Day 9- Wanaka to Queenstown- After another noisey night we woke up to clothes everwhere. Some Israeli guys had really made themselves feel at home! We rolled out of bed and I plonked myself on a chair whist Scott made breakfast- could get used to this! I had to sit through a chinese girl burping out loud...how charming...I found this a little disgusting but isn't this mornal in their culture or something?! I have noooo idea why! After breakfast we walked round the other side ont he lake incase it it was totally different to the other side. Turns out it was even more bootiful. We then went back via the supermarket and got ourselves a half price lunch from the discount section-score! Pizza and chocolate mousse. We then played pool- you would have thought practise makes perfect with pool but after these 2 and a half games we definatly felt it was more of a pot luck game! A good 10minutes into the game and neither of us could pot a sodding ball! The Scott potted the black- 1-0 to me wahoo! Well deserved I thought! We gave up ont he third game so I called it a draw much to Scotts disappointment. We hopped on the bus and we were off on our way to Queenstown! We were sad to leave Wanaka. An hour into the journey and two chocolate mousse's later we stopped off at Mrs Jone's fruit and veg shop which sold fruit and veg funnily enough but also fresh icecream! Still feeling stuffed from the mousse only Scott got one (raspberry and vanilla ice cream) and I helped him out here and there incase he struggled! Twas good icecream! We arrived into Queenstown at 5.30pm and checked into Nomads hostel which got voted the best hostel in New Zealand in 2010...whilst it was nice, we also relaised it was full of 18year old english party animals! Oh lordy Grandma over here is never going to get any sleep! I'm going to have to become one of them aren't I! At 6pm we got in the mahusive queue for our free dinner. After receiving our bowl, we felt like we were in fat camp or something as we barely got half a bowl (small cereal bowl) of thai green curry. So Scott then had a bowl of supernoodles followed by spaghetti hoops on toast to try and fill his huuuge stomach! After dinner we decided to get 24hours of internet- tis annoying in Queenstown as you cannot get any free internet anywhere! So it works out cheaper to buy it in bulk- dam them money stealers!Day 10- Queenstown- After out weekly skype session and our lame free breakfast of toast, we walked and got our tickets for the gondala up the mountains and 6 luge rides up the top! The luge isn't quite like the one's you get in Europe but still looking good fun! On the first ride down on the scenic route we got stuck in traffic behind a group of chinese would you believe so we thought it best to advance to the harder route for some serious ludge action and so we didn't get stuck behind the chinese sunday drivers again! It wasn't long before scott went off out of sight- don't know how mind you because i thought i was going really fast. Seeing a little girl coming up behind me soon got my arse in gear and i cranked it up a bit so she had no chance of overtaking! I did feel a bit of a kid though having to wear a bright red helmet- not the sexy look by any means! But on the plus side it was good to act like a kid again, except now your far more competitive! Haha! All the luging worked up an appetite, and did even ,more so after watching really young kids do a bungy swing at the top of the gondala-as fun as that looked I had my eye set on the paragliders who were gliding alla round us. Must be cool to fly around like a bird over such a beautiful place! We went and bought a bagel and sandwich as well as acookie and a muffin despite us saying yesterday we were having a week off sugar...well that lasted long then! After lunch we happened to waslk past and enquire on price of paragliding- just out of interest ! It took us all of less than a minute to hand over a card and start making our way up the hill to take off. We hadn't even thought about our decision! The instructor told Scott it was his first flight and he was in charge-haha! Thank goodness he wasn't my instructor or I might have cried! You could tell this was a safe activity as we didn't have to sign our lives away at the start...I still decided to ask a million questions nevertheless which I did apologise for but its better to ask questions than none at all hey! Scott was first to take off- which looked painless- he barely broke into a trot before he was up up and away! Now all I had to do was the same...hhmmmm...well once we found adequate wind to take off anyway! My take off involved a little more running in the air before sitting downa nd getting comfy! Once I had gotover being high in the air with just a parachute, I started to enjoy the ride! I even felt like a bird but without the flapping! Nearer the bottom (10minutes later) we started doing more rollercoaster manouvers, except we were in the sky...without a rollercoaster! Sod thorpe park, you should do this instead-far better views too! Landing was nice and easy also incase you were all worried, you just plonk your feet ont he floor! We had kinda guessed it would be easy as a lady in 60's was the one who told us to do the paraglide in the first place! If she could do it, I certainly had no excuses! We watched our videosand saw the photos he had taken during the paraglide, before we were jumping for joy- don't quite know why but that was fun! We even bought the video too! After getting our free ride back up and down the gondala-yes we went up twice and came down once on it- Scott thought that was cool! We went to the supermarket to buy our lunch for the following day, and then went on the internet before dinner. If you thought last nights dinner was stingy, tonights spag bol was even worse! 10 pasta tubes and a blob of sauce. Wow it was like torture! Scott went and made noodles on fried bread and I re-queued! Was a little appauled at how they were willing to starve us! After dinner we met with the irish lot we origionally met in Greymouth and had a few drinks before heading to a place called world bar- famous for giving you drinks in teapots! Thankfully we had a half price voucher- good job too as the drink we had ordered tasted vile! So I had my photo with the teapot before handing Scott the drink and I went to get my free drink from the vouchers given out at the hostel. Couldn't go too overboard now on the drink as we had an early start the following day for Milford Sound.
