Beautiful Queenstown

We have now been in Queenstown for nearly a week, and will leave tomorrow to go to Dunedin for five days, which is further down South.

I love staying longer in places as you really get to know them well, and Queenstown is such a great place - lots to do and see, and a fantastic backdrop of mountains over a gorgeous crystal clear lake. There are the usual chain restaurants and high street shops, but also smaller boutiques and cafes to explore, and even a traditional English sweet shop!

Whilst Damo was snowboarding in the Remarkables, I went for long walks around the lake, enjoying the sunshine and the views, and caught up with friends I had made along the way on Kiwi Experience. I also booked myself a massage in one of the spas - I was feeling a bit fed up of smelly, cramped dorm rooms and hostels in general, so decided to treat myself. It made me feel so much better! After four nights we ended up changing hostels - and it's so much better, more room, quieter and a fantastic view.

One evening we checked out the gondola - which is a long cable car ride up the side of a mountain. It was really pretty at the top, and we could see the whole of Queenstown lit up beneath us. There's also a bungy jump of the side of the mountain - we had a look but that was it! Sky dives I can do... bungy jumps no way!!

As well as chilling out and playing a lot of pool down the pub, we've also been to the "local" bowling alley, which was actually about 15 minutes drive away in the middle of nowhere! It's in a hotel halfway up the mountains, and you have to be picked up by the staff and dropped back again!

One morning we woke up to heavy snow - not what we were expecting - I haven't seen snow like that in years! It didn't settle near the lake, but the mountains got a good covering and the whole landscape looked very pretty. Later that afternoon I was sunbathing!! It's madness.

Yesterday we went on a day trip to Milford Sound - we thought it might have been cancelled, as about 5 days ago there was an avalanche along the only road in, and it was closed for 4 days whilst they cleared it. However we were ok and set off nice and early - it was going to be a long day (12 hours! - most of it on a bus!). Once we arrived it was chucking it down with rain - which is quite typical of the area which gets around 7-10metres rainfall every year. Milford Sound is part of the Fiordlands Reserve - the largest national park in NZ - and is actually made up of fiords not sounds - sounds are carved out by rivers, whereas sounds are from glaciers. So technically it should be Milford Fiord.

We got on the two and a half hour boat cruise, which included a hot buffet lunch and a trip to the floating underwater observatory. Although it was raining and very windy out on the deck, we got to see the moody side of Milford Sound and lots of waterfalls that spring up out of nowhere when the heavens open. It was beautiful in an eerie way, although it would be good to see it again when it's sunny just to compare.

Tomorrow we leave to go to Dunedin, where we have booked tickets to an Air New Zealand rugby match, and plan to visit Cadbury World, Speights Brewery and do a scenic train ride through a gorge!