stop was the hippie Christian commune that seemed to be located next door. The moment we started emerging from the bus someone ran down from the weather beaten old mansion next door and turned on a spotlight, some twinkling lights and some blaring Christian country/rock. The spotlight lit up their “Jesus is the lord of our nation” placard and the music was the sort of thing you’d expect to hear driving through Alabama. They had a little hut of sorts on the edge of the road that I think they offered people coffee from during the day. The best was yet to come though as soon after we emerged from the petrol station a guy resembling a fat hippie jesus and wearing what seemed to be white cotton pyjamas exited the house and began dancing and swaying down to the music. Occasionally a whiff of pot drifted our way as well which wasn’t exactly a surprise given the atmosphere. Hilarious though. Hippie Jesus waved goodbye as we pulled back onto the highway.

At first glance Byron Bay didn’t really seem like my type of place, lots of 18 year old looking clubs, tons of drunks wandering the streets and very much the vibe of a place that I’m getting way too old for (and never enjoyed in the first place.) Unfortunately the hostel reinforced this, incredibly loud, five of us (and three surf boards) packed into a room that by all rights should have one double bed. It was not the most pleasant night and I was really wishing I’d booked a motel here (however it’s both expensive and usually packed here, sadly no RCI either.) Poor Sabina is in a ten share which I can’t even imagine, she said it’s basically one and a half motel rooms stuffed with bunk beds and no storage space. No storage space to start with AND a second German luggage invasion. The only thing it had going for it as we checked in was that they’d given us a shuttle ride from the bus stop. All that being said, the rest of the town made up for it come morning. The hostel is close to the beach and has free boogie boards. (Ugh, I actually just discovered that this hostel doesn’t actually provide dishes, you have to rent a dish set… seriously YHA, I thought you had standards, this place sucks)

I actually started off my day with a hike up to the lighthouse and the more easterly point in mainland Australia (I guess Lord Howe Island is probably the easternmost point?) This was a beautiful hike through a few of the remaining pockets of rainforest on Cape Byron. In a somewhat scary reminder to stay on the trails, after stopping to tie my shoe about 20 feet into the trail, I looked in the forest to see a two meter spider web and a spider with a leg span the size of my fist. She didn’t seem to be a venomous type thankfully. They weren’t kidding when they said steep about the trail either and the high temps and humidity made me thankful I’d brought a bunch of water. Here and there I caught sight of Tallow Beach to the south (a more dangerous beach open to the ocean that’s less used.) Eventually the lighthouse itself came into sight towering above the tallest point on the cape but it took another few minutes to get there. From the lighthouse you can apparently often see whales at the right time of year (sadly not now) but I did  see some dolphins riding waves as well as some sea turtles feeding in some of the backwater pools. Pleasantly enough there was also a tiny cafe in one of the assistant keeper cottages so I was able to snag a Bundaberg Peachee soda and just watch the waves crash for a while.

Continuing the loop meant a bunch of stairs going down and a variety of lookouts along the way. I saw a few more turtles as I wound my way down the path, taking a few pictures and videos along the way. The tip of the cape was one of the most gorgeous spots. Every few seconds spray would shoot into the air as a wave crashed into the narrow rock barrier. Beyond it a couple very brave surfers set out to catch a wave that would carry them all the way back into the main bay. The rest of the loop back passed a series of gorgeous beaches and exclusive looking private homes and vacation rentals. By the time I reached the hostel again I needed a rest so I hopped into a deck chair by the pool (the only nice part of the hostel) and enjoyed the shade for a bit.

My short walk had turned into more of a trek than expected so by the time I was ready to go down to the beach it was already reasonably late. I couldn’t resist free boogie boards so I ended up riding waves until just before sunset. The nice thing about this beach is that the only real rip is a horizontal current trying to pull you away from your towel. The water itself is such a crystal clear green that you can look down between waves and see the occasional fish dart by your legs. Then if you’re me you get engrossed by a school of something blue and pretty and get a 12 foot wave in the face that whips your boogie board around into your skull! Fun times! I actually ran into Sabina down there again boogie boarding as well, she’d been heading out as I left for the lighthouse, but she’d apparently gone back for lunch in between. The waves were running really well for our boards and I was in there for hours, just thinking about packing it in when an absolute monster wave came in. Hopping up into it I got an amazing ride but also incredible pain… My poor legs, exhausted from the up and down then current fighting for hours had decided this big jump was enough and my left calf and right hamstring muscle locked. I had to sit there getting smacked by subsequent foam surges pressing on the muscles to get them to bend again. I did take the signal though and went to sit on the beach and watch the sun set over the mountains.