Day 11- Queenstown/Milford Sound- We woke up at the crack of dawn, ate breakfast and headed for the bus stop and to be picked up at 8am. We started our 5hour journey to the sound- the pointless commentary started instantly, this was going to be a long day! So you don't feel left out we'll give you some examples: 1-"on the right we have a house with a heated driveway, on the left we have houses with windows facing the hill rather than the lake". 2- "On your right we have a primary school but kids aren't allowed outide when planes are going over because they'll go deaf . If you live nearby however kids can go outside after school." 3- "Our ski slopes are popular with 200,000 Australians coming each season". 4- "On our right are a group of cows"-lovely! 5- "Our beech trees are different to the ones int he UK but when they die they are left to rot"- which he thought was a shame! Do you get the picture now...we ended up laughing hysterically everytime he spoke, aswell as laughing at the chinese and indian family taking photos of every information sign they could at stop off points. Our first long stop was at Te Anu for a coffee, cookie and muffin- our diet is going well! Back on the coach for 2hours and the weather started closing in- I wanted the sun and Scott wanted the waterfalls...think you've won dear- the weather is naff! At the kasm stop- a 5minute run each way...me and Scott had to dodge round the posh tour who were given umbrellas and we ran in our rain macs to see the loud water gushing through , take a wet snap and run back! From the wasit down we were beyond soggy- think I had puddles in my shoes! The bus driver asked Scott if he had wet himself as the rain showed up on his khaki shorts. On the final stretch through the tunnel we came into Milford Sound- aka waterfall, mist, cloud, and rain territory-glorious- and we were sitting down soggy! I did ask if they had an on board hairdryer facilities but they didn't! Well they blooming should have them! On the boat at 2pm and packed lunch time for us and a 2hour cruise around what was meant to be the most beautiful place in the world on a sunny clear day- looked a little different today- Scott loved it. I was annnoyed. Still we had to happy snap throughout anyway and go inside when the boat went through waterfalls so we didn't look any wetter than we already did! After lunch we decided what we were going to make for dinner with porridge, 3pieces of bread, some spaghetti hoops, lettace, and rice- was like ready steady cook but with really naff items that wouldn't make a half decent dinner! Poor us! After having lots of free tea and coffee, time was up on the boat- Scott took lots of sugar sachets with him incase of an emergency (goodness knows what we're going to use them for!) Back on the bus and we watched the worlds fastest indian film- the smurf version as the screen had turned the characters faces blue! We skipped the ready steady cook idea for dinner and had a crafty mcdonalds before having a shower and bed!
