Another Few Days In Queenstown

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It has been a few days since my last update. Today is Tuesday and I am still in Queenstown. What have I been up to you may ask. Well after my successful flight, I gave my nerves a rest. My bad news is that I had to by a toque and gloves and put the winter jacket on ( it has been idle for about 5 maybe 6 weeks). Sunday I decided to have a pro active day and find some adventure. I took a ride on the shotover jet boat. Now this boat has 600 hp and can travel at speeds of 85km/h and needs as little as 4 inches of water to propel. The location is a narrow canyon with large rocks breaking the surface of the water. Speeding through the canyon was fun, the driver would steer towards the rocks then turn away at the last second. People screamed, people laughed some people were even quiet. I personally laughed most of the time, especially when the driver did 360 spins. The water would splash onto your face then your face would get cold from the cool autumn air. I think the boat would be much more fun in warm weather and with clear skies (we got neither that day).

Now hockey is something that I do not play well. I can skate but just not well. But that is to Canadian standards. I found myself at the Queenstown Arena, home of the Rangers, with a pair of Eastons hurting my feet and a stick in my hand. There was a goal set up and a few people were shooting some pucks around. It was great, everybody was such horrible skaters that I looked great out there. Bad skaters with horrible shots. Some people were asking me to show them how to shoot the puck. It was a first for me to not be a sub par ice hockey player.

Yesterday I bumped into a friend on the street, who was just picking up a rental car. I was invited to join the road trip. We drove all afternoon. To Glenorchy, Arrowtown and Wanaka. Just enjoying the scenery on the sunshiney afternoon. Stopped to watch some bungee jumping. It was fun to watch people hurl themselves off a bridge and into the canyon below and just before they would hit the water they were jerked upward and bouncing up and down. Some people tried to talk us into going but we had no interest in jumping.

Paul, my Irish friend, was leaving for Sydney in the morning, so we decided a few beers would be a good thing. We drank til late and this morning I was hurting. It was the first time on this trip that I drank more then a few beers. So today was a quiet day. I enjoyed mountain air, park benches, coffee and afternoon naps. I did get a bit of planning done. I have been planning a trip to Milford Sound but have been deterred by the 14 hour day, so today I visited the tourist office (known as i-site) and booked a trip not to Milford Sound but to Stewart Island. Stewart Island is off the south coast of the south island. Tomorrow I take a bus for 2 1/2 hours then kill 4 hours then take another bus to catch a ferry. I am excited. I always get excited when I repack my bag to get ready for another place.

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