June 1, 2013
Queenstown has definitely been my favorite city that we’ve visited so far. I love the city feel with the mountains and nature activities incorporated into their lifestyle! The Remarkable mountain range which is the scene that Queenstown is frequently pictured with is truly remarkable. People come here for an adrenaline rush and a one of kind experience, and they will definitely get it while here. Today, I did not bungy jump, but that’s alright. I went luging instead. It was not luging on ice, the way I imagined when people mentioned it as an option. It’s a little like go-karts without motors. You ride downhill in a cart with wheels that you can steer and stop but that’s about it. It was really fun! We did the tracks three times and rode the gondola (up each time at the end of our track).
I forgot how to mention how we got to the top of the mountain. We hiked. It was pretty much straight uphill. We did the Tiki Track, which took about an hour to climb. When we rode the gondola down, we looked at how high up we went and were pretty proud of ourselves! It was probably one of the hardest hikes we’ve done, only because of the steep grade it was. The view at the top was all worth it. The rain held off for most of the day and I can only hope the same for tomorrow. Tomorrow we’re ziplining and I’m so excited!
After our luging adventure, we went into town and got toasties for lunch. That’s what they call toasted sandwiches. Then, we did some more souvenir shopping around Queenstown. There were some great deals! We wandered into this sweets and fudge shop called Remarkable Sweets and the smell was intoxicating. You could feel the sugar in the air it was so thick. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but it was very strong. I couldn’t resist. I got a little bit of a couple different kinds of fudge to nibble on.
After shopping, I had to finish my modules for my class since they’re due tomorrow morning. Looking ahead, I realized that we have two more essays, a quiz, a final project, and a final exam all due by next Thursday. I’m not sure how it’s all going to fit in that amount of time, especially given our travel and activities planned for each day, but it’s crazy to realize our trip is almost over. We fly out on Friday. My layovers in Auckland and Los Angeles are extremely long though which won’t be fun. I think our group is going out tonight on the town, so I am going to get ready!
