Escaping the madness

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I left Laura to hitchhike to Dunedin and started driving north to Queenstown on my own. Winding around New Zealand roads has a soothing quality. Maybe it's the vistas, the really sharp turns, or simply the lack of traffic, but nobody seems to be in a hurry. I can take my time climbing the hills, and drifting between the mountains while wishing again that someelse was driving so I could gaze sleepily out the window. I average 90kph on the highway, great for gas mileage, and remarkably, nobody even bothers to pass me. Arriving in Queenstown, however, is like waking from an idealic daydream to the madness of reality.

Queenstown is accurately described by the Lonely Planet as the 'adrenaline capital of the world'. I now understand what the two English boys in Wannaka meant when they said that to truly enjoy Queenstown one needs about two grand and a death wish. Along the main street, the shops sell an addiction that fleets faster than fast food; irresitable epinephrine. Get a quick fix in the form of bungee jumping, skyrockets, whitewater rafting, skydiving, hangliding or 100 other cool ways to kill yourself. From the first 15 minutes of walking around, I know I'm not going to stay long in this town. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to try all this stuff, but with the activities ranging from 150-400$ a pop, I think I'll have to come back when I'm really rich and really bored with life. Thankfully, I'm neither yet, and I've still got a lot of work to do before I get to either.

However, I do decide to splurge on one activity: a wine tasting tour of the vineyards. Central Otago makes some of the best Pinot Noir and Gris in the world, and I can't leave without at least sampling some of it! Considering how a single bottle cost between 30-50$, it seems economical to just take a tour and try them all! After all, that equate to buying two bottles of wine, and what if I picked one that I didn't like so much? Plus, drinking and driving is not part of my travel itenery, so logically, I HAVE to go.

I was planning on leaving Queesntown that night and driving north to Wanaka, but when I got back from the wine tour I realized that I was completely smashed. Over the course of the tasting, which lasted four hours, I think I probably only drank between six or seven full glasses of wine, but from 25-30 different bottles, everything from the most popular Pinot Noir to Reisling to champagne. Nonetheless, skydiving at this point would probably be a lot safer than driving. So instead of driving North an hour to Wanaka, I checked back into the hostle, took a quick nap for an hour and half, and decided I should take in Queenstown's other main attraction: bars. It's not hard to find people that want to go out in the hostels in Queentown. In fact, it seems there are really only three topics of conversations:

1) Whether or not people have found work yet.
2) If people have found a place to live for the season and,
3) Where did everyone go to get drunk last night?

Although I love youthful, restless, disheveled state of affairs in ski towns, the pre-season angst and anticipation just kills me. I run into two people at the hostel who want to go to Wanaka tommorow, and I quickly offer them a ride. Tommorow, I'll get out of here to a somewhat saner place.

Still waiting for the snow but continuing up the west coast....

xoxo

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Photos

Mushrooms anyone?
Hiking up the mountain in Queenstown I decided wisely not to sample the vegetation.

Wine Cellar
One day my basement will look like this.

Snow
Watching for the snow to appear on the tips of the moutains...

Basket of dreams
At the top of the mountain there was this basket...I hope its a good omen.