Monday in Queenstown!!!

On Monday January 31, I left for the South Island. My plane left really early in the morning and we had about a 2 hour flight. The flight went really well. I love Air New Zealand. They treat you so well on the flights and they have the funniest safety video with rugby players. Once we got the Queenstown, we met up with Johnny and James who showed us everything about the south island an took us everywhere. We loaded all of our backpacks since a backpack for a ten day trip was all that was allowed, into two 13 passenger vans. Lots of fun to be packed into.

We drove up to Queenstown, which is the cutest one street town with tons of adventure activities and it sits around lake Wakatipu. The lake has the most gorgeous blue water I have ever seen. It just makes the most picaresque scene. We checked into the Base X backpacking lodge where there were 8 girls in a room with a bunch of bunk beds I was with Nancy, Becca, Katie, Allie, Jessica, Christine, and Kara we had so much fun. We shared a bathroom with a shower that would only stay on for 15 seconds at a time, what an adventure!! It was actually quite fun.

After checking in I wondered around Queenstown for about an hour and hike up aways just to see the view of the city, which was pretty gorgeous, it almost reminds me of a ski resort town, but way better. In the early after noon all of us loaded into the vans and drove to where we got to go on the Shot over Jet. I had never heard of it prior to coming to New Zealand, but it was one of the most fun things I have ever done. You get on this giant jet ski that seats about ten and then they take your down through the river at about 70mph. You do 360's and get so wet, but we were protected by ponchos and helmets. It was such a blast and better that white water rafting.

On the way back, we stopped in Arrowtown, which is a cute little old gold mining town. We went through some of the old mining houses and the shops in the cute little town.

Later that night we drove up to Glenorchy where Lord of the Rings, Prince Caspian, and Wolverine were filmed. We went off roading in the vans over 11 streams all the way up to the Dart River, which is the big river in Lord of the Rings that Aowen crosses with Frodo followed by the dark riders. I had no idea big vans could handle that type of off roading, but hey with drivers like James, I guess we can do anything.We saw where Isengard was and Rivendelle, along with the Misty Mountains that they took through the snow in the fellowship of the ring. We took lots of Lord of the Rings pictures, acting like we were the actors in the forests where Amon's Hen was set. It was so cool. We are such Lord of the Rings nerds. I loved all of the scenery it was so gorgeous, what is in the movies really is all in New Zealand; the trees are that enchanting and the water is a pretty blue because of the glaciers that flow into it. I may sound like a nerd, but I loved seeing all of the move sights.

In Glenorchy, I also saw my first sheep in New Zealand. There were hundreds of them. Probably 100 sheep for every ten people in New Zealand, so crazy. I had no idea. One of the girls in our group jumped out the car and tried to catch one. It was to funny to see her running after the sheep. She finally did touch one after about 15min of chasing though, so funny to watch.

Today was an amazing start to my holiday in Queenstown, I am so excited for everything else in store.