Day 12- Queenstown- We laid in, then at 9am we decided to get up and have breaky. Scott got annoyed at having a delayed breakfast because I had to sort out my bag before gong anywhere do I didn't have stuff everywhere! When Scotts hungry though...you know about it! After a late breakfast sitting opposite Bevis and Butthead we headed for a stroll round the shops. Our stroll around the shops would only be for window shopping purposes because we are poor travellers. But I did get very excited at seeing a kathmandu because according to Scott I have shares in the Brighton store. We broke up the strenuous window shopping with a little walk around the quay beside the lake. On the way round we had a falling out with a rather large statue of a bird so I decided to put in in headlock. This even made te snap happy chinese tourists look nearby look normal! Scott then wanted to take a photo of a steamboat to show his parents...its a boat dear! After doing a little more window shopping hunting down cheap scaffs as it was cold, I then decided I was going to be hardcore and survive without one. So we went off to have a Fergburger. For those of you who haven't heard of this world famous place, it is renound for selling huge tasty burgers- the bigger it is, the tastier it gets! Prepare to see something special! I had a big boy- which was layers of burger with cheese, red onion, lettace and bbq sauce! Despite its amazingness I couldn't finish the dam think. I passed it over to Scott to finish once he had had his Big Al, which consisted of 2 burgers, 4 rashers of bacon, 2 eggs, salad, beetroot, lettace and tomatos-so good apparently but mine was better :) If you look at the photos of before and after you can see a change of facial expressions to let you know how Scott was feeling- Scott also went up a dress size after that lunch! After rolling back to the hostel, we had a little lie down, then attempted to walk up the hill to where the gondala finished hoping to walk the buger off too! It was rather steep so we watched the zipwires down the mountain to distract us for a few mins! Then Scott powerwalked and I ran up it in stages.Only problem was that I was rather restricted dby my jeans! Up to the top and our 4layers had gone down to 1 on the way up and then back to 4 when we sat down. Bbrr it was freezing...we plonked ourselves down on the bench for a wee while and then couldn't be bothered to get up and walk back down the mountain- so we snuck down on the gondala and hoped they didn't check our ticket- we planned all the excuses in the world incase they asked and distractions! We got off and powerwalked through...before being stopped by the lady-crap! "Did you have your photo taken on the way up and would you like to purchase it"...no and no thanks and we continued out! We then went back to the hostel and chilled before going ot the supermarket to buy dinner! Spaghetti hoops on toast with improvised home made chips which were good, though he nearly burnt his hand off and half the kitchen too! (don't ever buy spray oil and spray it whilst the hob is on!) We then got our glam rags on (ie got rid of the trainers and the sexy kathmandu fleece and replaced it with a cardi!) We then went and claimed our free drinks that the hostel gave us and the free drinks voucher we got after doing our paraglide! It was freezing though outside and I couldn't feel my toes! I'm definatly going to have to buy a scaff!
Day 13- Queenstown- We had planned that I would get up when Scott got back from his run...well I woke up at 9am and he hadn't even woken up yet- So I presumed the run had been postponed! So we went and had our free toast for breakfast, then we went on our morning walk whilst the sun was still shining! We took a photo this time of the dam steam boat as it oiooed up again in the harbour! Everytime we saw a bench in the sun we took a pew, so that was on average every 3minutes. Obviously we needed a sit down in the sun to keep us warm rather than because we were feeling lazy! We passed through a frizbee course (much like a golf course) but on the sign it said don't throw if you are likely to hit people...well there goes my chances of playing then-dammit! Probably best to move on...via Kathmandu not to window shop today however- I am taking the plunge and buying a scaff- I can't take this cold weather anymore! I was gutted to have left my privalege card at home to get 10% discount, wasn't a problem though in the end as they just looked my name up on the system! Wahoo! We then hiked to a cheap supermarket which we were told was a 15minute walk...8minutes later and we were there...maybe we just powerwalk everywhere...well I have to try and keep up with Scotty long legs! We then had lunch-cheese toastie (yes we splashed out on cheese) and spent the afternoon chilling and watching clips of the two ronnies-think they get funnier the older you get. We made ourselves an awesome dinner of tuna mayonaise and red onion jacket potatoes with cheeeeese! Well it was awesome when the jackets were finally cooked. The hostel had a rather naff microwave which didn't spin around so half the jacket was done and the other side was still hard-ggrrr! We spent the evening with 3 of the guys from the irish lot, one was english, one was irish and one was scottish! I was going to crack an englishman, and irishman, and a scotsman joke...but I didn't know any! Oh poop! We headed to an irish pub for the night which was good with a live band, but I found myself watching sky sports that was on infront of us! So I had to force myself to stop being anti-social-haha! Walking home I was full of bubbles, has been a while since I'vehad more than one fizzy drink in an evening!