And we're LIVE, from Queenstown, New Zealand!!

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The date is now Sunday, July 08, 2007, and for MY FIRST POST (Get excited!!!), I’m going to post a rather lengthy entry that outlines what Cory and I have been up to during our first few weeks in New Zealand. Its pretty long- but, hey, give me a break... A lot has happened in these first three weeks. I still can’t believe its only been three weeks- honestly, it feels like months… If you are interested in hearing what our first three weeks entailed, then read on my friend (Trust me- its good. I sure enjoyed it…). If not, no worries- just skip ahead to the next post, and take up the adventure from there. Either way, I hope you get a sense of what we’ve been experiencing over here. Its been pretty incredible so far…

The story starts on a bus, southbound out of Christchurch, headed towards a town with a name straight out of Lord of the Rings…

Okay, well, its now Saturday, June 23, 2007, and Cory and I have been in New Zealand for a short 4 days. We’ve been living out of our bags in a hostel in Christchurch for the past 4 nights (Tues-Thurs), and haven’t really had the opportunity to get our travel blog under way. Now we’re on a bus to another city on the South Island called Dunedin (Duh-NEE-din), trying to make our way to our actual first destination of Queenstown. The problem is that the South Island has been battered by storms the past several days, and all the mountain passes that lead into the interior, where Queenstown lies, are closed due to snow and ice. We were booked on a coach to Queenstown yesterday, which cancelled, giving us an unplanned day in Christchurch. We re-booked for today, but had an alternate plan in mind just in case the roads were still closed. They are, and thus, here we are on a bus south from Christchurch bound for Dunedin. Anyway, all this to say that I’ve got 5 hours or so to try and get caught up on the happenings of the past few days… I’m still not sure how this blog is going to pan out- obviously some of it will be details about what we are seeing and doing, while other parts will be general thoughts and observations- musings of an adventure unfolding in New Zealand, and other parts might be totally random. Just work with me, okay…? Sweet.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Finally, were here! 23.5 hours, 3 or 4 airplane meals, 2 layovers, 1 movie, and half a book later, Cory and I arrived in Christchurch. After leaving LAX after a great weekend in LA, Cory and I arrived at our hostel in downtown Christchurch (For you Google Earth aficionados, look up 273 Manchester St, Christchurch, NZ). We were pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and general state of the hostel- very clean, awesome staff, quiet and accommodating. We got in around 8pm, chucked our bags in or quite spacious double room, and then headed out to check out the sights and sounds in Christchurch. Not too much going on on a Tuesday night, though we did stumble across this cool little bar called Cartel off of Lichfield Street. Very homey kind of place, with a wood-burning stove, quiet booths along the cramped interior, flickering candles casting shadows across the various Cuban-themed mementos and decorations. I liked it immediately. We sat down at the bar, ordered a couple of local brews, and were promptly chatted up by Vanessa, the effervescent barmaid. She was quite funny, and was quick to give us a rundown on the social scene in Christchurch, all while managing the bar’s soundtrack on her iPod. Then we met Johnny, one of the bar’s owners, who couldn’t have been more than 28 years old. He was really cool as well, giving us some insight into traveling in New Zealand in general, although he said he had never been to Queenstown… I was kind of shocked by that- Christchurch is only 5 hours away from Queenstown, yet he had never made the trip. Anyway, we sat and talked with them for awhile, and then, before we passed out on the bar (From the jet-lag, NOT the beer), headed back to the hostel to crash after our long journey… Just happy to be in New Zealand!

