Last Stop: Queenstown!

I love Queenstown!!

Whew, after lots of driving/hitchhiking/actually making one of my buses, I made it to Queenstown.  It's easy to forget how large New Zealand actually is since it lies next to Australia. Here's an overview of my trek through the South Island.  

I didn't even make it to the northern part of the South Island, where you can swim with dolphins in Kaikoura, visit the wineries in Marlborough and see the beaches and fur seal colonies at Abel Tasman National Park... next trip

I was amazed how small Queenstown actually is, but it was nice that everything was so centralized and walkable.  Spent the last 3 days of my trip here, stayed at Base hostel and met new friends from France and Cali in my dorm rdoom. We hiked the Tiki Trail up to the gondola.  It was a great 2-hr hike up and down with a pretty steep elevation change.

After the hike, we stuffed our faces with Ferg Burger. I am obsessed with all things Ferg. I wanted to try their entire meat pie breakfast menu because I am a fat kid at heart (and also literally was a fat, fat boy-resembling baby).

 

Christian got a double cheeseburger/heart attack

After burgers I walked down Sunshine Bay to see the sunset.

I stopped at Smith's Craft Beer Bar a few times during my stay. They had 12 local NZ brews on tap and I made a pretty good dent in them... all for scientific research purposes.  The Better Island black IPA from Sidewinder  Brewery in Wanaka was my favorite. For whatever reason, this bar seemed to be primarily operated by and visited by Americans... does this mean we are a country full of beer wankers? 

The Winery was a fun wine shop where you could do self-service (read: dangerous) tastings or pours by the glass using these neat contraptions. So much science.  

Ended up at World Bar (again) but this time I made my next day AM appointment... to go skydiving! :-O