Tonight I’m going to try to find a decent pub and have a drink or two, I might even brave one of the other clubs, anything to delay coming back to this flophouse.

I’ve spent the past couple days walking around and enjoying Sydney. I’ve checked out a few museums, including the Powerhouse Museum which for some reason had a travelling show on ABBA (not too sure how that fits in with their mandate but whatever.) Lots of other fun exhibits as well including a big section on steam power in Australia and a presentation of winners of local design innovation competitions. Would have been a lot better if people had made their children behave a little more mannerly though. I’m not a person who expects kids to be perfect, but christ there were a lot of enabling parents with spoiled crying brats there. Also, get off my dang lawn and such.

Along with my museum visits I’ve checked out some of the shopping, one of the more interesting places being Paddy’s Market. Kind of a strange place, a small city block or so of four levels of shopping mall, with the ground floor underneath opening up 3 days a week as what I’d have to call a bazaar. Stall after stall of random stuff, mostly asian gifts, cheap aussie souvenirs, clearly counterfeit clothing (including hockey jerseys for whatever reason) and big selections of things you’d see at flea markets. A large produce section sat in the back and all in all it really reminded me of one of the sheds at the market back in St. Jacobs outside waterloo, but times about 50.

Today was finally a quite sunny day when I looked outside in the morning so I hopped on the ferry to Manly beach to spend a day in the sun. Manly lies to the east of Sydney’s downtown, at the entrance to the harbour and the ferry ride was gorgeous. I managed to snag a seat on the bow deck and watched as the coast flew by. As we passed the heads where the Tasman Sea meets the harbour waters things got a little choppy but the ride was otherwise quite smooth. I could very easily spend my time here on a boat cruising around all day, it’s probably for the best that I don’t have enough for a sailboat left in my bank account or I’d be tempted.

Manly itself was gorgeous, a cute little suburb with some superb beachfront and lots of little cafes and bars. I walked along with the rest of the crowd from the ferry, checking out the offerings and talking myself out of a lemon tart at one of the bakeries. The long promenade crossed the lowest part of the isthmus that forms the north end of the harbour and at the other end was Manly Beach. The beach itself stretched quite far and was fairly busy for a Monday morning. The water was a beautiful greenie blue, but honestly for my money the beach back at Hahei was prettier, something about the island out there just seals it for me. It could also be the fact that I didn’t have the “things that can kill you in Australia” part of my travel book ringing in my head at Hahei. It’s not just sharks after all, there are poisonous jellyfish, octopi, snails and fish in Australia too.

It also had lots of people learning to surf as the wind was strong enough to create some medium breakers. I couldn’t think of a better place to lay down on the sand and spend my day. The surf lessons were entertaining as each person repeatedly fell with their board often snapping around on the foot cord to smack them in the ass as they struggled in the waves. Slowly but surely each of them managed to get riding the board, first on their stomachs, then slowly up onto their feet for at least a few seconds. After lunch and a swim I settled down for a few hours of reading and relaxing until the wind began to pick up and ominous clouds started blowing in from the direction of New Zealand (so that’s why the weather had been so nice there, they sent it here.) I high tailed it over to the ferry and got back to Sydney proper just as it started to pour.

Pouring rain when you have no car is kind of a drag, so I ended up heading to the movies instead of my original plan of hitting the aquarium. For everyone who buys the line that heavier enforcement of movie downloading (something Australia is apparently super Gestapo about) would let movies cost less, let me show you my $18 movie stub when I get home :p Also, for some bizarre reason, they still have assigned seating here for films, what the hell is that? I was assigned a seat next to some very weird woman eating an ice cream cone in a disturbing manner so I sat two seats over and hoped for the best, thankfully no one else appeared to be assigned to our row.

