Heading away

The first trip of our two "overseas" weeks (next is Melbourne in December) started very early today with lots of old men noises and grumbling. I don't like 4:30am starts. 

We tried out the new Didi app, kind of like Uber but with less features, same driver but about $20 cheaper. That got a smile out of me, Louie - not so much, he was still half asleep on the way to the airport.

We were appalled to see there were other people on the security line ahead of us. A couple of weekends ago we flew on a Saturday but about 10am and there was nobody. Definitely a tip to remember.

We mostly got a view of the ocean on the way down, with the odd sniff of some mountains just before landing. Despite prior warning of an exciting landing experience it was pretty damn ordinary, other than the mountain peaks well above us.

As we walked past the rental car booths Louie asked if the place we booked with was there, but no. I told him that we were going to be picked up and taken to our car. He seemed quite impressed by this but I had to break it to him that ours was the type who come and pick you up in a van and take you to the yard at the extreme rear of the airport for the 10 year old shitter Toyota.

Actually the staff were awesome and we got a 7 year old Toyota Corolla that is gutless but in pretty good nick. Week car rental for $200? Yes please.

Found the house we are staying in and saw what we could see. Coronet Peak from the back deck as it turns out. 

The bathroom gives the best view I've ever had from the throne (get it, Queenstown. Throne). Oh well, definitely a poo with a view.

We drove into town, finally found a carpark... Wilson's dammit. That was a painful bill at the end of the day. The waterfront area is a great walk, so many food stalls and restaurants different from the NZ standards. It was an  absolutely roasting day, until I realised the gas heater next to us was on full blast. A quick adjust and that was sorted.

Awesome place for people watching as well as scenery looking. 

The Chorizo Hash wasn't very hashy, but bloody nice. The prices are okay as well. I guess coming from Auckland we are used to $30 lunch mains so it wasn't as bad as we were expecting. Even the coffee was $5 which is kind of cheaper from memory. 

We did a stack of walking in the afternoon, along the waterfront and around the shops. The Earnslaw is out of service for a month or two so we bought some tickets for a all you can eat BBQ something. Not sure what he said after that, I just started throwing my money at him. Something on a boat I guess. Will find out on Tuesday night. 

This dirty mass of people were crowded around Ferg Burgers for probably average burgers. Louie is determined to try them, I couldn't care less. We did go next door into Fergs gelato shop spin off and had some pretty great gelats.

White chocolate raspberry and Black Doris plum - possibly the best white chocolate I've ever had. The plum one was so good as well. Definitely better than Movenpick, and cheaper. Queenstown is doing well!

After this we carried on walking and ended up in the Queenstown gardens. I thought it was odd that they sold frisbees in the tourist shops but here we found out why - they have a frisbee golf course all through the gardens. Absolutely random choice but there were a bunch of people going for it. A bit adventurous for the bystanders as well with the errant disks sailing past along with pine cones falling off the trees.

Weirdly there are two memorials in the gardens for kind of bad reasons. The first one just seems to be complaining about hard work. Miserable English immigrants, always complaining.

The second was celebrating a group's "achievement" in 1912 of going to the South Pole. And dying.

This bit was quite cold and windy. Not completely unpleasant but Louie's Brazilian blood wasn't too fond of it. Nice graphics though, so realistic. 

Afternoon defrost coffee in a round window place (I can't remember the name). Notable for their carrot cake that for some unknown reason had a bunch of muesli sprinkled on top. Weirdos.

Bit of shopping, Queenstown supermarkets are all around the airport, miles from the actual town. The New World has a resident cat which is pretty novel. Not sure what the Woolworths has but I'm pretty sure Pak n Save has a possum.

The Remarkables, which are pretty damn remarkable. Just this massive wall of rock right there. The photo doesn't do justice, it really is quite something.

Got back to the house, revived the fire with the help of a blow torch (really, so effective) and found the shower has far more nozzles than the world-wide average. And a mirror. Bit odd all round.

We are off to try a nearby pizza place, although it might be slightly, literally freezing outside so I expect it will be an early night.

Tomorrow the plan is starting off with Gondalas and luge so if there is no post tomorrow, I'll probably be in hospital or a permanent resident half way down a mountain.