queenstown

this past weekend was spent living out of a van by a large water tank and storage shed that i found when i pulled off the road. first time too - great luck. my back, it seems, was the only party not completely satisfied with my find.

billed as the adventure capital of the world, the array of activities offered is pretty phenomenal. everything from paragliding to rifver surfing to jetboating to bungy etc etc etc. it goes on for a while. one piece of advice - if you have ever been on a jetski, don't do the jetboat, it is the lamest use of $100 i have ever made. i think i'd rather have blown it on skittles and i don't even like skittles. the river surfing was fun though. the rapids we went down were situated in a really beautiful area and it was a good time. we also got pizza at the end.

queenstown itself is touristy but quite nice. they have built it into a cooler version of most colorado ski towns. the nights we were (2 of 3) there we spent on the wharf in a little town square type of area. each night had live music which was pretty good (especially the violin/acousitc guitar/and single drum combo that seemed to be playing irish folk tunes).

my two best meals in nz so far came from a burger joint called fergburger. they only serve hamburgers and they are fantastic. i also got ice cream from the same place on two consecutive nights and it was fantastic. i don't think i had tried dark chocolate and chili ice cream previously (though i've had it in chocolate bars and it is wonderful) but it is my new favorite. wow.

didn't go a whole lot of hiking but we did do a 1 hour hike to the top of a hill where they run the gondola. it was pretty nice and much more scenic than had we only taken the gondola.

there are a couple of things i would still like to do there but i think i will wait until later in the semester.

the drive to queenstown was a bit long (a bit over 4 hours, some of this time added by the slowness of the van) but beautiful. i drove the entire trip so i didn't have a whole lot of time for looking around but what i saw was phenomenal, especially an area i believe is called the fruitlands in the southern center of the south island. this is my favorite area thus far. though the landscape isn't so severe here, i think its gentle beauty is by far the most appealing part i have seen. it consists primarily of a series of large hills on either side of the road with wide, sloping and uneven valleys in between. the grass varied from a vibrant green to a dry amber that reminded me a bit of texas. interspersed throughout are large ponds, a lake, and some creeks and rivers. as you move further along towards dunedin, you come across large orchards where you can pick your own fruit.

though it was a fun weekend i was pretty glad to come back to a decent bed (e.g. not hardpacked dirt) and a shower (not the sink of a shopping mall).

-keaton