Being bullied by the Irish
Trip Start
Aug 14, 2008
1
8
20
Trip End
Sep 25, 2008
Queenstown,
South Island,
New Zealand
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Before reaching Queenstown we stopped at Kawarau Bridge - the first commercial bungy site. Thumper wound Meeho up so much saying she had to do a jump as part of her job, that she actually started crying! And so he did the jump instead!
In Queenstown, TJ and I got a big dorm to ourselves for the night, which was heavan! We went to the supermarket and came back to an insanely busy kitchen full of people that looked (or should I say sounded) very familiar... yep, that same Kiwi Experience group from Franz Josef!
Day 184 - TJ and I got up at 6:15, eager to hit the slopes. He was going boarding on Treble Cone, whereas my pass didn't permit me there and so I set off to Coronet Peak instead. I hired some ski clothes and caught the shuttle included in my pass. The weather was glorious - completely clear and sunny and good snow to boot! By 9am I had my skis and I was away. The resort is very different to Europe - smaller for one thing, with about three ski lifts and big, open pistes plus no trees (which is probably a good thing for me). The views from the peak were absolutely incredible - seeing the entire lake and green valley amongst the snowy peaks.
It took a while to get back into it as always, but really enjoyed my day. It's an interesting thing skiing alone - it's a lot less fun and a lot more embarassing when you fall! I am enjoying meeting randoms on the lifts however! Unbelieveably I bumped into those damned Kiwi Experience people again and in particular, ended up sat next to the guy who was oustide our room in Franz Josef with the girl (discussing whether to have sex or not) on the ski lift! I think he recognised me as he looked quite embarassed!
Having spent the day feeling as if I have a bucket on my head - as I have a head cold and the altitude affected my sinuses and ears, which did not correct themselves the full three days I went skiing - back in Queenstown TJ and I went for a Fergburger - somewhat of an institution in Queenstown and the absolute best (and biggest) burger I have ever had the pleasure of eating! TJ and I went back to our room and met our new roomate - Kev from Northern Ireland who can talk for Northern Ireland, but is very lovely (if a little smelly). Poor TJ could barely understand a word he said, and I must admit I was struggling! Had a lemsip and the drowsiness sent me off in a delerious sleep.
Day 185 - Caught the shuttle to the Remarkables today. The runs were very icy to start and I thought I was close to death a few times on the first go! It was then extremely windy and I was even blown up piste at one point, but by lunchtime, the weather was perfect and so was the snow. Had a great days skiing and the resort was very quiet too, which was cool. Got a very yummy mid-morning muffin as part of the ski package and so it all went very well. Except for the unsociable snow boarders that is - who more times than not would set up for the lift but wait behind so the two or three of them can go on one of their own, leaving me on my own! Very inefficient and very unfriendly. Luckily they made up for it as the board park was below the lift and provided great entertainment as I travelled up on my own - some of the jumps were insane! Conversely, the most amount of people I met on the lifts were men from Brisbane, who, it seems, are very friendly and sociable people and Queenstown must be full of them!
When I got back to Queenstown, someone had taken my skis off the bus and left their hire skis instead. The bus driver got irrationally irate about it, which is rediculous as it was in no way my fault and I ended up taking the leftover skis home with me just to escape the angry driver. The rest of the Stray gang had caught up and staying in our hostel and so Dan, Helen, TJ and I went to Winnies for an amazing pizza before meeting Laura and Team Ireland in the hostel bar. We moved on to a drum n bass bar and I tried my first (and by no means my last) jagerbomb (which they love here). I bumped into a guy I met on the bus from the Remarkables, who is a snowboard instructor called Will and when my gang went home I stayed in the bar with him and his mates. Got in sometime after half 3 and tried to sneak to bed, but managed to wake up most of our new roomies... five kiwi snowboarders!
Day 186 - Got woken up by TJ leaving for Christchurch and the snowboarders chatting and after 4 hours sleep (if that) I realised it was going to be my lot and got up to hit the slopes. Went to Coronet Peak for my final day of skiing and had a horrible experience when i went to change my skis as the girl at the hire shop lectured me in a very accusational and offensive way saying "don't blame someone else for you picking up the wrong skis, just take responsibility for what you've done" - and I struggled to keep a straight face when I informed her how it wasn't possibly my fault and watched her face drop and her single response "oh... right"!
Slushy snow today, which proved a problem in combination with tiredness / hangover and decided I was too dangerous to carry on! Instead I headed back to the cafe and watched others from the window! I know it's a waste but I don't want an accident, and there's no point forcing youself if you're not enjoying it.
Got the bus back down to town and had a nap all afternoon. Went out with the Stray group with the Irish on a clear mission to get drunk. We went to the World Bar which serves cocktails in teapots and ended up in Winnies, which turns into a full-blown, dancing-on-the-tables nightclub at a certain hour and had a lot of fun (as I always do with our irish three). When Winnies closed, only myself, Kieran and James remained and so moved on to a new bar. By 3am we left and walked back to the hostel, stopping at an Israeli cubby hole on the side of the street for a delicious, homemade pizza served by a very funny Israeli who wouldn't give us our food straight away so we couldn't burn our mouths!
Day 185 - Really enjoyed having a day where I had nothing particular to wake up for. Went for lunch in Vudu Cafe and had an amazing steak sandwich - yum! We decided we would go up the gondola for views of Queenstown and beyond and I found a sofa at the top (a rare luxury when travelling) and fell asleep on it!
Back at the hostel I prepared for another night out - eek! Dan and Helen are leaving tomorrow so we all went for a Mexican meal and went back to their room for a few drinking games, which, it seems, I am really bad at! Ended up in Winnies again which was fun but with a ratio of about 4:1 men:women = meat market! Walked home via the Israeli cubby hole again - this time an authentic and homemade pastry full of potato and mushroom. A different man served us and what do you know... I burnt my mouth!
Returned to my room the same time as the snowboarders and spent the next hour or so messing about until the big, black bouncer (who, if he wasn't so big, I would say had a serious case of short man syndrome) came in to assert his authority, when they really weren't being that loud or disruptive. After a very unnecessary lecture / argument, which wasn't going anywhere, he got out a wad of cash and started trying to give the boys money to pack up and find another hotel for the night! It was such a joke! When he finally left (causing more drama and noise than before he was around) we met our neighbours on the balcony and heard how he had tried the same act on them just earlier! What a prat!
Day 186 - Got up late and enjoyed another easy day with fine fine weather. Went for a walk around town as I hadn't even seen the lake in the day yet and found Queenstown to be a really pretty town, a bit like Wanaka but with more going on. I sat on the wall by the beach on the lake when the Irish showed up and we sat with a take-away coffee before going for a walk around the park for more views of the surrounding countryside.
Had another Fergburger (lamb this time and just as yum as the first) and the boys and I went to the cinema to see 'The Bank Job'. Even after three very late nights of drinking in a row, we ended up in the Irish pub (!) playing Shithead and I recieved the usual amount of stick from each of them - I'm going to miss their company when we part tommorrow! Got to bed and was just drifting off when the last of the snowboarders trickled in, good n drunk and dying to tell me all about their drunken antics!
