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May 14th 2006

Published: May 14th 2006

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JeffandKate

Queenstown1

Whit, Kate, and Jeff by Lake Wakatipu and the mountains

Queenstown is very cool -- in more ways than one. First of all, the temperature is a lot lower than we had thought it was going to be. I guess we couldn't convert celsius into fahrenheit, but it's been quite cool here. The first day we arrived, it was raining and we felt cold in our jackets with sweatshirts underneath. Our first day we wandered around the town and were frozen! However the weather has been pretty good since (though it's raining today) and we've been able to explore and enjoy this city.

Upon our arrival, Whit and Andrea (Whit's friend) picked us up from the airport and helped us check into our hostel. We've been staying at Deco Backpackers, just a short walk from downtown Queenstown. It's been a cool place, but we learned that sleeping in a "sleep out" drops the temperature of the room a little, especially when the heat's only on from 5:30pm-9am.

But enough complaining, we've had a great time here in Queenstown. We've had time to hang out with Whit and Andrea, see a lot of the city, ride the gondola to a peak, luge, and visit Doubtful sound (a fiord). We didn't

Queenstown2

Kate and Jeff from the peak (via gondola)

do the bungee jumping, skydiving, canyonswing, paragliding, or jetboating, but that's for next visit 😊.

The luging was a blast, careening down a track at breakneck speeds -- almost taking out other tourists.

Doubtful sound was a daylong trip we took yesterday. 4 hours by bus and boat to the site and then a three hour cruise in the fiords. Very amazing scenery. We saw seals and bottlenose dolphins. The dolphins even did some acrobatic jumps out of the water for us. We had a good laugh at the other american tourists on our trip taking photos of everything -- including the tv screen playing a dvd of dolphins.

The city is set in the most beautiful location. Surrounded by mountains - including a range called the Remarkables - and next to Lake Wakatipu. We have an amazing vista from our hostel, looking over it all.

Today we leave Queenstown. We decided to rent a car and drive our way through the north and south islands. We think we'll drive to Franz Josef today and then hit the Franz Josef Glacier tomorrow. After that, maybe Abel Tasman national park to kayak or sail. We still have