After the flick I came back here to the hostel to find that I’ve got another brand new arrival as a roommate so the lights were off early. Hopefully he actually adjusts unlike the last one. That kid seemed intent on sticking with some bizarre sleep pattern and not trying to move to local time at all. It appears the fourth bed will be empty again tonight though. It would be nice to get a roommate who actually spoke english and was social though, with the rec room full of tour type groups I could use a conversation that wasn’t a prelude to selling me something. As usual a day at the beach has pretty much sapped my energy so I think I’m going to post this and call it a night, pictures will follow at some point.

The following two posts are combined into one because I’m exhausted and running out of internet time.

I sit now in our alternative night stop in lieu of our Christchurch return. It’s a rafting lodge which is probably seeing the most offseason accommodations it ever has. I wish we had time to go rafting but sadly it’s a power-drive back to Wellington tomorrow, then to Auckland the next day. While I sit here I watch the reflection in the window of the doorway as the female half of our German couple checks  for at least the 5^th time if her boyfriend is back in the room yet. The place has one hallway and she would have seen him if he’d come in, but no, there she is again lurking in the doorway.

Today started after a surprisingly sound sleep in our Royal Hotel, in my case I suspect simply because it was a solid pillow for once.  After a quick breakfast we’d boarded Princess and headed down to the Central Otago Rail Trail. Formerly a rail line bringing passengers into the area during the gold rush, the rails have been removed and the resulting well graded right of way turned into a massive mountain bike/horse/hiking trail through some gorgeous scenery. This morning we did a 33ish km chunk of it from near Naseby down to Hyde. We had sections passing livestock, little sheep faces and bored looking cows. (Fun fact: New Zealanders have 10 sheep for every 1 of them.)There are also a ton of deer farms in this area and it’s very odd to see a field full of deer placidly looking at the bus heading by instead of running in fright.

Our section of the trail ended at a really nice little cafe overlooking a vast expanse of rolling hills and farms. I’m quickly becoming repetitive with comparing NZ to Canada, but it’s true New Zealand seems to combine most of Canada’s scenery types into a nice compact package. In any case I was very much reminded of the foothills of the Rockies in places along the trail. It’s very much uniquely New Zealand as well though. Nikki and Naama actually got lost in the beginning as we all took off without realizing their bikes were still being adjusted, so by the time they arrived at Hyde we’d all had time to have a lovely lunch/snack, much better than yesterday’s atrocity.

The rest of the day was getting to the Rangitata Gorge rafting lodge via a few stops. We had a brief stop at a very large open pit gold mine, something most of the Europeans hadn’t seen before. Next we headed down to the Pacific coast and visited the Moeraki Boulders. These boulders are very smooth near spherical bubbles of rock that have fallen out of the muddy coast onto the beach and look as if they’ve washed in from sea. They have strange veins of quartz looking material that makes them look very alien to the landscape. Very neat though, and I couldn’t resist getting a few photos.

Naama Nikki and David enjoying the boulders

The lodge itself is nice enough, though we got here quite late and can’t really enjoy the scenery (especially with a 6:30AM departure on tap for tomorrow) so it will have to go on the list of places to come back to next trip here. Our rooms tonight have 9 beds but we’re sharing just the boys so it’s only 5 of us. This is a particularly good thing given that three of them are third level triple-decker bunks that have got to be close to 10 feet off the ground. This is our last real night on tour as half of us will be getting off at Christchurch (Andrea and Simone left today to go to Dunedin for a bit rather than sit around in CHCH waiting for their flight with little to do.) We’ll be dropping off five more I think and picking up 8 people who will be starting their south island tour, but we’ll only be sharing the bus with them as far as the ferry in Picton. Here’s Lisa again now, walking in as if it’s her room. I know they’re travelling together but go sit in the common areas together (and you know, talk to people) if you wanted to be together constantly you should have sucked it up and paid for a double upgrade. Of course if it was other people we wouldn’t care as much but frustration with them amongst the whole tour group is pretty high.

