Queenstown

This morning we had breakfast in the communal kitchen in the Invercargill campsite and got chatting to a few other residents (some of which we had chatted to last night as well). There was a Canadian couple who are travelling pretty much the same route as us - we recognised them as they had been in the tent beside ours in Timaru - and an English couple who had just arrived from Queenstown. The English couple were particularly chatty and friendly, and we exchanged email addresses in the hope of meeting up on the North Island sometime in the new year. Even with all that chat, we were stil on the road quite early and heading for Queenstown. The first part of the drive was quite boring, and the scenery was very reminiscent of the Canterbury Plain, but it wasn't too long before we were driving through the mountains again. We stopped in a picnic area by a beautiful lake and ate last night's left-over pizza, and I sunned myself and drank in the view before getting back behind the wheel. There were so many gorgeous views at the top of every hill, but the roads were so twisting and hilly, and the drop to the lakeside was so steep and unprotected, that I couldn't really enjoy looking around myself unless the car was stopped, so we did pull in a few times. The weather had been changeable when we were leaving Invercargill, but by the time we got to Queenstown it had settled into a beautiful summer's afternoon, with hot sun and blue skies.

After getting settled in the Top 10 campsite in town (do you notice an accomodation theme for this trip?), which was dearer than other places at about $35/night, we took a walk and almost immediately noticed a gondola lift up the hill behind the site. For the sum of $21/person, this took us over 400m above Queenstown, and the views at the top were absolutely stunning. The blue lake in the centre is surrounded by mountains, still showing signs of snow even in this hot weather, and the town sprawls at the bottom with chalets rising on the mountainsides all around. I enjoyed the view, and Skry took advantage of the luge ride to slide down 800m of downhill track on what looked like a teatray. He said it was fun - I'll just have to take his word for it!

We had dinner at Little India, the local branch of an Indian restaurant chain, and I have to say that we don't be back to this chain in a hurry. We had dinner in the Chch branch a few nights after arriving there, and my butter chicken tasted like it was composed mostly of Heinz Tomato Soup. Lou's chicken tikka masala was similar but with extra spices added. And tonight our food was okay-to-bland, the service was very inattentive, and I suffered serious digestive problems for about an hour afterwards. Not good. They've lost our custom, anyway! Tomorrow we're off for a day-long trip to Milford Sound ($154/person for the coach and boat cruise), so the food will be strictly self-service, and we have stocked up on baguettes and salad. Should be safe, and less indigestion-causing! We also went for a quick walk by the lake, and were impressed by just how clear the water was. We got a great view of a duck having a poo, which was... interesting... and also had fun watching them dive to the bottom, or sleep bobbing on the surface. It was a lovely evening.