Musical Chairs in Makarora & on to Wanaka and Queenstown

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When we left Franz Josef on the wednesday morning the weather was if possible even worse than the day we'd arrived, it was feezing and the rain was really coming down. It was so cold that it was snowing up at the top of the mountains rather than raining so at least we did wake up to snow capped mountains surrounding the whole town, which made it look lovely even if the weather was awful. We made a quick stop at the other glacier New Zealand has which is not far from Franz Josef, Fox Glacier but we didn't stay long as the weather was just getting worse and we were on a new bus which had the opposite problem of our North Island bus - rather than the a/c not working the heat wasn't working so we were all freezing, I think I had my hood up all morning and Lisa had bought some big cheap warm socks at the shop before we left FJ for us to wear. I could also feel a cold and a sore throat coming on which is never good for me as when I get a sore throat I tend to lose my voice and have a sore throat for at least a week.

We would normally have also stopped at Lake Matheson, the mirror lake to feel time stand still and get some photos of the perfect reflection of the mountains in the glass like lake but as it was still pouring it down we wouldn't get the same effect so it just wasn't worth it, unfortunately. As we headed back towards the coast and the ocean the weather started to clear up so we stopped off for a quick walk along the beach at a nice spot unfortunately the local sand flies obviously thought it was a nice spot as well and before we knew it we were all surrounded and being eaten alive, also as everyone got back on the bus in dribs and drabs everytime Fido had to open the door to let people back on the bus more sandflies would sneak on board the bus with them. By the time we left there were sandflies swarming around us in our seats so before long there was the lovely smell of insect repellent coming from all parts of the bus....my hood was back up and the big socks were back on, this time not beacuse of the cold but to protect me from the evil little sandflies..evil, evil evil little things.

We stopped for lunch in the really not exciting at all town called Haast, again a population of about 40 people but you somehow got the feeling that these people didn't have the same parties at their local pub as they did in Barrytown...just a hunch. I took the chance though to pick up some Lemsip as the place we were staying that night, Makarora, was even smaller so wouldn't have a shop selling Lemsip to help me try and beat the cold that was steadily getting worse as the day went on.

As the weather had cleared up a bit we took the opportunity to stop off for a couple of walks along the way that afternoon to see some of the lakes and waterfalls in the area as it is a beautiful part of the country. One of the stops we made was at the Blue Pools (not blue in the dodgy sense of the word as Lisa thought, the Irish honestly dirty minds!), named because the water is snow run off and so is usually an incredibly clear blue-green colour and ice cold. Fido suggested going for a swim and we all laughed and shook our heads when unbelievably one of the guys who had joined our bus that morning in FJ said he'd go for a swim if Fido did so Fido couldn't back out now and we all headed down to the pool to laugh and point as they jumped into ice cold water. I've got to hand it to them they both stripped off to their shorts and stood on the rocks and then jumped right into the freezing water....not surprisingly they didn't stay in long.

It was onwards to the tiny Makarora right in the heart of the mountains which also had snow on the top of them and it was a really peaceful, beautiful place, especially at sunset. The lodge cafe/bar had a real log fire burning as well so before dinner we sat there having a drink and warming up...I was drinking Lemsip as my cold was still getting worse and as the night went on the voice started to go, uhoh not a good sign. After some kiwi sausages and chips we played some pool. Ususally in Makarora they have a karaoke competition with a prize on offer of river surfing in Queenstown, but as nobody seemed to want to sing they decided that we would all play musical chairs instead...genius idea, it was hilarious. As I was feeling pretty crappy by this point I decided that if there wasn't an empty seat right next to me when the music stopped I really wasn't going to fight for one so guess who was out first, yip me, I am offcially the worst at musical chairs my mum will be so proud, I remember being really good at it when I was little too, I must have taken it more seriously back then. Of course some people took it more seriously than others and Simon got some hassle for trying to cheat & pulling the chair away from Kristine as she'd got there first and was just about to sit down, he had to give in to group pressure & they re-did that round to make it all fair! Eventually one of the girls won....go on the girls!

We ended up with a bit of a circus going on by the end of the night as one of the guys on the bus had a diablo so everyone was having a go at that and another one of the girls from the bus had a hula hoop as she used to have a job in a show dancing with it, it was amazing she could move it up and down her body, over her head and everything and all to music.

early night after that as with my cold all I wanted was to curl up in a warm bed and the bed was very, very comfy.

