Queenstown

I've been in Queenstown for the past couple days. On Wednesday, I got to sleep in for the first time in quite a while, which was really nice. I didn't have anything planned for the day, so just walked around the downtown area of Queenstown, which has some great shopping, and went sunglasses shopping, since my old pair broke. I found a new pair at Sunglasses Hut, and I really like them. Queenstown is a really great place, I really like the downtown area, it's really cute, and it's right next to the lake, which is gorgeous with the mountains in the background. In the afternoon, I took the gondola up to the top of the mountain overlooking the city. It was really high, and the views were great. At the top, they have a little luge course, and I did that too. The luge is one you sit up on, and it has handle bars so you can steer and go faster or slower. It was really really fun. It was really cold though, my hand were freezing by the time I was done. It also snowed a little when I was at the top, that's how cold it is. It was fun to see snow though!

On Thursday, I was supposed to go to Milford Sound on a day trip. Milford Sound is supposed to be gorgeous, and where all the typical NZ scenery pictures are taken. However, the road to Milford Sound was closed because of avalance danger, so the trip was cancelled. So, the trip was rescheduled for the following day, Friday. Instead, I went on a Lord of the Rings Tour. It went to several places where filming took place, some of which are not on paved roads, so we went offroading a bit, including through some rivers. It was really fun, and cool to see where they filmed certain parts of the movie.

Today is now Friday, and I was supposed to go to Milford Sound today. However, the road was again closed, so the trip was again cancelled. I'm leaving Queenstown tomorrow, so unfortunately I'm not going to get to go to Milford Sound. So today is another relaxing day just hanging out in Queenstown. Queenstown is a good place to have an extra day though, and I'm enjoying having a couple more relaxing, slower paced days after spending the last week on the bus. Tomorrow I leave for Dunedin, and I'm hoping the weather warms up!

I've posted some pictures from New Zealand. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2222253&id=27216207&l=df1615eb60