Queenstown - adventure capital of my life

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Morning all!

We arrived in Queenstown late on Sunday evening after a pretty incredible drive from Dunedin. I feel like we're starting to repeat ourselves with how amazing the scenery and views are; but i defy anyone on their first or even a hundredth visit to New Zealand to be any different, simply put its breathtaking.

We parked the van up by a lake in a much more busy looking town than either Christchurch or Dunedin has looked so far, (we've since learnt that it holds more bars per capita than anywhere in New Zealand). we found an awesome little Irish bar and proceeded to spend an enjoyable hour drinking guiness and watching wales lose, always a favorite past time of mine.

The next part of this blog will be given over to explaining in accurate detail how much of a complete and utter tool I am. Many of you reading this will be aware that I currently have a pretty serious grade 3 tear of a major ligament in my Knee, my very trusted Physio banned me from pretty much any form of sport for about 6 months (less than 2 months ago). In a hasty possible hungover state me and Andy both forgot this and booked a days snowboarding, it being my first time on the slopes this you can imagine was a catastrophically poor idea. I absolutely fell in love with snowboarding the first time i managed to connect a few turns, Andy as the pro of the group even said I was surpassing expectations, i was in short doing really rather well. We progressed to the blue runs, this did not end well! Two days later i can walk, but only with the aid of a pretty hefty knee support. Prat. We are considering a second trip up the slopes once the swelling goes down! Andy no doubt taking confidence from my disaster progressed to the black runs, shortly after to join me in the cafe muttering something under his breath along the lines of "ridiculous idea, i mean who puts a slope that steep round a blind bend" Kiwi's it seems are not with out a sense of humor.

Tuesday we slept, cleaned the van and enjoyed the scenery the absolute highlight of which was a steak we bought from the local cash and carry. $10 for 2 so approx 250p each. It was so big, so thick, and so tender i feel like Lloyd Grossman just discussing it now, it should have been on an M&S advert.

Wednesday, and again we feel like have more luck than anyone else on the planet. Following a whim we decided to check out the training facilities of the England team this week, just a short drive out of Queenstown. We somehow timed this to perfection, coinciding with the forwards finishing a session we now have met pretty much the full squad and have some photo's we'll probably keep for a lifetime. Simon Shaw is quite literally in-human in size. Dylan Hartley is a stand up bloke, who we somehow got on the subject of sharing a small van, something he apparently did at a previous world cup.

I think thats all for now, we're really starting to look forward to the games at the weekend, particularly sunday evening as we will no doubt find a bar shortly after the England match for New Zealand Vs France the atmosphere at which should be spectacular. The plan is to buy some French shirts this afternoon!

oh and we're going canyon swinging tomorrow, a mix of bungee jumping and swinging from a rope off a cliff! more news on that next time.

lots of love back home

T and A x

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