So a couple more days (and believe it or not a FIFTH driver) from now I’ll be heading out from New Zealand. I have to say that as great as this trip has been it’s done nothing more than whet my appetite for another visit. I think coming here with someone and sharing a camper van or something and hitting some of the spots I would have liked to have spent more time in would be great. Things like: More time in and around Auckland. Explore some of the rest of North Island, go back and do the Sea Kayak to Cathedral Cove when there isn’t a Tsunami warning. Do some diving once I’m certified and go snorkelling with the dolphins again (I could honestly do that every day.) It’s a beautiful incredibly welcoming country that has set a pretty high bar for Australia to match the rest of my trip. If I could suggest one thing to anyone coming here, don’t look at NZ all tiny next to Australia and think it deserves a 10^th of the time. Everyone I’ve met has agreed that they’d wished they’d spent more time in New Zealand rather than just tagging it on at some tiny portion of a bigger trip. While I’m glad the tour is over (we’re all a little burnt out and need some downtime) I could easily spend more time here.

That said, I loved about 95% of this tour and most of what I didn’t was a result of the driver confusion caused by disorganization at head office about how many drivers were leaving since we’re sort of on the cusp of the end of the season. Our current guy is doing his best, but it’s his first time on Adventure Tours and they’ve given him pretty much zero help. Overall they’re great though, an older more mature crowd that likes to have a good time but isn’t up to 5am every night like Contiki. The groups are smaller. The real drivers are super knowledgeable(and Digger will get there soon if they keep him on here), point you in all the right directions and take you to spots you’d never find on your own or with one of the big buses. It has been a great overview of both islands on this one, but I’d recommend them even if you only have time for one island.

 The next day:

Sad day today as we sped from Rangitata to Picton. Along the way we made a couple stops in Christchurch dropping off roughly half of our remaining number. As I write this we’re sitting on the Picton to Wellington ferry which will arrive in the capital at around 9:30pm, making our time since leaving this morning roughly 15 hours… ouch. To make things worse, departure time tomorrow morning is 6:45am. Despite the length of the day we saw some nice sights and managed to persevere.

I felt bad as we all got up this morning for the 6:30AM departure. There were several other people staying in the lodge, but with the creaky old floors and 13 of us moving about grabbing showers and loading bags there was no way to stay quiet. I’m sure they’re bitching about the annoying tour group ruining their stay but we did the best we could. Low hanging fog over the narrow access road made the drive out a bit of an adventure as well as we ran across a fair amount of wildlife including a doe who was probably a farm escapee.

This time through Christchurch we got a much better view of some of the damage and would apparently have been within sight of the toppled cathedral tower in the city center. It reminded me a lot of photos from New Orleans. Obviously the scale of the damage is nowhere near as bad, but there is that same view of buildings with spraypaint codes denoting type of damage or just a simple NOGO. Old stone buildings were the hardest hit we saw (for the obvious reason) including a number of churches. One of them was obviously a beautiful old chapel in red brick, but most of the buttresses had given way and all the formerly stained glass arches were ragged holes. Many Victorian homes had obviously taken a long of damage as well. Some were missing walls, some had seen a collapsing porch draw off the entire front of the building. The nature of the earthquake means that damage in some areas appears kind of random, with newer buildings being condemned, but older places that look as if they’d fall down at the drop of a hat are open for business. There’s a definite hush about the city. The population has been diving since the quake and it shows. We passed a number of completely abandoned apartment and condo blocks, “For Sale” or “Not Reopening” signs were in many business windows and the traffic was nonexistent during rush hour. We passed the hospital visible in so many of the news stories and the number of cars parked everywhere nearby just sunk your heart. Temporary parking had clearly been set up in nearby areas and all of it was packed. At the same time, not far from the stricken city center there were people walking dogs and playing golf in the park, waving to passersby.

Leaving Christchurch we retraced the road we’d taken south from Kaikoura two weeks back. We didn’t see any dolphins from the road (our guide told us he’d seen orcas on one trip) but we did visit a colony of very cute seals. Even better, not far up the road there was a short walking path along a stream that the seal pups play in heading up to a waterfall. We were a bit disappointed to not find any seals in the pool, but on the way back down some happy barking alerted us to four juveniles playfighting in the stream. They’d found a small pool and were bouncing around in it. I really hope my video of it turns out well.

