Long day yesterday, but a good start to the trip. The flight from Auckland to Queenstown was quite beautiful when you could see through the clouds. The landing was especially dramatic…kind of like threading a needle as we came through the mountains. It was quite windy and we were so close on my side of the plane that it felt like the wing of our 737 was going to brush up against them. I’ll upload some pictures from the flight when I have a little more time. Anyway – I was so enamored with the scenery – and a bit groggy from all the flying, it appears I left my book on the plane – which I didn’t figure out until this AM. It wouldn’t be a trip if I didn’t lose something! Kind of a bummer though – I was enjoying it. Called Woodswoman (http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0140153349/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-2707292-4148010#reader-link”) – one of the Michael recommendations still left over from the summer.
Got to the hotel…Aspen on Queenstown (http://www.queenstownhotel.com/), but it was just before noon and my room wasn’t ready. I walked into town – I’m in a suburb called Fernhill – and took this picture at a park that ran along the lake on the way in. It was cloudy, but the rain hadn’t started yet. Grabbed a bite to eat at this cool burger joint called Fergburger. They had burgers made of everything – lamb, fish, beef. Of course, I had the one made of tofu. Great satay sauce though. Did a little shopping…forgot to bring gloves and a hat for the glacier hike. Was reminded it would be cold up there watching a video on the plane of other people doing it. Queenstown is pretty small – easy to cover most of it in a few hours. The downtown felt very European in style, but the area feels like a cross between Tahoe and the Pacific Northwest. Tahoe because of the lake and mountains, all the dark green reminds me of Seattle, and the outlying parts of town feel sort of like West Seattle to me. By the time I was heading back to the hotel – by bus this time, it was pouring and getting colder.
Passed out for a few hours once I was in the hotel. When I woke up – at 8pm – took that long awaited hot shower then took the bus back into town for dinner and checking out the scene – which was really, really quiet. They tell me it’s in between seasons here…they have a big ski season in the winter and then a big season again in the summer, when all the adventurous types come for hiking, bungee jumping, etc. I spent some time trying some wines at a cozy place called Bardeaux. It’s tucked away in an alleyway with a group of bars…all somewhat different in theme…ie. Barmuda, MiniBar, BarUp (on the second floor), etc. The place I was at had this roaring fire, which was nice on a damp, chilly night. Tried two sauvignon blancs (Wither Hills and Lawson Dry Hills – the former was the better one) and a local pinot noir, Aratua or something like that, that was just OK, IMHO. In between the whites and the red, grabbed some Indian food from a place called Bombay Palace. I have yet to run into a native Kiwi working in any of these places. The bartender who was chatting with me was a guy , probably Adam’s age, who had recently graduated with a physical chemistry degree from CalTech. Grew up in Marin. The waitress at the Indian place was of Indian descent, but was really American. Grew up in El Cerrito. Met another girl on the bus earlier in the day who was working here – Asian descent, but also really American – who had just finished Berkeley. Grew up in LA. Lots of Japanese women working in the stores. The security guy for the bar group was an Irishman from Dublin – we had a nice chat too.
All in all – a nice first day. Lots of snow was dumped on the Remarkables during the afternoon and evening when it rained. See those pics on the next post. The princess called and woke me up to let me know she had safely landed in China. All good. Have to run now. Biking starts today and they’ll be here shortly to pick me up.
More at the next stop…Wanaka.