The Drive

Driving along the west coast of the south island was unbelievable. It took us a couple of days to drive from Wanaka to Christchurch. It was Faith's Last Run (Faith is our car) and we made it!









We stopped to see the Franz Joseph Glacier along the way. So awesome!

Wanaka

We left Queenstown and spent a couple days in Wanaka. It is a nice little town by a very large lake (and a beautiful mountain range of course). We went for a drive and a short walk around the area before we spent St. Patrick's Day at an Irish Pub with our new Swedish friends.







Rock climber:

Ice Bar

There is this bar in Queenstown that is kept at an average of minus 5-10 degrees Celsius. The whole bar is made of ice, even the glasses. It was pretty cool to be in there. (Yes, we actually paid money to be in the cold!)

Snow!

There was a bit of a cold spell in Queenstown and we got to see some more snow! I was pretty excited about it - those mountains looked even more gorgeous when they were snow capped.

The Remarkables

Drew and I went for a drive and ended up at The Remarkables ski area. The views were, well, Remarkable. ;)




There is snow on the top of this mountain. That will probably not be a big deal for you people in Minnesota, but we were pretty excited about it.

Broke-o

Well, what can I say? I'm out of money. I knew it would happen eventually. Time to work, borrow money and use credit cards. I can't complain too much because I have made it pretty far. When we arrived in Queenstown on Wed. we stopped in at a job agency to see if they had any work available and they did. She asked us to show up on Thurs. morning at 7am to do some vineyard work. So, the 3 of us worked on a vineyard for 8 hours cutting green grapes off the vines. It was pretty easy, psychologically pleasing work and the day went by pretty fast. I-pods are a necessity. Friday, we got to do some housekeeping work. My job was pretty easy. We had to clean time-share units but they were already mostly clean and we were encouraged to take our time. So, my first two days of work went pretty well. Monday rolled around and I was sent to a different vineyard (this time without Katie and Drew). It took 1 1/2 hours to drive there and the work was really strenuous on our backs. The day went by really slow and we were all in pain by the end of it. With the drive and breaks and what not, I was gone from 6:45am to 6:00pm but only got paid for 8 hours. Needless to say, it felt like a long day. Tues. and Wed. of this week has been rainy so they have cancelled work at the vineyards. Even though Monday was pretty painful, I am glad that I was able to experience this type of work. It is kind of cool to think that I have worked on a vineyard in New Zealand. I know of course that my time working was so short that I have no idea what it would be like to do this all the time, but it was cool none the less. Most of the other workers were just passing through Queenstown and, like me, just needed some money to fund their travels. Some older New Zealanders drive around the country working on vineyards and living out of campers. It would be quite a life.
The vineyards are gorgeous by the way.

Queenstown

Queenstown is the place to go in New Zealand if you have lots of money and are into extreme sports. It is a big ski resort hot spot in the winter when the beautiful mountains fill with snow. One of the popular ski locations is a mountain range near Queenstown called "The Remarkables." This resort town is also known for adrenaline rush activities, like bungy jumping, white water rafting, para-gliding, sky diving, etc. It has a population of only 7500, but there are tons of tourists around.

Our experience of Queenstown is much different than it would be for a big-budget adventure-seeker. We are staying here for 1 1/2 weeks and have been working. It is enough of an adrenaline rush for me to watch other people bungy jump (plus I don't have the money). The town really has some great scenery. I'm impressed with how natural and stunning it is (I guess if you are going to para-glide, you might as well do it in a beautiful place). I'm glad that we get to stay here for a bit to get to know the city and look at The Remarkables (even though I think the three of us are really starting feel ready for Fiji).

On the way to Queenstown:

Rugby practice:

You can see para-gliders pretty much all the time on nice days:


Lake Wakatipu






These people are braver than me: