Millbrook Arrowtown

Today James and me went to Arrowtown on the bus, about a 45 minute drive from Queenstown. We went there mainly to learn a bit about its gold mining history but mainly to find the bakery and butchers where the buns and meat from ferburgers come from!! We first went to the Chinese settlement in town, a conservation area which describes the history of the gold mining which took place in Arrow River and how the Chinese in the 16th ...

... dropped to our knees in prayer to the snow gods. The next morning our prayers were answered with a fresh coating of light snow. Unfortunately, our minds being occupied with snow, we completely forgot to recite the standard brachah for no snoring roommates. The next two nights we were punished accordingly. <br><br>On our first day in Queenstown, Eric shat in his pants. Figuratively, of course (well, sort of), as he signed up to bungy jump 43 meters off a bridge ...

... sprang forward, keeping my eyes up and spread my arms. Once gravity kicked in and I started looking down, I became pretty terrified. I was free falling towards the ground and couldn't feel the cord around my legs. It felt like I had jumped without a rope. All I could see was a shallow river at the bottom surrounded by rocky cliffs. All I did was breath heavily and quickly trying to stop myself from being so terrified. It was all happening ...

... and panning for gold (no luck) and I went for a walk further along the river which was where part of Lord of the Rings was filmed, but as there were no signs I couldn't tell where that was! The Lake Districts Museum was very interesting, but because Kate has developed a fear of dummies & mannequins, a little hard to get the full benefit of, as we had to keep reassuring her and leading her past any dummies that were there ...

... He had been there 16 years and had many stories to share, his favorite involved a large women launching an opposum off her bunk bed. He also said the head of the DOC in New Zealand is obsessed with moose that were released into the park. None of the moose are thought to have survived, but the DOC head fanatically tracks them with motion-sensitive cameras in the trees and helicopter trips to the middle of the swamp.

... bits where you go really fast. It was so fun to hurtle down the hills, cutting the corners, through tunnels towards the finishing line where you are photographed with an idiotic expression on our faces! When the 5 rides we paid for were up, we felt like saying to someone 'can we do it again, can we do it again? please?'. There were more adults than children on the Luge (mostly our age) and they were making all the noise. It was great!

... billions of stars. We had a few good days here just relaxing. We went a did Puzzle World. When we left we both were dizzy and felt stupid it took us over an hour to do their outdoor maze. Duh. But it was pretty fun and lots of good photos. During those few days, I also got to know two volunteers that sat outside my tent. Brian and I are now staying with one of them, Elaine, and her husband, Merv. They are wonderful.

... je suis aller faire du rafting (c'etait genial!, nous avons fait un 3 hrs de rafting sur la Shotover river and le Skippers Canyon, c'etait magnifique!, la riviere etait entre 3 et 5 grades !- mais c'etait pas vraiment epeurrant ! nous avons aussi passe dans un tunnel de pres de 200 metres de long a peine assez large pour les raftings !) et j'ai fait de nombreuses sorties a Queenstown ...

... I'm fine. Arrowtown's wonderful, and we are going to hitch a ride with a French guy named Julian to Wanaka, where we will do more walks. Note to self: Never trust your new Kathmandu hiking shoes too much. p/s. Jan-E: Remember to get angpau from Papa before the 15th! I'm counting on you!

... Almighty-esk, I'd recommend it - the cinema was a cute little thing too, really tiny.<br><br><br><br>29th June<br><br><br><br>Today was a shopping day, I bought a new lens cap for my camera that I lost down the west coast and some really hot Ripcurl boots, that are black and kinda suede, but really hot!!!<br><br><br><br>Tomorrow is a big day, I am actually going to take some photos of Queenstown, I have been here over a week and haven't managed to take any yet!!!