Dunedin, Oamaru, and Queenstown...

3/31
Thank goodness, I got a brief sleep in…730. And I made a couple cups of coffee, oatmeal, and some yogurt…my French friends warned me they would be sleeping in until at least ten, so I made an effort to be quiet. I quickly packed up camp, set my tent in the sun to dry out, and hit the trail for a hike to the ‘caves’. The trail was in a cool forest, but it was infiltrated by mud. When I reached the ‘caves’ they weren’t really caves per se, just some holes in a big rock. I was okay with the lack of cavey-ness to them, I was happy being outside.

When I got back to my dry tent, another couple had just pulled in for a quick walk to avoid sitting in traffic because of a wreck on the highway…and when I started my drive north, I noticed the wreck remains as well…ouch. Just south of the wreck back up was the Moreki Boulders…and again you wouldn’t think rocks were so neat, but these were just baffling. The boulders were on the ocean beach, but they were nearly perfectly spherical. Their outside were smooth like they have been sanded, but the design of the inside was like a turtle shell. They were lined up in a random, yet organized manner. As I was there, the waves were rolling into them and it made me wonder about the effects of erosion. Some of the rocks had been broken, but their pieces were close together so it was easy to see how the puzzle could have come together.

After the accident was clear and I took a nice beach walk admiring my footstep in the sand, I drove about thirty minutes north to the town of Oamaru. Oamaru was a quaint, little town with an old Victorian era square, just outside the CBD. It is also known for having the rare Yellow-Eyed penguins, but since I arrived in the afternoon I would be missing the penguins again because they are out fishing all day. Meandering through the town and beach I ran across a used bookstore. Inside the store there just happened to be a travel book on the East Coast of Australia, exactly where I was planning on going. After a few minutes of chatting witih Rob, the store owner, I found out that he had lived in Cairns for ten years. Rob spoke with me for quite awhile on the various activities and places Shannon and I could see around the area…since I had just officially found out she was coming for her Spring Break! I was ecstatic and determined to have a good, but flexible plan when she arrived.

Around 230, I said thank you and goodbye to Rob, and I was back on the road to Queenstown. The drive was beautiful following ice blue rivers and lakes, high mountains, and interesting rock formations. The drive took about three or so hours, and I was happy to take a good shower after a couple days of camping. I wandered to the heart of lively Queenstown. It is set in the valley within The Remarkables, Lake Waitapu, and Sklyline Ridge. It is truly picturesque. The town itself has a solid, active town center filled with shops, restaurants, and numerous activity and tour booking sites. It is definitely a tourist town. At first it reminded me of a ‘Durango’ type, lots of partying going on…then I saw the Louis Vitton store, which made me think more Aspen. And I finally had a good burger, Ferburger…yummy. Tomorrow night I was going to meet up with Emma, so after a few beers and some good people watching, I turned in wondering what was in store for me tomorrow.

4/1
After a relaxing breakfast at the lodge overlooking the lake, I decided to take Emma’s advice and hike the Tiki Trail to Skyline Gondola Plaza. The trail was very steep, just like the information pamphlet said, but definitely manageable. It zigzagged through tall pine trees that reminded me of home. When reaching the summit, the gondola cars were being emptied with people and their mountain bikes, people wanting to do the luge, paragliders, and innocent bystanders. I sat at a picnic table for quite awhile admiring the town from above with the distinctive Remarkables and the bright blueness of the lake. The gondola building was filled with people in the café and on the observation deck taking pictures. I continued my hike to the Skyline Loop, where people were taking off on dual-paragliding trips. It was very cool to see the various people participating…there were several people in their sixties and seventies! Again, it was easy for the time to pass. I sat up there for over an hour, eating my lunch and soaking in the sun.

On my way down, I passed several out of shape hikers that asked me, ‘How much further??’ I wonder how many of them made it…One hiker I met was Alex. She was not out of shape, but realized the steepness. We started chatting and I learned she was from San Francisco and had just graduated from University of Colorado. We hit it off, and planned to meet for drinks and dinner that evening.

Making down the trail, I continued my walk through town, by the lake, and in and out of shops. Back at the hostel, I had a quick shower and was off to meet Emma and Alex at Winnie’s. Winnie’s is known for awesome pizza, and boy was it. It was fun talking and sharing stories of travel and home with the girls. Midway through our dinner a private party took over the bar. It was a costume ‘T’ party…everyone dressed up in costumes that began with the letter ‘T’. We saw it all…Tinkerbell, a tornado, Tampax, tourist, Taliban…these Kiwi’s know how to costume. It was very, very entertaining for us.
After a few beers, we hit the street and found Irish bar with a live Irish band playing. They were amazingly good, and the crowd was lively…singing, dancing, and clapping along. I felt as though I was in Ireland, even though I have never actually been there.

Our last bar stop for the night was Buffalo Club. It was fairly mellow when we arrived, playing good tunes from the DJ and adventure clips on the television. We chatted some more, and did a fair amount of people watching, but before we knew it the place was packed with teeny-boppers getting their groove on…again, quality people watching. It was a great first day in Queenstown, and I knew tomorrow would be as well.

4/2
Okay, this day wasn’t going to be as good as yesterday…I woke up feeling terrible. I felt a cold coming on in Invercargill, but I thought I stopped it with my Airborne. Tack that on to a terrible night of sleeping and an upset stomach, I really had to motivate to make it to the craft/farmers market. I dragged myself down there, and was happy I did. I found some fun and unique gifts, finished my shopping, and had the best hot chocolate ever at Patagonia. I spent some quality time by the lake relaxing and took a little nap. On the way back to the lodge, I ran across a local rugby match, aninter-squad Queenstown team was playing a little preseason warm up match. The kids were thirteen and under, but looked smaller. They played with great enthusiasm and hit hard. I can see why all entire Kiwis love this sport. After the kids’ game, the big guys came out. I stood on the sidelines and asked several questions about the rules and happenings…if they weren’t so big and I wasn’t so little…I think I would have liked to play.

After the game, I made a brief stop at the town library, and did some reading on Tasmania…which made me more anxious, so I made some travel plans, printed up my flight itineraries…all seven of them, and got ready to met Emma for drinks and food. We chatted about our days and the fact her back and legs hurt from spending seven hours on a horse the prior day, we found a busy Indian restaurant. She gave me some more information on Tasmania and I helped her with her US trip, but still not feeling good, and being nervous traveling the next day, flight changes, with a Daylight Savings…not really knowing what time it was going to be when I woke up, and still having to pack up my NZ life, I called it an early night. Back at lodge, I got everything organized, had a few glasses of wine to calm my anxiety, and shut the lights out by midnight…