Queenstown

Our next destination was Queenstown. Queenstown is probably one of the most well known cities in New Zealand as it is marketed as the "Adventure Capital of New Zealand". But more on that in a bit.

On the drive, we took a rest stop in Tarras and met a motorcycle group that was touring the South Island which was really cool.












We also stopped at Cromwell for fresh fruit and I saw so many varities of plums and peaches that I had never seen before. We left with 3kg worth of cherries and 3kg of this special plum.








Queentown was super windy as a storm was brewing and the city felt odd. Just a little too gimicky. Sort of like the feeling that I had in Amterdam, except that was restricted more to certain areas of the city. Left right and centre, someone was selling you sky diving or bungee jumping or white water rafting. It was just ... too much.





A visit to Queenstown necessitated a visit to the famous Fergburger. We split a Sweet Bambi and a Fergburger with cheese. It wasn't a long wait for the burger considering the sheer volume of orders and there must have been around 9 people in the small kitchen area. I liked Sweet Bambi burger better than the other one since I really liked the sauce that ccompanied the deer patty.

Tramping in Hooker Valley

Hiking in New Zealand is called tramping and today was the day that we would be tramping in Hooker Valley. Mature.It was a 5 hr return walk and the most popular track in the National Park. We crossed three swing bridges and saw the mountains from every single angle.






It was incredible to see the ice on the mountain (it looked blue too! I am guessing from the glaciers) and a somewhat enjoyable walk. My only issue was that since it was a walk through the valley between the mountains predominately, there was a lot of rock/ gravel to walk on which became incredibly tiring as you constantly had to stabilise yourself.






Iceberg.








View from the room.

We returned back to our accommodation with nothing to do and I spent the remainder of the day watching terrible tv and skyping.

Mount Cook & Lake Tekapo

On the second day (the very first full day) we headed for Mount Cook via Lake Tekapo. I have to admit that I don't have too much experience with highways in Australia (perhaps I get confused with motorways) but the highways that connected all the cities in New Zealand seemed quite small. They were always just one lane.









When we left Christchurch, it was incredibly overcast and a little chilly compared to Sydney weather. However, by the time we reached Lake Tekapo, the skies had cleared and it was a brilliant blue with no clouds. The colour of the lake was incredible! My photos do not capture the aqua coloured water. This lake (and in fact most of the lakes) are this colour due to the glaciers and the particles that settle in the water.









After a very long, but scenic drive, we arrived at Mt Cook and our accommodation which was incredibly shit considering it cost $150 / night. We were exhausted and with the little time we had left in the day, we to the lookout for the glaciers which was very underwhelming. But the view of the valley was breathtaking. I am sure it was used in a battle scene for Lord of the Rings (along with probably almost every single city in New Zealand).

Northern Beaches Outing

Right now I am on my way to Christchurch, New Zealand for my two week holiday. I must admit, I am a much better flyer these days however I don't believe I will ever become accustomed to long haul flights.

Last Friday, the Boy and I decided to fly a kite! Especially since watching "Saving Mr Banks" (which by the way is a completely underwhelming film) when I hear the word "kite" I immediately think of the song in Mary Poppins.

We went to Manly, near North Head and we flew a kite! I have actually never had this experience and it was pretty amazing watching it go up higher and higher.






For lunch, we headed to the Corso in Manly and I stupidly picked the BBQ Prawns without realising that I had to un-shell it myself. D'oh. It became incredibly messy and just not worth the effort. Naturally, the meal was completed with ice cream and sprinkles from Copenhagan.








Our next stop was North Curl Curl, my local beach. I actually hadn't been to the beach for years; the last time was in 2012 and the time before that was likely to have been in 2009 for my schoolies in Queensland.









It has been a crazy and intense week with the Boy; we spent around 50hrs together with each day spent togther averaging around 15 contact hours. We are now off on our own respective holidays and we will meet each other back in Sydney in a month's time. It is pretty odd, an intense week followed by a month break. We are planning on road tripping it down to Jervis Bay right before semester starts again which I am incredibly excited about. I hope that I can also convince him to drive a further hour down to Mollymook Beach (Veronica Mars! Although let's be real, the beach that Duncan and Lilly was on looked nothing like an Australian beach).

Sacrilege

This summer has been completely unexpected and amazing. I had always hoped that I would have gotten an internship. However, I didn't. In the end, I completed a summer school course and also re-met a Boy.




We went to watch The Book Thief which is actually one of the worst films I have ever seen. On par with 'Where the Wild Things Are'. Sacrilege at the Sydney Festival was the key thing that I wanted to visit and it was amazing. I can't remember the last time I was on a jumping castle and it was just ridiculous fun.













We finished the day watching the sunset and chatting at Pyrmont.