Queenstown

The day we drove to Queenstown was the most beautiful day I have seen so far in New Zealand. We left Friday morning around ten and headed out on our first road trip! It took us about 4 hours to get there and along the way we stopped at the famous fruit stand in Cromwell. After devouring all the free samples of yum yum plums and exotic dried fruit we got back on the road en route to Queenstown.

Driving into Queenstown was unreal. As we drove into town we overlooked Lake Wakatipu. It felt like a dream because we were all so excited to be on our first big weekend together. We drove straight to the trail head of Ben Lomond Mountain to get in what we thought was going to be a casual afternoon hike.

Along the way we saw our fair share of mountain goats. It felt like every time I looked up I was pulling my camera out to document the surreal views. We weren't sure how far we wanted to go at first, but once the peak came into sight we were determined to make it happen.

Three and a half hours later we were on the summit and feeling better than ever. Ben Lomond is the highest peak in the Queenstown area, and since the skies were clear, we could see for miles. To the northwest we could see the Southern Alps and to the southeast we could see Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown. At the summit there was a huge compass-type device that pointed out all the surrounding peaks. We stayed on the summit for about 30 minutes soaking in the views and taking the usual "look at me, I'm on the top of a mountain" shots then headed back down in attempts to beat the darkness.

Around 10:30 pm we finally got back to the car and headed straight to in infamous Fergburger. After the unexpected 7 hour hike, we were all famished and stoked to be at the best burger joint in New Zealand. We headed out to our campsite at Twelve Mile Delta, set up camp in the dark, and passed out.

The next morning we woke up just after our friend Luke, who happened to witness the most beautiful sunrise ever without waking us up! We did an early morning skinny dip in Lake Wakatipu and headed into Queenstown to see what kind of adventures we wanted to do.

We ended up splitting up into three groups so everyone could pick their poison. Three girls went luging down the side of a mountain, three other girls went canyoning, and I went mountain biking with the boys.












The trails were in the jungle right on the coast of Lake Wakatipu. The terrain was similar to a lot of stuff I had ridden in Crested Butte, but the views of the lake made these trails so unique. There were tons of wooden features throughout the maze of trails that the boys messed around on, and there were also a couple places we could ride down to the beach.





After a long 5 hours of mountain biking and sore legs from the day before, we all decided to head out to our next campsite at Moke Lake while it was still light out. Just 20 minutes on a small, windy dirt road popped us out into a valley that looked like the setting of Lion King. We blasted music with our heads out the windows the whole way there, and when we finally arrived we all just stood around in awe.

That night we made dinner on our one tiny stove and reminisced and imagined what it would be like if we all moved here one day. As of right now, we have a solid ten people with two cars (The Wee Beast and Peggy). Most of my friends  go to St. Lawrence University in upstate New York. Our weekend in Quenstown was a great start to all the future adventures we will have together!

After a good nights sleep we packed up camp and headed back into Queenstown to check out the shops and cafes. After just one weekend in this picturesque destination I realized I could definitely get used to this kind of life... good thing I'm here for another 4 months!