Jan
5
Long Road to Queenstown
Filed Under Australia/New Zealand 2009/10
Queenstown, New Zealand
January 5, 2010
4:40pm NZT
Please see uploaded photos here.
The rest of our evening in Fox Glacier wasn’t so shabby. We met our group in a private section of the hotel’s dining facilities for some tasty dinner. We didn’t get many veggies in our diet while in Australia, so we were excited to see a variety of options that evening. A few guys from our trip ended up sitting at our round table and we all enjoyed a great variety of conversation until we were kicked out at 9:30 by the wait staff. Most of the group met up with Craig around 10pm for a short walk to see some glow worms, but I opted for a shower and some good Zs since my night before had been restless.
Yesterday, we spent a lot of time in the bus on our route to Queenstown. As usual, breakfast was served at the unpopular hour of 7am. I didn’t notice until after I’d started scooping food onto my plate that our group was to pay the hotel $5 if we had the “hot” breakfast (i.e. full English breakfast). The sign stating this wasn’t in a very convenient location, but I was never asked for money so I kept it a free meal.
Our first stop was only minutes away, a 20-minute hike through the fern-covered forest to see Lake Matheson. This lake is known for its still reflections of the country’s two tallest peaks. Unfortunately, the skies were still frowning down upon us with occasional rain and constant clouds, so it wasn’t much of a view. We were able to see just the front tip of Fox Glacier, though, and the hike was a great way to start the morning though.
Along our drive, we came across a couple of washed-out roads from all of the rainfall. At 9am, we reached the coastline, and if we had Superman-strength vision, we would be able to see Australia or Antarctica depending on the direction of our glance. At this stretch of roadside, many boulders and rocks separated us from the beach. Along these rocks, passersby had built countless numbers of rock cairns (stacks of rocks) which provided a neat photo opportunity. At this point, Craig checked on the bus’s engine and found that one of the belts needed to be replaced, but he didn’t have the proper tools. After some phone calls to HQ, he drove us about 20 minutes down the road to a place with some handy tools. With some help from handy guys on our bus, the belt did get replaced, although the whole ordeal waylaid us almost 1.5 hours. As we continued, blue patches of sky peaked through, so we kept our fingers crossed for good weather in Queenstown.
During the drive, we crossed the longest single-lane bridge in the southern hemisphere. Not many people live in this region, so why spend the money on a two-lane bridge when one lane is sufficient? We have crossed quite a few of them. We also stopped to see Thunder Creek Falls which is tucked into the rainforest and flows into the Haast River. Part of the drive reminded me a lot of “Lord of the Rings,” the scenes where vast glacier-carved valleys have narrow rivers winding through, their shores much wider and strewn with pebbles and rocks.
At our lunch stop, I ordered up some tasty fish and chips. When I returned to the counter and grabbed some ketchup for my chips, the cashier informed me in a somewhat rude manner that sauces are $.50 each. I couldn’t believe it! Well, I wasn’t going to pay for something that I’m used to being free so I tossed it back in the bin on the counter. A Canadian on our trip, who saw the snippy attitude of the lady, came over seconds later and gave me a ketchup. J
On the last leg of our drive, Craig decided (against the tour company’s general wishes) to go through the last bit of mountains rather than around them to make up for our lost time. Before we headed into Queenstown, he took us to the site of A.J. Hackett’s Bungy, the world’s first commercial bungy site, so we could watch some jumpers in action.
After throwing my bags in our really nice room in our Queenstown accommodations, I went with about 25 others for our Shotover Jet experience that afternoon. Queenstown calls itself the adventure capital of the world, with adrenalin rush options such as bungy, sky diving, canyon swing, and jetboats. I decided to try the last of these since I had never heard of such a thing and wanted something unique to the area (sky diving is on my bucket list, but I know I can find cheaper options elsewhere). Luckily, the sun was shining in Queenstown. We were all shuttled to the company’s site along the Shotover River and suited up with raincoats and lifejackets. Fourteen of us filled up the first boat along with our driver. I got on last and was freaked out to be sitting on the end of my row, fearing that I would be tipped out. These special jetboats go up to 80km through the narrow canyon walls that the river has dug out through time, and they even do full 360-degree turns. Let me tell you, the info video is somewhat hair-raising (watch it online). I had a death grip on the railing in front of me (conveniently, they are heated!) as we set off on our 20-minute adventure.
I soon realized that it wasn’t as scary as I’d thought, including the turns, but we all got pretty wet from the splashes. I don’t know how they control those boats, but they sure get very close to the canyon walls and advise people to not stick their limbs out the sides unless you want to lose them. The whole thing seemed to last much longer than 20 minutes and was good fun!
Dinner was on our own, but a good number of us followed Lana and Craig into town for a pre-arranged meal at a pizza place. This restaurant/bar is pretty hip; the roof opens and closes at various times, and they serve beer in 3-litre cylinders. Our table ordered a couple of them. The food was also pretty fantastic. Afterward, many of our tour partook in a $25 novelty at Minus 5 Ice Bar in which you are suited up in Ugg boots and warm coats and go into a -5C room with ice sculptures for 30 minutes and have drinks served in glasses carved out of ice. Joanne and I opted out since we spend our winters in that kind of weather. For free! We joined the group in a bar next door afterward but called it a night at 11pm.