Since we had no way of making the 2PM ferry but the 6PM ferry didn’t require any kind of a rush we made a few stops like that, rounding up with another winery visit. This one was a much tastier one and even had a canuck behind the counter offering the tasting. They’re a fairly new winery and are striving to be zero carbon emission and the smallest ecological footprint possible. They’re also the largest single block vineyard in the southern hemisphere. I picked up a bottle that I’ll try to finish before Australia, otherwise it’ll be sealed up and I’ll hope for the best with it in my backpack.

In any case, it’s time to brave the on board food selection since we’ll be arriving too late for much to be open but it was too early to eat at the last food stop before the boat. Edit: food surprisingly ok, checked into hostel at 9:30PM sharp…

And thus ends the March portion of the travel blog, check my facebook page for some photo dumps  (I’m starting to get caught up) or check back here once I have cheap internet and I’ll post some once I’ve really tweaked them. Sydney beckons, then on up the gold coast. Only real firm thing on the agenda is visiting David from this tour in Brisbane and getting my PADI certification at some point.

Cheers for all the notes and things, I miss everyone.

The rest of our time in Queenstown passed in somewhat of a blur, we were trying to recharge our batteries a bit for the last run of the tour. The next stop was something I was most looking forward to, a cruise on the Doubtful Sound (really a Fjord) an absolutely remote natural wilderness. The tannin’s make a top layer of fresh water that filters light and keeps the salt water underneath extra dark. This lets a variety of deeper ocean species live on the fjord walls a few meters down.

Once we’d cruised off in the bus we eventually arrived at Lake Manapourri. Once on the lake you take a quick launch over into the western arm to a completely isolated road built for the construction of a hydro dam. This takes you across Wilmot Pass and down into the Fjordland national park. Doubtful Sound is the second biggest of the Fjords and can actually contain bigger species such as a resident pod of Bottlenose and the occasional whale of various species. (which we didn’t see) Lots of seals (which you’ll see in the pics) and some amazing scenery. There’s a ton of rain there annually so we lucked out in only having a few small patches of wetness.

We actually got to stay on the Fiordland Navigator on the sound overnight, down in steerage class basically. Unfortunately Niall wouldn’t increase our Titanic experience by leading any irish dancing. After getting all set up in our bunks we sailed down towards the Tasman Sea. The boat has its own Nature Guide narrating the trip and pointing out the various things we can see. Once we were down at a reasonably sheltered arm of the sound they broke out the small launches and sent off some parties then let the rest of us hop in the sea kayaks and have a paddle.

The Kayak trip was right up there with the one earlier in the trip for the amazing experiences of the trip. Towering cliffs covered with greenery with wisps of cloud running down the mountain, the only human sounds you heard once the big boat had stopped its engines was the splashing of paddles in the water. We could heard all sorts of bird calls ringing out through the rainforest over the backdrop of the waterfalls carrying away all the rain. Most of these waterfalls apparently stop within hours of the rain ending because there is very little soil for the water to filter through, it just slides off through the root farms and down the rock.

Once we were back on board the Navigator they served us a nice hot soup and set sail for the mouth of the Fjord and the seal colony on some of the barrier islands. Like most seals these ladies laze around all day before going out to hunt at night. There were a fair number of pups in amongst the moms but it was hard to see them given the rocking sea conditions. How far they go out really depends on sea conditions as this is a pretty wild sea coast. Our photographer is back with us as I write this and he says they made it five miles out earlier in the week and even the crew were bouncing around taking photos since that’s so rare. For us it was wild enough that they didn’t take us much farther as the sea sick types were starting to turn green.

Once we were back into calmer water they served a delicious dinner, total smorg (salmon, lamb, beef, chicken etc) that had everyone stuffed (even before desert.) There was a short nature lecture after dinner then some general lazyness until bedtime. We were anchored in a very sheltered cove for the night so there wasn’t much roll but surprisingly I still heard a couple people comment on movement in the morning.