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Cory and I awoke this morning to the realization that we are actually in NEW ZEALAND, and that our adventure is actually underway… Ridiculous! Anyway, we went out and walked down to Cathedral Square, just to get a look at the town in the daylight. Christchurch is great- small enough to walk anywhere you need to get in the city, yet the city center feels like a thriving metropolis. A great balance. We familiarized ourselves with the lay of the land, and then met our friends Jeff and Clare Bucher for lunch at the Subway they own downtown. It was great to sit and talk with them after having emailed back and forth with them for the past several months. Jeff is hysterical- he kept telling Clare that he was coming with Cory and me. Too funny. Clare just smiled that “You’d never make it without me” smile. What a pair! They gave us all kinds of insight into life in NZ- whether or not we should get a car right away, where to get the best deal on a cell phone, how to get around from town to town on the bus system, etc. Cory and I were like sponges, just trying to soak up all the information… It was crazy! We must have sat and talked with them in Subway for 2 hours before they had to take off. We thanked them, and then set off to get our mobile phones bought and set up. Hit up the Vodafone store, only to find out that mobile phones are RIDICULOUS overseas- try on 89cents/minute to make any calls… I can call down to the hostel office for the same amount per minute I can call my parents in the US- 89cents/minute. INSANE. Needless to say, people use their phones mainly to text, which is 10cents each. After we got those set up, we explored the city a bit more, trying to track down some real estate offices to get the ball rolling on an apartment in Queenstown. We trekked all over the place, and office after office got the same report: “Oh, we only do regional rentals. Try such-and-such…”. All this and no results. After walking the entire city over, we were STARVING, so we stopped into this place called Thai Samurai on the way back to the hostel. I was so hungry, I’m sure anything would’ve tasted good at that point, but I have to say, the Chicken Pad Thai was AMAZING. Exactly what I was looking for at that point in my life… Quite a simple existence I lead, isn’t it? Chicken Pad Thai, and I’m happy… Back to the hostel, freshened up a bit, and then headed down the street to this bar called Iconic. Again, not much happening on a Wednesday night, so Cory and I played a few games of pool, tried out a few more local beers, and then called it a night. First full day in New Zealand in the books!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Well, Cory and I decided to postpone our trip to Queenstown for a day in order to go over to the Bucher’s for dinner, so we found ourselves with a free morning to do whatever we wanted. We headed over to the city centre and hit up this really cool coffee shop- The Coffee Club. We ordered up some sandwiches and a couple of mochas, and just sat and read the paper for awhile, just trying to get in sync with what is going on in NZ. Read up on the current events, sports, weather, etc. It is really interesting just to see the different journalistic style of another country- they are very straight forward, cut-and-dried here, similar to the Australian press in that way. Just funny to read stories that have been written in such a different style. After hanging out at the coffee shop, we headed over to the Bucher’s Subway to meet up with Jeff, and then headed out into the Christchurch suburbs to their home. Jeff gave us a little driving tour of their community- said it was as close to an American suburb as one can hope to find in Christchurch. It was very nice, complete with its own grocery story, gas station, and retail complex. We pulled up to their house just as it started to rain, and were glad to get inside where it was dry and warm. Clare was there, getting things ready for dinner, and we got to meet two of their three sons- Eric, who is going to be a senior at Gonzaga next year, and Mikey, who is going to be a senior in High School here in NZ next year. Both great guys- they showed us some home videos they made over the past year or so… Too funny. One was a music video that Eric and his friend Ralph had made to play at the Bucher’s oldest son’s wedding- The Wedding Song. Hysterical. The other was a taping of a music set that Mikey and Ralph had put on the previous weekend at a local pub- think Tenacious D with a New Zealand accent. Again, hysterical. After dinner, Jeff convinced Cory and me to head to basketball practice with Mikey and Eric. Jeff coaches their team, and said that having a couple of guys that actually know how to play basketball might help out. Needless to say, I was a little hesitant at first, having not played a pick-up game of hoops in who knows how long., but after Jeff explained the state of basketball in New Zealand, my fears subsided a little. As it turned out, I was glad that we went. It was great to get out and run around a bit, shoot some Js and school some Kiwis… Yeah right. It was fun though. One bad thing- I jammed my left pinky finger (I know, I know, “boo-hoo”), and it turned out to be another Mallet Finger… BLIMEY!! For those of you that don’t know, I had a Mallet Finger condition on the pinky finger of my right hand about 8 months ago, and let me tell you, it is a pain in the arse. It’s a condition that requires the injured finger to be splinted 24 hours a day for 8-10 weeks to ensure that it heals properly… If you let it bend at all before it is totally healed, any partial healing is disrupted and you have to start over from Day 1. Arrrggghhhh!!! With this one, I think I’m just going to wear the splint for as long as I can put up with it, hope and pray for quick healing, and see what happens. I cant imagine wearing a splint for the next 8 weeks while skiing, bungee jumping, canyoneering, mountain biking, kayaking, and hiking, much less just everyday living. Unbelievable. Anyway, we headed back to the hostel, where I fashioned a make-shift splint using chopsticks and scotch tape- good thing I have experience in this field! We then packed our bags for Queenstown, and went to bed dreaming of fresh powder and sunny ski slopes…

