Monday 29th July we had manage to hitch a lift back to Glenorchy and then into Queenstown. After sorting washing, we strolled around the town and treated ourselves to a Furburger (MY FIRST FERBURGER- and to those who don't know what this is, it's simply a famous burger place that cook huge and tasty burgers and if you come to Queenstown then it is a given one must try a Furburger, even if you don't even eat burgers!) and a beer. It was heaven - I had a Venison burger, it was delicious! That evening Mat and I chilled in Bumbles Backpackers whilst sorting out our photos from the trek. Bumbles is an awesome hostel in a great location. The dorm rooms were open and spacious with a big glass panel on one side of the room so when you opened the curtains in the morning you would look out at the lake and the mountains. It was just perfect. The receptionist there was really sweet too; it was just a really cute hostel with a cool bunch of people too.

After saying goodbye to Mat the next morning (he was off to see Dunedin), guess what I decided to do? Yes, another walk! Once I start, I just can't stop - but in all fairness it was way too sunny in Queenstown not to! I ended up climbing the Ben Lomond mountain which took me just 4 hours (not 7-8 as suggested by the signs!) The track was fairly easy until the last hour, where you are then challenged with snow, ice, mud and spiky green bushes. With no grip or ice axe it was quite difficult, but I wasn't going to walk all that way not to make it to the top. So an hour later I was at the summit - on top of the WORLD! The best feeling ever when you have put so much effort into climbing and you finally arrive at the top - you are all by yourself and completely and utterly loving how secluded this is (despite being beaten by the bushes and feeling fairly bruised from falling over numerous times). I passed two lads on the way up who only walked to the half way lookout and passed two old ladies who were making their way to the saddle, but I think I was the only one to attempt the peak that day which was a wicked feeling. It was a perfectly clear day and the mountains seemed to go on forever. Incredible! Unfortunately my camera battery didn't last very long and my phone had no battery so I wasn't able to get many photos up there. I have a few, but the best ones (as always) are in my memory bank J In the evening I got chatting with 3 Aussie lads who were in Queenstown for 10 days on a ski holiday. They ended up taking me out to various bars which were surprisingly cool and chilled and unique in their own little way. One bar was called Cowboy - all the staff wore Cowboy hats, the pub was decorated with stuffed dears and bears, hunting furniture and rustic wooden chairs. The next bar was tiny and I'm not even sure what it was called but we tried their well-known "money shot" which the lads were raving about, and I can see why...it tasted like banoffee pie with alcohol! Yum. We then ended up in The Find, which was renowned for serving tea pots filled with cocktail-type drinks. It was an enjoyable evening spent with 3 Aussie lads!

I spent Wednesday shopping and chilling in a cafe with an Irish guy from my dorm. Shame we only just met because I wanted to do exactly what he had just done and he was looking for someone to walk with and rent a car - bad timing! But it was nice to chat anyway, we got on really well and gave me some good tips about going to Milford Sound and further south. He also let me have his Lonely Planet guide as he was flying home to Perth the following day. Nice ey! In the evening I ended up watching a film/falling asleep in the hostel lounge with Laura, Dave and the 3 Aussies...with some chocolate and pop-corn too (thanks to Dan who took Laura and I literally when we said we really fancied some chocolate - he knows how to please a woman).

Thursday was LUGE DAY with the Aussies (Dan, Marty & D). The luge is basically a go-kart that descends down a mountain. We were racing down the tracks and trying to get stupid photos. We had fun being silly, taking funny photos, flying a Chinese-kite, drinking some tea and then grabbed some pizza back in the town centre at Winnies. That evening I went to CookieTime with Laura and enjoyed a chocolate fudge cookie and a scoop of cookies & cream ice cream for $6 (which is about £3 - you half everything here at the moment). It had to be done even though I was already full from my dinner! James made it back to Queenstown from his mountaineering course in Mount Cook so he picked me up and we stayed at the campsite.

On Friday we drove south to Te Anau. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful drive. When we arrived we went walking along the Kepler Track and ended up trail running back to the van for a bit of fitness. The trail we went along wasn't very interesting as it didn't have very good views and we were surrounded by sandflies whilst eating lunch by one of the huts but it was nice to be outside in fresh air after being in the car all morning. We had a stroll in the city centre which took about 10 minutes, and decided to treat ourselves to some coffee and cake in one of the restaurant bars. We chilled there for a while and enjoyed some free wifi before heading back to the campsite for a shower and dinner. There were two very unsociable young English couples chilling in the lounge so we decided to head back to the restaurant for a few beers instead J Don't mind if I do!

