30th Jan: Queenstown

It was a gorgeous day and I'd decided against going to Milford Sound as I'd already seen the Fjords in Norway and I didn't want to spend another day on the bus. Instead I went to the Kiwi Discovery shop and asked if there were any good days walks I could do. I plumped for one called the Ben Lomond trail which the girl said took about 5 hours in total. Bought lunch of baguette, tomato, apple, and 2 x 750ml bottles of water. Started off by walking along the town trail to Fernhill and missed the small signed pointing off to the Ben Lomond trail. After doubling back on myself was accosted by an American man (whose name I forget) who ended up walking with me all the way up to the summit. He was of pension age (55 at a guess) but was very fit and had no extra weight so he was setting the pace for the most part which was good. At the Gondola station we got some more directions from the girl in the shop and we started the ascent to the top. The first part was just a mere stroll through some forest, but then we got out onto the open hillside and starting going up. The weather was hot and there was little breeze. We overtook some people from New York (whom my American companion called slow-coaches) before reaching the "Ben Lomond Saddle" where we got a first glimpse of the amazing views available to us. We saw ridge after ridge of mountain range stretching off into the distance, the most distant mountains had snow on their peaks. Also we could see back to Queenstown and to the other side of the lake which also gave fantastic views. After a short break we carried on up the the summit, but this time the trail was a lot more scrambly and rocky. Near the top we interupted an English couple who were embracing each other after having already been to the summit (1700m above sea level. Downtown Queenstown is at 300m). At the summit the wind was quite strong, but the 360 degree views of the surrounding area were fabulous and I stayed up there half an hour while my American friend had to rush down again to make a dinner arrangement. I had to descend on my own and my quads were killing me by the time I got back down to the Saddle. I caught up with the english couple again and we sat and had a drink at the Gondola station before taking the Gondola down again to Queesntown.

Back in Queenstown I bought my supper and got back to the YHA where Crystal and Helen had just come back from their skydive. Also meet the Quebec girls whom we'd been with in Greymouth and Franz. One of the girls had tried to do a bungy jump but had literally frozen up from fear and her thumbs were still locked in a trance like state.

We then went to the Red Rock again for dinner and drinks and most of the old gang of Magic Bus people joined us to celebrate Crystal Brennan's 26th Birthday. Ritchie, our driver, had even ordered a cake for her and we sang happy birthday. We then went on to a night club called World's but I was really tired from the walk and after dancing for about an hour I left for my bed!