Queenstown

Day 183 – Queenstown, New Zealand

Yesterday was the long, long bus day. 8 hours is a long time. That said, we weren’t cramped as we were few enough passengers that I could claim two seats for me. We went through stunning scenery, and the bus company stops often and offer short stops at notable landmarks – a little like a day tour. The nice weather didn’t hurt either.

We stopped with a (far) view to Fox Glacier, then to Thunder Creek to see the Thunder Creek Falls. The driver, as every driver, would give us some information about the history or the geology of the places he drove us through.

Fox Glacier – The glacier is the blueish river in the middle of the mountains.

There is also a mid-morning second-breakfast stop (this time, it was at a salmon farm), a lunch stop, an afternoon break (at a fruit stall with locally-grown fruits, I bought strawberries and a golden kiwi)… They make it as enjoyable as possible. You will find the pictures in the gallery.

Today the day dawned bright and sunny. It didn’t last, as it is rainy heavily as I write, but most of the day was bathed in sunlight.

I decided to go cool my heels at a medical centre to check my knees (they are fine, well, not fine, but I’m not doing any lasting damage walking on them. Also, Ibuprofen costs a bundle here.) I got a referral to physiotherapist who showed me a few exercises to help strengthen them. Curiously, they are used to see patients with injuries linked to a hiking overdose. They both told me to keep on walking, so…! But apparently the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is out of the running. I mean of the hiking.

Famished (since when I say I cooled my heels, I mean that I spent almost three hours in the medical centre, but I was lucky to be able to be seen that quickly), I stopped at a Mexican-style restaurant advertising all-you-can-eat chicken wings. All I could eat was the first platter, as it was huge! But sadly they deemed it necessary to smother them under a honey-mustard sauce, in addition to the BBQ sauce, and frankly, after the first few, it is disgusting. I don’t like mustard, and the more you dislike something but have to eat it, the worse it becomes. That will teach me not to stick to my home-made tuna sandwiches.

You know what is a zebra crossing? In most town, it is a place where wide, big white stripes on the road show where pedestrians should cross the road. Here, it is a place where zebras cross the road. Logical, right?

Tomorrow I go on a day tour to Milford Sound, and I hope that the sunshine will be back! (Queenstown was under a blanket of snow 10 days ago.)