Friday, June 22, 2007

We woke up at 7am in order to get showered and checked out in time to make it to the bus station by 810 for our coach to Queenstown. We wrestled all of our bags and gear downstairs, which is a workout in and of itself (You should see how much crap we (Read: I) have- it really is ridiculous…), and headed up the street a few blocks to the bus depot. We got there just as people were lining up to board, but nothing was happening. We struck up a conversation with a couple of other guys that were waiting as well- Andy, from England, who has been traveling the world for about 10 months, and German, from Chile, who had just arrived in New Zealand and was headed to Queenstown for the ski season. Really nice guys, just traveling through NZ doing about the same thing that Cory and I are doing. Anyway, we were soon to find out that those dreams of fresh powder and sunny slopes were going to have to be put on hold for at least a day- a huge storm had moved in, and all the roads to Queenstown from Christchurch were closed for the time being. They re-booked us for the next morning, and then sent us on our way. Cory immediately called the hostel we had just checked out of to see of we could get back in, which worked out fine, and we suggested that Andy and German do the same thing. There was room for them as well, so we all trekked it back to the hostel, wrangled our bags back up the stairs, and the reconvened in the lounge to make a plan for the day. The cancellation turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for it gave me the opportunity to seek out a doctor’s help concerning my finger. I was pretty sure I knew what it was, having been through the process before, but wanted to see about getting some more permanent splints made up before we headed to Queenstown. It all worked out- I got in to see a doctor in the afternoon, and after examining my finger, he got me in to see the hand therapist just down the street. Two custom-made Mallet Finger splints later, I was ready to head out. We headed back to the hostel and met up with Andy and German, who had been whiling the day away themselves. Since it was Cory’s birthday, we let him make the call on what he wanted to do for dinner and such on Friday night. He decided he wanted pizza, so we asked at the hostel what the best pizza place in Christchurch was, and as luck would have it, it happened to be right across the street. They were right- Winne Bago’s Pizza was PHENOMENAL. Thai Honey Chili Chicken, The Big Chicago, New Zealand’s Finest- they had all these unbelievable gourmet pizzas in this really cool bar atmosphere. We sat outside in their heated patio, had a few beers, and stuffed out faces full of pizza. After dinner, we headed back to Lichfield Street, and hit up a few of the bars over there, including our old haunt Cartel. Much more going on on a Friday night- the paces were packed. We strolled around, meeting more and more new people as the evening wore on. It was pretty crazy- not the drinking, but more so all of the people we were meeting from all over the world. It was quite an experience- so many people our age doing the exact same thing… We headed back to the hostel at around 1am, since we had to get up early AGAIN to try and catch the bus the next morning. I told Cory the real birthday celebration was still going to be in Queenstown at the WinterFest, once we actually got there… That night, we went to bed with fingers crossed, this time dreaming of a nice long bus ride that actually took us to Queenstown…

Saturday, June 23rd, 2007

No luck. The storm was still raging, and all the roads to Queenstown were still closed. Andy, having done some traveling in NZ before, suggested that maybe we should try to get as close as possible in the event that something might open up the next day. We all agreed, and decided to book a coach to another city on the South Island called Dunedin (Duh-NEE-din). The bus left at 830am, and before we knew it, we were leaving Christchurch for a city neither Cory nor I had ever heard of. Alas, sometimes that’s the way it goes when you’re traveling! The bus ride was fine, pretty cool in fact. We were headed south along the Canterbury Plain, with the Southern Alps rising on our right and the plain stretching out to the South Pacific Ocean on our left. We passed through several small towns along the way, got a running history of the land from our driver, and saw about a million sheep. Well, maybe not that many, but we saw A LOT. Sheep outnumber people in NZ something like 20:1. They farm deer here as well. Our driver was saying that the farmers will fly over a herd of deer in a helicopter, drop down to ground level, and then jump out and literally tackle and hog-tie the deer to take it to a farm. Now, we didn’t see this, but that’s what the driver said. It was weird to see all these deer in a fenced in field. HUGE bucks with massive antler racks milling around with one another. Crazy. Anyway, we rolled into Dunedin around 330pm, checked into our hostel (GoogleEarth: #71 Stafford St., Dunedin, NZ), and then headed out for a walk into town. The weather was crap- cold, windy, rainy, grey- but we didn’t want to just sit around the hostel. Besides, it was an opportunity to see a place we had never heard of nor would’ve probably visited otherwise, so we took advantage. Its really a college town, centered around Otago University. Along with this comes heaps of coffee shops and bars, a few bookstores, a couple of movie theaters, and lots of trendy shops. We walked around for awhile, but it was pretty miserable, so we hit up the grocery store for some food, and then headed back to the hostel to cook up some dinner. A bowl of soup, some roasted chicken, and a couple of bread rolls later, I was ready to pass out. But, we couldn’t, because we had all already decided that we were staying up to go into town to watch the New Zealand national rugby team- the All Blacks- take on the Springboks from South Africa, which was airing at 1am. We fought off the heavy eyelids, bundled up in our cold weather/rain gear, and headed into town at around 12am. The place was already buzzing- people all decked out in their jerseys and All Blacks gear, the beers flowing, the crowd getting ramped up for the upcoming match. I was immediately glad we stayed up and came down to watch. Nothing like being in that type of an environment for such a big game- they’re gearing up for the Rugby World Cup, which is later on this year, I think. I bought German his first-ever Guinness, which was the biggest Guinness I have ever seen- MASSIVE- and we settled in to watch the game. It took me awhile to remember the rules- the last time I watched rugby was in Australia- but it all slowly came back to me. It really is a great sport to watch, once you understand what is going on. Having Andy there to bounce questions off of helped as well… It turned out to be a really good match- NZ trailed 21-12 with about 20 minutes left, and came back to win 26-21 with 5 minutes remaining. They were just in better shape than the South Africans. When the All Blacks went ahead, the place went nuts- people crashing beers together, cheers and yelling, singing songs- quite a scene. After it ended, we made a quick exit and headed back to the hostel. It was FREEZING in our room, so Andy and I swiped one of the space heaters from the dining area and hauled it upstairs. It didn’t help much, but we were so tired, it didn’t really matter.

