EPIC

This past weekend at Queenstown with all the Arcadianz can only be described as EPIC.

We left at 10am from Dunedin on Friday morning for our amazing adventure to Queenstown.  One of the girls got sick on the bus so we had to stop every so often, but oh well! We still got to Queestown in time for out Jet boating ride! This may have been my favorite part of the weekend, but the whole experience was just so amazing I cannot be sure. These jet boats are extremely fast and can operate on very little water, they do 360o turns and make you feel like you are going to crash into the stone cliffs.  Super fun! Unfortunately there are no pictures of this fantastic event because water, tight turns, and a camera do not go well together.  After the jet boats we checked into the pinewood lodge and we had a free night to roam around Queenstown.  Dinner was at the all-famous Ferg Burger! They have the most delicious burgers, but also the largest, which was good fuel for the upcoming day.  We ate the burgers by the lake and then explored around the other side of it and climbed some trees (or attempted to).  Because it was an early start saturday and the tramping (hiking) day of the weekend, I tried to go to bed a little early, but the beds were not too comfortable.

6:15am start! The Routeburn Track awaits! The Routeburn is one if the Great Walks of New Zealand and you will see why! I did not know how I would handle 9 hours of hiking, but I didn't do too bad! But also not as well as I would have liked.  The views were amazing, however, and I had a blast! We started out at about 9am and returned at a little after 6pm and I have the blisters to prove it!  One of the best parts of this hike, apart from finishing (just kidding!), was that Haylie, Alexis, Sarah, and I were stopped on the trail so that someone could set off an explosion for construction.  We heard the 3 warning sirens and then nothing happened. Them BOOM! I almost started crying because it scared me so much, but it was an experience. The area was still smoking when we walked by shortly later.  I won't go into any more details of the hike, because there are not words to describe the beauty.  Here are some of the highlights from the hike, but my camera did not do the scenery justice. My camera is nothing like the ones used in LOTRs. :)

So after a day of gorgeous hiking we were treated to some fantastic flatbread pizza back at Queenstown.  And let me tell you that pizza never tasted so good! At the end there was even a dessert apple pie pizza...it was different, but extremely good.  Haylie, Sarah, Janessa, Alexis, and I then went over to the gardens along the water and found a beautiful water fountain that changed colors and where we could also see the stars.  After a little we went back to the lodge for a well-deserved shower! Then it was bed time just as some of the others were going out to explore the Queenstown nightlife :)

We got to sleep in a little more on Sunday. The wake-up call was set for 8:30am, not too bad.  At about 9:40 we left for a gondola ride up to overlook Queenstown.  Now, I don't know which view was better, Routeburn or Queenstown, but they were both just so amazing. Here is the view from the top of the gondola.

At the top of the gondola there are luge rides and we each got 3 rides!  I ended up being able to go 5 times because some people had to leave early to go bungy jumping and didn't have time to use all 3 rides. I almost tipped over once and had to put my foot out to keep my head from hitting the pavement, but don't worry I was wearing a helmet. I would love to find another place to go luging again because I loved it!

 After completing the luge rides we had some free time to get lunch and explore a little more of Queenstown.  Alexis, Sarah, Haylie, Janessa, Nikki, Colyer, and I went to Ferg Burger again for lunch and ate it in the beach with a beautiful view of the late.  We did have to fend off the vicious seagulls and  few ducks.  We then found a souvenir shop and I got a little Kiwi bird with a New Zealand shirt.  I have not decided if I will keep this or give it as a gift yet, but I am thinking it would make a great birthday present for my baby cousin.  We all got on the couch bus to head over to the bungy to watch some of our courageous friends, but not without a quick stop to Arrowtown.  A scene from LOTRs was filmed here! Does the quote, "If you want him, come and claim him" mean anything to you? If you can't place the scene please look it up. And while I did not bungy it was amazing being able to see my friends take that enormous leap off of a bridge. Then it was back on the old bus that Nikki and I named Gerty for the 4hr journey back to Dunedin.  Gerty has a little trouble with the hills these days, I got scared a few times that we were going to start to move backwards.

Well that was my AMAZING weekend with some really great friends. I feel like I am starting to use the words beautiful, amazing and gorgeous too much in these posts.