It was freezing again the next morning when we got up as we were in the mountains but it was sunny and clear which was a nice change. We continued to drive through the stunning mountains and lakes, stopping off to take a few photos and take in the breathtaking views. Unfortunatley my cold was getting worse so I'd had to pull out my long Bench jacket from the bottom of my rucksack that had stayed there since I left Scotland in January and everyone laughed at me for wandering around with the hood up all morning!

We stopped off in the beautiful town of Wanaka (a pretty well known ski village in winter) which sits on the shore of the stunningly large Lake Wanaka and is surrounded on all sides by the mountains of the Southern Alps. We had a couple of hours here and some of the guys from the bus were getting off here to stay for a couple of nights and chill out, including Steve, Kristine, Francesco, Ryan and Simon who'd been with us since Abel Tasman. Me and Lisa were staying on the bus to head straight for Queenstown but as we were planning to stay there for just about a week they would catch us up on the saturday, which just happened to be St Patricks Day which me and Lisa had already started planning for her being Irish and all and me being Scottish and always up for a night or day out!

Me and Lisa headed to Puzzle World just outside of Wanaka to mess around in the rooms of illusions and the giant maze before getting picked up by Fido and the bus to head to Queenstown. It's a mad little place, and the room full of 3-D heads that look like they are following you everywhere you go is crazy. We did go in the giant maze outside but as we only had about 30minutes before we were getting picked up and it said that it usually takes people an hour to an hour and a half to get out we quickly realsied that we weren't that good at mazes and snuck out the cheats emergency exit!

After we left Wanaka our group was a lot smaller having left at least half the bus in Wanaka for a couple of days. We stopped off at this great little fresh fruit shop beside the road not far out of town where they made the most delicious ice cream with crushed fresh fruit blended in to , you got to choose any fruits you wanted & they blended it up right in front of your eyes...I went for the unusual combination of raspberry & kiwi (I had to have kiwi being in New Zealand) & it actually tasted really good. After that we headed towards the infamous Queenstown via the first ever commercial bungy jumping site at Kawarau Gorge, where Lisa was brave enough to do a bungy but she didn't want to do it on her own & as I was getting a bit skint & couldn't really afford it, Fido offered to do a tandem jump with her so I got the job of camera lady & filmed the whole thing. It's great to watch, some people just go right for it & jump off and others take a little more persuasion to get them over the edge.I would definitely consider doing it next time I'm in New Zealand (and there will definitely be a next time, I absolutely love New Zealand) but after the skydive my budget was not looking too healthy and it's about $130 plus another $45 if you want photos etc...pretty steep.

We finally arrived in Queenstown which was a great feeling as me and Lisa had already agreed that we would be spending the best part of a week here chilling out after moving around on the bus for the last week, me for the last 2 weeks as I'd also done a mad dash around the North Island on the bus. After we'd checked in we had a wander around the town which seemed huge after all the tiny little places we'd been staying...it had clothes shops and a choice of bars and restaurants....amazing. Of course we had to do a bit of shopping and I bought the best hat ever, I'll add the photo of me in it when I get Lisa to email me a copy.

We headed to the famous Queenstown institution that is Fergburger, a tiny little burger joint that makes huge, fresh, delicious burgers for less than $10 and is always heaving. After that it was back to get ready to go out for our first night in QT (known as a little bit of a party town) and a quick lemsip, with a vodka chaser before we went out (the cold was still getting worse and the voice was getting croaky)! We went to Altitude Bar in our hostel where we met up with the bus drivers (all the same ones as in Franz Josef, bound to be trouble and many drinks!) There was a guy there who they called Bilbo Baggins and he did look exactly like a young Bilbo Baggins...weird. Many drinks were had and then we headed on to another bar with some pool tables for a few games. Next we went to a great little hidden bar called The Bunker which had another real log fire and then last but not least we went up stairs to the Sky Bar where the ceiling is painted blue with lots of little clouds all over it. Made it back to the hostel about 4am ish.....thats what happens when you let a Sottish girl and an Irish girl loose in Queenstown.

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