Queenstown. Aka: Partytown, Skitown, Adrenalinetown, Freezingourfreakingassesofftown.

We arrived in Queenstown four days ago. I have already posted about our two mini trips from here: Bungy and Milford Sound. Now a wee bit on Qtown itself!

During our time in Oz, we met many Kiwis, including Lance - the chef at my work. The conversation went something like this. "Hey Lance, we are going to NZ soon as dirty backpackers... do you know anyone we can crash with there?" "Yeah, for sure. My friend Dan lives in Queenstown, he would be stoked to have you guys there. He lived with me for 6 months in Melbourne, so he owes me." "Sweet, thanks so much Lance! It's great to have a place to stay over there." Here is how Lance's part of the conversation should have ACTUALLY gone: "Yeah, I have a friend in Queenstown... well actually, in a suburb outside the city that the bus only goes to really early and really late in the day. He would be happy to have you both stay there, except that he hasn't told his girlfriend that you are coming. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, they have a 3 year old boy and a 4 month old baby girl. Oh yeah, and also, I told them you would pay them rent but forgot to mention that to you before you left." AHHHH, the joys of traveling! haha. So, needless to say, we were a bit surprised when we showed up to find his 24yr old friend's place crawling with kids, and also FREEZING. Apparently, they don't have a lot of cash (hence asking for rent, I guess), so they don't turn on the heat. EVER. When you are sitting on the couch, you can actually see your breath. No joke. However, after those initial hiccups, we settled into Qtown. Dan and Carey-Anne are both really nice, and the view from their place in Sunshine Bay is amazing. We totally lucked out on our timing here, as the Winter Festival is on in the city.

From the moment we arrived in Qtown, we were struck by how much it reminded us of the typical ski towns from home. This place is a great mix of Vancouver (a town among mountains and water) and Tremblant/Blue Mountain/Mt. Snow/Any ski bum town. Very chill. Also, very chilly. We are officially bad Canadians. We are freezing and it's only -5 degrees. We have been wearing the same clothes (our only warm clothes) for a week straight. Literally. We even sleep in the warm clothes. Only changes made daily are from track pants to jeans, and new undies. My feet, in my one pair of socks, smell horrific! The Kiwis we have met so far are all incredibly nice people... with the funniest accents! They're vowels somehow got mixed up all the way down here. Seven sounds like "See-vin", Fish sounds like "Fush" (hence the funny sign), and Deck sounds like... well, have a guess.

The first day full day in Qtown, we did the bungy, then spent the rest of the day wandering around and enjoying the beautiful scenery of the town surrounded by mountains. At night, we watched the festival's opening night fireworks from Carey-Annes crazy mom's condo. We did our guest duties and played with the kids a bit before pawning them off on Grandma and hitting the casino! The casino here is hilariously small. We walked in, checked our coats, walked in a 400m circle, and were back at the coat check! We had a great night drinking and gambling at the casino with Dan, Carey-Anne, and their friends Gemma and Hopper. Hopper and Mars had a hilarious conversation about living in Canada... Mars was talking about seeing moose up north, and Hopper looked so excited, and said "Really? I thought moose were extinct!" haha. Fast forward to the end of the night... great live band, Mars and I dancing like idiots with our Uggs on (only warm shoes we have!). Great night, except that Carey-Ann and Dan got into a fight, then Dan and Hopper got into a CRAZY fight that resulted in a black eye for Dan! Drama!! Due to them working and us touring, we haven't seen anyone since! We are meeting them tonight for Quiz Night (Yeah!!) at the infamous casino!

Overall, we've had a great time here in Qtown. Ate at the world famous Fergburger... biggest burgers EVER!!

So good. Today we took a ride up the Skyline gondola to see the beautiful views of the city from above. Also, while on at the top, we did a "luge" run... went on the advanced course even though you are supposed to do the easier runs first. Quite fun... but damn cold!! Too bad we couldn't say a bit longer, as there is a big Canada Day party in Queenstown July 1st! The Canucks are everywhere! Back on the bus bright and early tomorrow morning, heading up the west coast to Fox Glacier....