queenstown

After a night out, I decided I wanted a good hamburger for lunch (it was past breakfast by the time I woke up…). On the recommendation of the Contiki tour driver, we went to Fergburger and I bypassed Sweet Bambi and Little Lamby (venison and lamb burgers, respectively) for the Southern Style, with real American-style streaky bacon, avocado and added cheese.

The burgers were huge, but I still finished mine. Afterwards, we went to look into river boarding - white-water rafting without the safety of a raft – and decided to sign up after a bit more activity-shopping and a visit to the ‘Underwater Encounter,’ literally a window into Lake Wakatipu. In the afternoon, Mark was off to his Canyon Swing – bungy with a little extra excitement, and I caught up with Trish from the Lemon Tree backpacker’s in Blenheim. She’s been working at Speight’s Ale House in Qtown since around the time we all left Blenheim.

It was great to catch up with Trish, and I got to see the new flat she’d moved into that very morning. I met back up with Mark and the Contiki crew after a late dinner with Trish – first stop was the ice bar. I’d been to the ice bar in Auckland and it wasn’t on my short list of things to do again, but the tour group had gotten a reasonable deal and I figured it would be fun with a big group. This one was actually a little different than the Auckland one even though it was the same franchise – no professional photographer, so there wasn’t a no-cameras policy, although we didn’t know that ahead of time, so I don’t have any pics. Also, we got to smash our ice glasses at the end, whereas you get fined in the Auckland one if you break yours. Ok, so there was a hole in the ice wall at this one, and it just felt a little shabbier overall, but it was still a good time.

After our allotted 30 minutes in the ice bar, Trish met up with us at a bar across the way and then we all headed to Winnie’s, a gourmet pizza place where Trish’s boyfriend works as a bartender (incidentally in lederhosen tonight, as it was their Oktoberfest). We had an excellent time dancing, playing video games, and eating delicious pizza which may or may not have actually belonged to us.