Sunday, Jun 24th, 2007

We woke up at 9am this morning, only to find out that our coach from Dunedin to Queenstown had cancelled- UNBELIEVABLE!!! I asked whether there was any chance of getting on another bus through a different line, and had the lady working reception at the hostel call around. It turned out that there was another company going to Queenstown that afternoon, so we booked on that, and then had a few hours to kill before heading to the bus station. We made some breakfast, had a cup of hot chocolate, and then picked out a movie to watch in the lounge to pass the time. I picked out a few of the longest movies they had, and we ended up watching “Casino”. The movie ended at 2, we had a quick lunch, and then it was off to the bus station at 3 to catch our bus at 330. Well, it turned out to be more of a van than a bus, but whatever- as long as it would get us to Queenstown, we were happy… We loaded up all of our gear, and were off. Honestly, it felt like we were actually heading into the heart of Mordor at first- dark craggy mountains on every side, pouring down rain, windy roads bad enough to make you dizzy, and our driver hitting it all at 80k/hr without ever tapping the brakes. Intense, to say the least. Anyway, the rain eventually let up, and we continued our climb up into the mountains. We made a few stops along the way to use the toilets, drop other passengers off, etc., and as we progressed, the weather improved, and we began to feel a little more optimistic. Honestly, the roads were fine- not sure why the first company’s bus cancelled, but we’re getting our money back on that one anyway. Steadily, we climbed through the canyons until we finally came to Arrowtown, a small town about 30 minutes away from Queenstown. We switched busses there, and then were pretty much in comparatively civilized areas the rest of the way. Finally, we crested the last pass, and Queenstown spread out before us. My first impression- MUCH bigger than I had expected. Our Lonely Planet guidebook said the population was something around 7,500, which hinted at a small village, but they must have only counted the permanent residents. I was shocked at how it spread out all along Lake Wakapitu. Granted, I was probably looking at both Queenstown and Frankton- its neighbor- but still, I was glad to see it was more than an outpost. We got dropped off downtown, hopped in a cab, and headed to our hostel, which was on the southwest end of town (GoogleEarth 88-90 Lake Esplanade, Queenstown, NZ). Checked in to the huge, log-cabin-esque YHA Lakefront, happy to see it hopping with tourists and backpackers our age. Chucked our bags into the cramped double room, and then set out to explore Queenstown for the first time. We couldn’t really see much, due to the fact that it was dark out, but we still had a good look around the downtown area, locating some of the landmarks referenced in our guide books. We hit up this funky burger place called Fergburger that Andy had mentioned to us- again, exactly what I was looking for. It’s a pretty cool place- a short-order burger stand, half indoors, half out (Heaters outside, mind you…), playing chilled techno music. Think Chipotle, but with burgers and better music. A huge chicken burger, complete with grilled pineapple and avocado, a massive bag of chips (fries), and I was in heaven. We stuffed our faces full, and then wandered back to the hostel, knowing we had an early morning in store as the search for an apartment was about to get under way. Breathing in the crisp mountain air, marveling at the millions of stars in the winter sky, wondering with anticipation what was awaiting us amidst the stately Southern Alps- in the unforgettable words of one Lloyd Christmas- “We’re THERE!!!”