Saturday morning we set off to Hollyford for a day walk. Again it wasn't the most scenic walks, but I think I now have high standards now that I have done a few 'great walks' so it will be hard to beat the Copland, Abel Tasmin and Routeburn tracks! We decided to stay at Gunns Camp which was an interesting experience in itself. The place was so strange, it had sweet little rustic huts with log fires, the lounge was more like a hall with tables and chairs and a couple of comfortable seats placed around the fire. It was freezing in the hall so we decided to get the fire started as soon as we arrived, especially as it had started to rain hard outside. The generator turned on from 5pm - 10pm, so we had to make sure we cooked during this time! I can say this was also my first ever log-fire heated shower. I walked in to the bathroom to find a huge wooden burner so at least I was sure to have a nice heated shower! So cool. We met one other man in the camp that night, it was so quiet! Surprisingly the hall was well insulated and we managed to stay nice and cosy by the fire all night watching one of my favourite films, The Holiday! Even though we didn't have a powered site that night, I managed to stay fairly warm in the van that evening, thanks to James' humongous sleeping bag! Thanks James.

The following morning the generator turned on at half 7 so we didn't have to cook breakfast (porridge and scrambled egg) in the dark for too long. The drive to Milford took 45 minutes and we booked ourselves onto the Kayaking tour, which did seem rather expensive for simply hiring a kayak (at $130), but I decided to go for it as I would never be there again and it would be a better experience than hopping on a cruise boat with a bunch of other tourists. We kayaked around the sound from 10am until 2.30pm. Luckily we were able to see the mountains around us and the impressive waterfalls and the sky did clear up later in the day. They say they have just 5 sunny days in Milford Sound per year and the rest of the time it is misty, rainy or cloudy, so I think we were lucky to have seen the top of the mountains with just a bit of drizzle. The kayaking group kitted us out with thermals, waterproofs, gloves and hats so we didn't get cold either. The tour guide had some interesting things to say and we were able to get real close to fur seals swimming around in the water and chilling on the rocks! That was pretty damn cool. We decided to drive back to Te Anau that evening which was the most awesome drive ever with the sun beaming down on us, music blasting, hardly any cars on the road, it was awesome. We had such a clear view we decided to stop on the side of the road and chill on the top of the van with a cup of tea & chocolate whilst simply taking in the incredible landscape that surrounded us with some rocking tunes playing on my tablet. We checked back into Te Anau holiday park by the lake and had a few beers back in our local pub. That night I ended up falling asleep on the floor in the lounge by the heater as I was just too cold in James' van.

By 7am on Monday, I was up watching the news with a cup of coffee. James came in to find me at about half 7. We had breakfast and set off to the student city, Dunedin! The weather made the drive really interesting - we experienced thick mist where you couldn't see further than 200 metres ahead, as well as some rain and cloud; but overall we were lucky with blue sky and sun. The few towns we passed through we so creepily quiet - in fact, New Zealand is just damn quiet, I am always wondering where everyone is!! Many businesses even close down over the winter as they just don't get enough business so some places are real ghost towns its really odd. It is for that reason why I couldn't actually live here! It's a beautiful place to see, but there just really isn't much going on in terms of city life. I checked into OnTop Backpackers and then James and I went to make pancakes. We stuffed ourselves silly with cheese & apple & honey pancakes. YUM. We thought we should go for a walk to burn off some of the calories we had just consumed, so we took a stroll around the Botanical Gardens (lovely place, Grandma you would love it here!) and then started on the beer, played a bit of pool, then it was a bottle of cider, and then a burger in Velvet burger...and then a mulled wine...and then on to an Irish Bar to meet my hostel friends I met earlier that day...wow, that evening just went on and on. I spent a little too much money that day and ate way too much, but I blame it on James - he peer pressured me into this as it was his last day! One of the hostel guys kindly drove James back to his van (after we managed to get the car started), so I said my farewell to him then and wished him luck with his journey back home. I wasn't too upset because I know we will stay in touch to organise some crazy outdoor fun-filled activities together!

Wow, I shouldn't leave it so long to catch up on my blog! But at long last I am up to date and can go back to the hostel for some dinner J