A week has flown by...how has it been a week already its crazy! So the Cinema was great - I went to see The Gatsby and had a yummy warm ginger and white chocolate cookie as recommended by a kiwi lady who was a regular at the cinema. I headed back to the hostel and chilled for the rest of the night and made some nice Cottage Pie!

Tuesday morning I decided to jog up Mount Iron...don't ask me why, I did nearly die, especially when I guy ran past me I killed myself even more trying to keep up with him. Sometimes it really isn't good for me being so competitive at times. Anyway the views at the top where breathtaking. I stayed at the top for about an hour it was so stunning. The rest of the day was pretty chilled wondering around the town and enjoying the views from the hostel lounge which looked out onto Lake Wanaka - a fantanstic location for a hostel.

I spent Wednesday back on good old Stray bus...which was late to pick 3 of us up (because the driver actually forgot to pick us up!) then spent the rest of the day watching some guys do a bungy jump on the Nevis. It was quite enjoyable watching them and talking to others on the Stray, but I wouldn't have been too happy if I was on a time schedule as you could say you had 'wasted' the whole day travelling when is only takes 1 hour from Wanaka to Queenstown. Luckily I have plenty of time! So checked in to see Jonny and Taryn who were both staying at Bumbles. It was great to see them and catch up on what we had done and they had both been successful in finding a job which was good news. James came to pick me up and we met Mat later, cooked some awesome Pizzas thanks to James' skilled dough making. We then headed to town for a few drinks and met Jonny and Taryn again; first up was Harry's bar..we ended up staying there until midnight then headed to a bar next door before ending up in Winnies where I bumped into my 2nd bus lot of Stray buddies! Was so much fun seeing them again, dancing and chatting all night until James and I left for some Ferburger! I wanted to wait until I was sober to test the famous burgers so I just grabbed a bite of James' that night.

Thursday was an active day exploring Arrowtown, a cute little village half an hour from Queenstown itself. We cycled around Lake Hays and a little further as we may have got a little lost on the way. We stopped for snacks, climbed a few trees (it's a must here, they are shouting climb me!!!), took some photos (trying not to fall in the lake whilst running back on the tree for the self-timer photo shoot) and of course enjoyed the mountains that surrounded us. After a morning of cycling & wandering around the village we headed back to Queenstown to prepare for the trek. We had a relaxed afternoon and an early night ready for an early start the next day.