Okay, so its now Sunday, July 08, 2007, and we’ve been so busy over the past week that I haven’t had the opportunity to keep up with this running journal/blog thing… In the span of a week, Cory and I have landed an apartment (GoogleEarth: 46 Gorge Rd., Queenstown, NZ. We’re in unit #1, the furthest off the road, right next to the creek), outfitted said apartment with linens, a TV, a microwave, and most recently, INTERNET ACCESS (Hence, the push to FINALLY get this blog up and going…), gone skiing at The Remarkables ski area (Hardly remarkable…), visited several cafes, bars, and restaurants, made a few new friends, and have begun to settle into life here in Queenstown. Man, its rough… We signed a 5 month lease, so we are here until at least November 27th, which is good, b/c Spring will be in full swing by then, and we’ll have the opportunity to do some hiking, mountain biking, rafting, kayaking, etc. around Queenstown once the snow start to melt away. Queenstown is AMAZING!! Think Breckenridge, only a little bigger, with an Australian/South Pacific/English feel to it, heaps of restaurants of all cuisines, tons of bars and a crazy nightlife scene, people from all over the world coming together to have a good time, place all of this on the shore of a crystal-clear mountain lake amidst massive, rugged mountains, and you’ve got it! It really is something else… We spent our first few days in Queenstown sorting out an apartment, and were EXTREMELY fortunate to have one basically fall in our laps. We were in the rental agency when the property cam available, headed straight over to it to check it out, bumped into the owner at the property while he was fixing a tile in the bathroom, got his and his wife’s mobile numbers, went back to the rental agency to fill out the paperwork, only to find out we needed all of there references to complete the application. A few phone calls and emails back to the States, and the referrals were literally pouring in. Still, we thought it would be a good idea to try and have the owners out for a beer/dinner, you know, so they could get to know us a little better and thus feel comfortable about renting their pad to US, so we called them up and asked. “Thanks mate, but we’re booked for the noight. Good on’ya though- Ill mention it to me woife, and we’ll see how she goes… Cool? Sweet as! Cheers mate!” That’s about how it went… Anyway, that all happened on our first day in town. Tuesday was spent making sure all the necessary referrals had come in (The rental agency was seriously asking us to send out emails requesting that no more referrals be sent in…), switching hostels, and exploring Queenstown in the daylight. Again, we were blown away. The mountains are SICK. We started to familiarize ourselves with the lay of the land, noting street names and locations of places we might want to work, but mostly just wandered around town, soaking it all in. There was a buzz about due to the fact that the WinterFest had been postponed because of the bad weather, and Tuesday night was the new Opening Night. Fireworks, a Mardi Gras style party in the town square, live bands on outdoor stages- the whole deal. You could tell people were getting excited. Personally, I was more concerned about landing the apartment. We hadn’t heard anything from the rental agency, and were getting a little antsy. Finally, Haley, our rental rep, called, and asked whether or not we had in fact asked the owners out for dinner as some kind of bribe. “Bribery?” I said. “Me?? Never…”, to which she just chuckled, stating that the move had won us some points and that the owners like our style. Elated, we asked her what the next steps were. She said there was just some last paperwork to settle out, and we should hear from her early the next morning, if not later that afternoon. Thankful for our good fortune, we caught up with Andy and German, and headed down into town to check out the Opening Ceremonies of the WinterFest. The fireworks were cool, the bands were awful, and it was COLD, so our stint outside was a short one. We moved into this bar called the Buffalo Club, played a few games of pool, and took in the scene as the WinterFest got off to a rocking start. We were glad to be a part of it, and even more glad that we would soon have a permanent roof over our heads…
The next morning, we awoke with a sense of uncertainty as to how to proceed. We had to check out of our hostel by 10am if we were in fact leaving, but since we hadn’t heard anything from Haley about the apartment yet, were hesitant to check out and give up our reservation for Wed. night. So, we called Haley, only to be told that they were still “Trying to sort it all out”, which was far from reassuring. As 9am turned to 10, and 10 to 11, we had growing concern that something had happened with the apartment, and began to expect the worst. We hauled our stuff down to the storage area at the hostel, told the guy at reception about the situation, and he said he would hold our reservation until we let him know what the deal was. Meanwhile, Cory and I decided it was best to head out and start hitting up the rental agencies again to see if anything new had come available since Monday. Needless to say, we were pretty distraught, and more than mildly frustrated. Wouldn’t you know it- as soon as we rounded the corner to head into the nearest rental agency, the phone rang… It was Haley. A deep breath before answering the phone, not knowing whether I wanted to hear what she had to say or not… “Hello Nick, its Haley here. Just sorting a final few details out on the apartment… Yeah… Hmmm… (Long pause)… Ummm… (Longer pause)… Its all yours.” Sooooo cheeky!! She had me hanging, that’s for sure. A surge of adrenaline followed by a surge of relief (Odd combination), and we were literally dancing in the streets. We thanked her profusely, and she said that we might need to help the owner get the second double bed out of storage later that afternoon. “No worries” we said, happy to do whatever we needed to. We set up the lease-signing appointment, and then headed into town to while away a couple of hours at this Hot Chocolate bar we had found that has free wireless internet access (Not to mention the best cup of hot chocolate I’ve EVER had. Its made with real molten dark chocolate! SOOO good!!). We went and signed the lease, and then headed over to meet Richard (The owner) at the place to help him move some furniture around. He’s a great guy- works on the gondola lift chair in Queenstown as an engineer. We helped him move a couple of things around, and then had a beer with him, just talking about life and what he’d been up to. Then he gave us the keys, and we were on our own. First thing to do, get the power turned on, as night was fast-approaching, and it was going to get COLD. We called up the power company, went through the New Account procedures, and then were told that a technician would be by to turn the power on at the main switch. Being used to the old “Between 8am and 3pm” line typical to American services of similar nature, I was compelled to ask when said technician might arrive. “I don’t know exactly, but it will be sometime tonight.” Great. Very comforting, considering I was already cold and the sun hadn’t even set yet. But, he did arrive, and got things fired up for us. We switched on the hot water heater, and then crammed into one of the bedrooms with the lone electric heater for the first couple of nights. Thank God for that little electric heater- without that, Cory and I might have had to share a sleeping bag in order to stay warm. I know we’re good friends and all, but that would’ve gotten a little awkward…
The next several days were spent making trips to The Warehouse (Think Sam’s combined with Wal-Mart) to outfit the apartment with linens, towels, etc. We had an electrical issue with the main heater in the apartment, and were freezing while waiting to get that sorted out. Not that it really mattered though- the electrician came by on Tuesday and fixed it, and yet I’m still freezing. Bugger… All in all though, the place has come together nicely. We still lack any sort of TV service- will probably get that sorted out this week, but other than that, we are good to go now that we’ve got the internet up and running. Its beginning to feel like a home… (Awww, how sweet…)

