Queenstown Trip #2

This weekend I went to Queenstown with Xander, Heather, Julie, and Fred. We drove up on Friday afternoon and got into our hostel. We changed into quasi-out-on-the-town clothes and went out to dinner at Monty’s (the Monteiths version of the Speight’s Ale House). So we had a good pint of Monteiths each- I had lamb shanks for dinner… delicious. Then we all went to the casino invigorated the night with a glorious couple hours of blackjack. I won $100. Xander was down $110 at one point but came back to win $50. Exciting times.

On Saturday we got up early and had free breakfast at the hostel. Plans of skydiving or doing a LOTR horseback tour were delayed due to conditions. Luckily it wasn’t really raining so we went up the gondola and did luge rides- something I did with Arcadia last time I was in Queenstown. This time we did 5 rides each and mostly went on the scenic track since it had wider lanes so we could race each other and pass more effectively. After that we got lunch and then Xander, Julie, Fred, and I went and played Frisbee golf at the Queenstown course- the first one I’ve seen in NZ. It was pretty sweet and interesting- one of the holes was between a tree and a rock, some were just poles you had to hit, and others were actual baskets. Good stuff though. We hung out for a while just tossing frisbees around like good college students and then headed back to the hostel and met up with Heather. Then we went out to dinner at a Chinese place with some other people from Otago who we bumped into earlier in the day. After that, Xander, Julie, Heather, and I went to minus five bar- a bar made completely of ice. We drank cocktails out of glasses made of ice. It was unique but kind of disappointing, not as well executed as it could have been. Then we went out to a regular bar and got 2 for 1 beer mugs.

Sunday Heather got up early and went on a horseback ride and the rest of us played the front 9 at the frisbee golf course again. After lunch Xander, Julie, and Heather went to go sky diving. I didn’t go because I deemed the cost too much and I couldn’t justify it after already paying an exorbitant amount of money to bungee jump. So I drove out to the Kawarau bridge bungee jump place with Fred so that he could jump. I took pictures for him and also did video for an American couple we met in the hostel earlier in the day. Then Fred and I went back to the Monteiths place we ate at the other day and tried pints of their Summer Ale, which debuted for the season that day. It was good stuff. Then we walked around the harbor for a while and walked up the beach a ways. Still waiting for Heather, Xander, and Julie to get back from Skydiving we went back to the Monteiths place and got free BBQ and more cheap pints. Finally they got back from skydiving, which was of course apparently amazing, and we all headed back to Dunedin. I stayed up late doing a history paper. Yet another great weekend. Typical.