The next morning we woke to the sounds of the engines starting at 6:30 and dragged ourselves out of our less than spacious bunks and up for the first (provided) hot breakfast of the trip.  We took another side trip into one of the arms on the way back up to the wharf. This was probably my favourite place of the whole fjord trip. They shut off the engines and let us drift at the end of the long narrow channel. Morning mists and clouds drifted around the tallest of the peaks and slowly crept down the cliffs towards the water. The entire scene was eerily beautiful and will no doubt linger with me the rest of my life.

The rest of the day was kind of a blur of travel as we travelled across the middle of the southern tip of the island and made a couple short stops in some tiny towns. We travelled briefly between the towns of Gore and Clinton on what has been dubbed the “presidential highway” then on to the town of Naseby. The entire drive was a study in how quickly the geography of New Zealand can change because in five hours we progressed from the fjordland inlets, across the lake, fields of rolling green farmland and orchards, up into more arid pastureland and then finally into our current formerly gold mining area with a few sheep farms. We also snagged a truly abysmal lunch that’s probably still sitting in my stomach radiating evil. Imagine a really shady Korean convenience store from downtown in a big city, then plop it down in the middle of nowhere and have that be your only source for a lunch stop. My choice was a pork sandwich that was beyond questionable, poor Niall ordered a chicken Panini then watched as they stuck it in the microwave instead of actually cooking it. Ungrilled Panini is far from pleasant, especially when it’s soggy from the Micro. They had a full kitchen as well since they offered burgers, but given how revolting the burgers looked for those who ordered them perhaps we should be happy.

Once in Naseby we checked in at the Royal Motel (not as advertised :p ) and went to the local curling rink which has somehow become a tourist attraction as we piled off the bus. I guess it helps them keep the place running as it has year round ice and that must get expensive at times in the summer here. I showed most of my bus mates how to do things and even had a strategy discussion later over dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and it’s kind of fun to say I’ve curled in New Zealand. There isn’t much else here in Naseby so we settled down for a dinner and then a few beers, enjoying the massive rarity of free wifi until the owner turned it off, probably fed up that we weren’t going to bed. Unfortunately while I uploaded a bunch of older photos, I didn’t get this blog post up before it went down.

Our trip to Queenstown was gorgeous yesterday morning. Because we’re a smaller bus we’re able to do some of the mountain passes that the big motorcoaches can’t. As a result we came down from the very top of the mountains down into the Gibson valley with a fantastic panorama laid out below us. We made a stop-off at the original home of the Bungy Jump and watched a few people take the jumps. Marco booked a big jump on the Nevis that he went and did later that afternoon. Andrea, Niall, Debbie and David all booked a fly cruise fly to the beautiful Milford sound area. I was incredibly tempted as the weather was beautiful, but it cost around $400 and that’s a good portion of a round trip to Fiji or Thailand if I want to do that later. They said it was gorgeous. I’ve heard the Doubtful Sound trip is as good though and that’s part of our tour (though we drive there) so I won’t be too regretful.

Once we got into Queenstown we settled into our quite nice accommodation then went to explore the town. It’s a very touristy little place, tons of people of every nationality. David pointed out that he wasn’t sure if he’d been served by a native Kiwi yet when we walked about this afternoon, I think he was right until we hit the supermarket.  We had a pretty questionable $3 bbq at a bar before moving to a different bar to close out the night. As part of the night’s activities there was a “horizontal bungy” where teams of two had to get drinks and chug them… bizarre. Overall the place reminds me a bit of Whistler or the Okanagan.

This morning we headed up the gondola and did 5 runs on the “luge” go-carty tracks. Very similar to the few that are out in the rockies if you’ve ever done one. Hilarious photo to come tomorrow. Great views of Queenstown and the lake from above. So far this afternoon we’ve headed over into the botanical gardens and seen their Frisbee golf course (sadly the rental place seemed to be closed) and checked out Fergburger, considered by some to be the burger in the world. I have to say it was pretty good, and any place I can get brie on my burger is pretty choice.

At the moment us boys are back in our room unwinding a bit before dinner. David and Niall are doing a canyon jet boating excursion tomorrow while I’m trying to decide between a few options. Unfortunately it may rain which will limit things.