And that should get you all caught up. Oh, one thing I left out- the day trip up to The Remarkables ski area. We went up last Monday, hoping that the crowds would’ve left Sunday night and we would have some good conditions. Besides, German was leaving Queenstown for Wellington in search of a job (No luck in Qtown), and we all wanted to go up together at least once. Well, we were wrong- the crowds hadn’t left, and the conditions were crap. They don’t have enough snow here yet to have all of the runs open, and only two lifts were operating. Add to this that we were basically skiing in a cloud all day, and you can imagine what it was like. Short runs, too. Nothing anywhere near the typical runs you see back in Colorado or Utah. Not as bad as Hidden Valley (Small ski hill in STL, for you non-St. Louisians), but still, not very long either. We made the best of it though, and, despite the large crowds, shite conditions, and puny runs, had a pretty good time. Heck, we were skiing in Nez Zealand, for crying out loud!! I’m not complaining… We’re definitely going to wait awhile before we head up again though. The local ski shops have told us that the snow should be good by late July/early August. We’ll give it another go then.

Other than that, we’ve been spending our time going to the grocery store, checking out more of the local pubs, and getting acquainted with Queenstown. Watched the All Blacks lose to Australia last week- it was cool because we were in a bar that was half Kiwi, half Aussie. A great rivalry, to be sure… Good times.

Well, that’s about it. Its now 1104pm on Sunday night (FYI, NZ is 17 hours ahead of US Central time. An easy way to figure it is to switch your am to pm, or vice versa, and add 5 hours)- I’ve been working on getting this put together for hours now, but wanted to get it all caught up, as much for my sake as for yours. This blog will serve as a great travel journal as well, something that I’ll be able to look back on later and remember what was happening, what we were doing, etc. I promise the coming posts won’t all be a monotonous retelling of my daily events- I’m sorry if I’ve put you to sleep. I’m getting tired now myself… 

Ok, that’s it. The blog is a GO! Enjoy the ride…

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Photos

We're leaving, on a jet-plane...
I dont know- Do you think we have enough stuff...??

Ahhh, Fiji...
Cory enjoys our brief 3 hour layover in the tropical paradise of Fiji... The airport wasnt that tropical.

Welcome to Middle Earth...
Our first view of New Zealand- SICK!!

Happy Birthday, Cory!
Celebrating Cory's birthday with our new mates German and Andy- Winnebago's Pizzeria, Christchurch, NZ

The Southern Alps...
The Southern Alps rising over the Canterbury Plain along the south-bound journey to Dunedin...

Downtown Dunedin...
Cold, grey, and wet. EXCITING!! It was pretty rowdy around 1am though, when the All Blacks took to the rugby pitch...

Downtown Queenstown...
Shotover Street, dowton Queenstown- looking down towards Lake Wakatipu. Most of the tour/adventure companies have their offices on this street.

The Queenstown Waterfront...
Sailboats, steamers, schooners, and skiffs, all lined up along the docks of Queenstown Harbor.

The TSS Earnslaw...
This ship has been plying the waters of Lake Wakatipu for the past 80 years...

The Remarkables...
The Remarksables tower over Queenstown and the Wakatipu Rugby Club building...

Warming Up With a Pint...
This one's for Freeze- Guess what we're drinking, bud...? Mmmmmmm...

Our humble home...
1/46 Gorge Rd., Queenstown, NZ. We like to call it our home away from home. And no, we didnt photo shop the paraglider in- theyre always flying around our flat.

Time to kick back and relax...
After ALL of the unpacking, I needed to sit back and let it sink in that I was actually living in QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND!!! Ridiculous!

Comments

[Rick McClary]

Wow What a great adventure
Nick and Cory, I have enjoyed reading the blog of your travels. Looks like you guys are having the time of your lives. I can't wait to read about all of your future plans. There seems to be one common thread through all of the blogs....Pubs and Beer!! Two things that are right up my alley. Be Safe! Rick