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Monday 26th and today we take a day off from doing monumental things to upload photos and catch up on counting sheep before continuing to explore New Zealand's wonders. We decide to stay in Franz Joseph for two more days among the beautiful mountains and the next day we choose to take a hike along a trail amusingly named 'Alex's Knob'. The trail winds through the rainforest outside of the town and up to the top of one of the mountains. Oh, and it takes 8 hours there and back. The path up the mountain is pretty steep and in some places requires a bit of a climb, but we continue on. 2 hours into the journey we hit a clearing with an absolutely astonishing view of the glacier through the tall trees a what really topped it off was the rainbow that arched across the top of the glacier. Could have stood there for a good while looking at that view, but a decent photo will suffice. We continue on until the path starts to change from dense forest into ice and snow. Soon enough, not only the trees and bushes, but the path itself is covered with snow which is where we probably should have turned around but by this point we were so intent on reaching the top that we carried on anyway. Finally, tired and hungry we reach the tippy top marked by a yellow and orange stripped pole and enjoy some sandwiches and Tim Tams (Best.Biscuits.Ever) on the snow capped peak. Funnily enough I was down to wearing shorts and a vest by that point because I was too hot from climbing through the snow, but it was totally worth it for the view of the mountains towering above the clouds. We journey back down to the bottom, completing the whole trail in just under 6 hours (*flex*) in time for a well earned mocha and a huge sleep.
The following day we move on our next destination at Wanaka. We make a stop at Lake Matheson along the way which I think is one of my favourite places in the whole of New Zealand. A pathway leads around the edge of the lakes shores and at one point there is a small jetty that reaches out over the lake giving a view of the surrounding forest and beautiful snow-capped mountains in the distance. There was also a light, low missed shrouding the trees and passing up an opportunity like this for a great photo would be completely crazy. So I took far too many instead!
Eventually we moved on, just making it onto the bus before it left. We passed through the Gates of Haast, named after the explorer who discovered the Franz Joseph glacier and enter into the lovely lake side town of Wanaka. This town is no let down to New Zealand's already shinning record with the Kiwi Alps towering over and beautiful Lake Wanaka (featured in LOTR as the Misty Mountains Elven home) only footsteps away. Just before entering town our driver had told us about a famed cinema in town with sofas instead of cramped chairs and an interval with the possibility of purchasing milk and cookies! We wasted no time in booking ourselves tickets for Kish, Jess and I to go see a film. With only two film showing that day, we decided to go for an Argentinian thriller called 'The Secrets In Their Eyes' as the other film showing was 'Twilight - Eclipse' and there was no way in hell I was gonna go see that! The cinema itself was great, it was locally run and the adverts before the showing were all locally made, some by the cinema and others by small businesses within the town. Sitting on a sofa also made a superbly comfortable change from the standard cinema chair where you spend the majority of your time fighting for an arm rest. I would also recommend checking out The Secrets In Their Eyes as it was a pretty good watch.
The 29th was a day we were all looking forward to because we would be travelling to Queenstown, the place that everyone who had already been would not stop raving about. We made a couple of stops along the way, and the first was not long out of Wanaka at a place called Puzzle World. The building itself looked like a lego house with a large leaning tower outside and behind it was a huge maze with four towers at each corner. Inside were a couple of rooms containing extremely puzzling and crazy things. One room in particular contained illusions of things defying gravity which included water running uphill and a pool ball rolling to an uphill pocket. Afterwards a couple of us must have spent a good 30 minutes trying to complete tower of hanoi puzzles with eventually success!
We soon continued on our journey which took us through some dramatic changes in scenery, from green grass and rolling hills to rocky land and the Kawarau Gorge. About 30 minutes before Queenstown we stop off at the Bunjy Centre containing information all about the various bunjys that AJ Hackett (the founder of bunjy) has set up in New Zealand as well as the history about its creation. After watching a couple of people doing the 43m bridge jump just next to the centre, we decide to book a ridiculous 134m bunjy, which happens to be the biggest bunjy in New Zealand. Not too sure what I was thinking at the point but oh well! We arrive in Queenstown and check into a fantastic hostel named Nomads before heading out to the famous Fergburger. From all the way back in Sydney to the start of Queenstown, the one thing everyone would talk about is how insanely good the burgers from Fergburger are so we had to try one. There is no doubt in my mind that a Ferburger burger is the best I have ever had in my life. Very much living up to the hype and the reputation they have gained.
Later on we sampled the Queenstown nightlife, ending up in The World Bar where cocktails weren't served in a glass, but in a teapot! Definitely a fantastic and quirky start to our Queenstown experience.

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