From Franz Josef to Queenstown...
We packed up and headed on towards Queenstown. The drive down there is quite beautiful. We took a detour to see a scenic view of the Fox Glacier. It seems quite similar to the Franz Josef.
We stopped at a crystal clear stream about halfway down, skipping stones, taking pictures and having some food. We also had a few photo stops at two of the awesome lakes on the way down, Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea.
We had a lunch stop at the Green Room in Wanaka at a restaurant that served quite good food.
The mountain high entry down into Queenstown is quite impressive! It was during the downhill ride that we first noticed that our right front brake drum pad may have worn through. It sounds more like a metal lathe than a brake. Still debating whether to talk to the rental company or just take it easy and try to make it last until Christchurch.
In Queenstown we unloaded our stuff, went to the supermarket and bought the fixings for a Thai Curry dinner. I had purchased most of the stuff previously, but needed the fresh vegetables and all. I cooked, Thomas and John cut up the veges, and we made curry enough for the three of us, plus a friend, plus dinner for the next night with lots of curry leftover. I've never learned how to make a small amount of Thai Curry. But that's OK, I could eat it every night!
We found an Internet Cafe and started catching up on our blogs and answering emails.
An aside on backpacker traveling stuff...
Although on a holiday, there is still work that has to be done. Everytime we move it's a routine of repacking, calling ahead to find a place for the next nights lodging, packing the cooler, getting ice, buying gas and maybe a trip to the grocery store. Amazingly, I've been able to find a room for three people since John and I have been traveling with Thomas, although sometimes it's required calling 6-8 different places.
Hostel accommodations and services vary quite a lot. It takes a bit of getting used to, even in an English speaking country as familiar as New Zealand. Some hostels supply towels with a room, some charge $1 a day if you want to use their towels, some have regular single beds, some have bunk beds, sometimes the bed is made for you, other times they just have the folded up sheets on the bed, some have a hand towel in the bathroom for drying you hands, some have none, some of our rooms had a sink in the room, others did not, most require a $10 to $20 returnable key deposit, others do not, most have at least showers, some have bathtubs as well, some have a spa, one even had a sauna!, other don't even seem to have hot water.
I'm been trying to learn basic security habits for when we travel to more sketchy countries, but it isn't always easy! Some doors lock when you close them, others you have to set a button so they will lock automatically - which you could also set so it doesn't lock automatically, others require you to use a key to lock them, which makes it difficult if everyone in the room doesn't have a key. One multifloor hostel required you to use your key to get to the floor of the room you were staying on. In short, there are a lot of ways to leave the door open, both accidently, or because you don't have a key for every person. We're trying to get this thing down, but so far we've had several opportunities where an unscrupulous person could have taken things from our unlocked room, either while we were asleep of when we had mistakenly left the room unlocked.
We packed up and headed on towards Queenstown. The drive down there is quite beautiful. We took a detour to see a scenic view of the Fox Glacier. It seems quite similar to the Franz Josef.
We stopped at a crystal clear stream about halfway down, skipping stones, taking pictures and having some food. We also had a few photo stops at two of the awesome lakes on the way down, Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea.
We had a lunch stop at the Green Room in Wanaka at a restaurant that served quite good food.
The mountain high entry down into Queenstown is quite impressive! It was during the downhill ride that we first noticed that our right front brake drum pad may have worn through. It sounds more like a metal lathe than a brake. Still debating whether to talk to the rental company or just take it easy and try to make it last until Christchurch.
In Queenstown we unloaded our stuff, went to the supermarket and bought the fixings for a Thai Curry dinner. I had purchased most of the stuff previously, but needed the fresh vegetables and all. I cooked, Thomas and John cut up the veges, and we made curry enough for the three of us, plus a friend, plus dinner for the next night with lots of curry leftover. I've never learned how to make a small amount of Thai Curry. But that's OK, I could eat it every night!
We found an Internet Cafe and started catching up on our blogs and answering emails.
An aside on backpacker traveling stuff...
Although on a holiday, there is still work that has to be done. Everytime we move it's a routine of repacking, calling ahead to find a place for the next nights lodging, packing the cooler, getting ice, buying gas and maybe a trip to the grocery store. Amazingly, I've been able to find a room for three people since John and I have been traveling with Thomas, although sometimes it's required calling 6-8 different places.
Hostel accommodations and services vary quite a lot. It takes a bit of getting used to, even in an English speaking country as familiar as New Zealand. Some hostels supply towels with a room, some charge $1 a day if you want to use their towels, some have regular single beds, some have bunk beds, sometimes the bed is made for you, other times they just have the folded up sheets on the bed, some have a hand towel in the bathroom for drying you hands, some have none, some of our rooms had a sink in the room, others did not, most require a $10 to $20 returnable key deposit, others do not, most have at least showers, some have bathtubs as well, some have a spa, one even had a sauna!, other don't even seem to have hot water.
I'm been trying to learn basic security habits for when we travel to more sketchy countries, but it isn't always easy! Some doors lock when you close them, others you have to set a button so they will lock automatically - which you could also set so it doesn't lock automatically, others require you to use a key to lock them, which makes it difficult if everyone in the room doesn't have a key. One multifloor hostel required you to use your key to get to the floor of the room you were staying on. In short, there are a lot of ways to leave the door open, both accidently, or because you don't have a key for every person. We're trying to get this thing down, but so far we've had several opportunities where an unscrupulous person could have taken things from our unlocked room, either while we were asleep of when we had mistakenly left the room unlocked.
posted by Chris at 11:00 PM
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