Queenstown

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During publishing the last entry Ray popped into say hello and then commenced a week of great nights out. Ray had had a better bus than me and had met a good group of people, this included 2 very funny Dutch guys, a cool English guy, 2 Irish girls who without being big headed thought Ray and I were the funniest people they ever met, 1 American girl from New York and all of them were really friendly and we were all on the same wavelength throughout the week. We had a night out in Wanaka which is best described as a poor mans Queenstown which was cool and then I got onto Rays bus with the good crowd. Also on this bus was a man named Frank who had been asdvised by his son that kiwi bus was a good way to get around New Zealand, this is perfectly normal, however when you consider Frank is 59 and is in NZ after a 100mph+ motorbike crash you are wondering whether Frank may have hit his head a little hard especially as I am sometimes one of the elders on the kiwi bus, Frank is bloody lovely though and also asked us if we wanted to go and stay with him and go riding, based on the crash I'm gonna say nooooooooooo but thank you.
We arrived in Queenstown and checked into a room with the 2 Dutch gus and the English, when we arrived the Mackems I had met were waiting for us and they joined us on the night out. This night out was excellant as all have been. The next day we all got up chilled out and then went to watch the superbowl, as we were with Lora the Amercian from New York and the New York Giants were playing we adopted the Giants as our team and when they scored a touch down in the final minutes Ray, Rodrick the dutch guy and I went mental celebrating like we just won the lottery, it was a good day and a good crowd.
I will say now that each night out in Queenstown when there was a big group of us had a theme, this included sunglasses, hats, backwards night and my personal favourite facepaint night. All these nights were excellant and the group really bondered to the point where Laura the Amercian left one morning for her next stop but then decided half way up the road she wanted to come back so she hitchhiked back- well done. During the time we were a group there has also been a national holiday for Bob Marleys birthday, so there was a big Reggie festival in the town which was a very welcome suprise. Also during the week as some of the guys were doing activities, Ray, Debs (One of the Irish girls), Rodrick (One of the Dutch guys) went luging, the four of us went up the gondolor 400 meters above Queenstown which is by the way the best place on earth, and had 5 luges racing down this was a lot of fun and competition did get a bit heated. During the week we had a few people coming in and out of our dorm as it was an eight bed dorm and there were five of us in there, this included Barrett the coolest American I've met so far who had the best sense of humour and just fitted in with the group of us straight away. Also on our last night together we had Annie in our room, Annie had come in to sell bands at a craft fare, normal I here you say, however annie was 60+ probably closer to 70 and in a room where the second oldest person was 26. This was so strange but Annie was cool and joined us in a pre night out drink, her drink of choice was a redbull mixer- just gets stranger. During the week we also befriended the bouncer of the nightclub below our accomodation, as we went to the bar most nights the bouncer got to know us and came out on a night out with us, he was massive and bloody loved me and Ray to the point where we now have a handshake with him- its like being 13 and having a secret club and I'm glad I'm in it.
The group split up after 6/7 great nights out together and it was one of the best weeks I have had it was like being on holidsay in Malia but with the most picturesque surroundings and hundereds of activities to do when you wake up. The week and the last few months had began to catch up with me and I was starting to feel ill with a cold/cough, we had to live the lively hostel as they had no rooms and checked into a quieter one for a couple of nights and both RAY and I had a couple of nights in just wathcing movies and pigging out on food, my menu this week has included chicken curry, steak and potatos and bangers and mash and none of them have struck Ray or I down with food poisoning which is good.
In the next few days I will go down to Milford Sound which someone described as the most beautiful place in the most beautiful country on earth so this should be a lot of fun. We should also be meeting a couple of seperate groups of people we were in Australia with during the coming week which should be good. If you ever get the chance to come here do, I cant recommened it enough, see you soon.

x

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