I really like Queenstown. I can appreciate that being the adventure capital of New Zealand it might not be the place for someone who finds her eyes fill with tears at the very mention of a bungy jump, but watching other people put their lives at risk is always fun.
The first night in QT was spent on the floor of a relative's place, as we couldn't for the life of us find anywhere to stay! Thank god we knew someone who lived there - the whole of the West Coast is fully booked thanks to February being the height of tourist season. We've booked the rest of our route now, but it was a close call! As it was, it was pretty cool staying with Karen, who is the daughter of dad's cousin who we stayed with in New Plymouth. I'm not really sure what that makes her in relation to me, nor her two children, the adorable Riley, not even a year old, and Conner, an adventurous and exhausting four year old. I never was very good with all that family tree stuff. I know mum is mum and dad is dad but when it comes to fiftieth cousin four times removed I really have no clue.
I've not spent much time around young children before. I guess I don't have any non-direct family in the UK and none of my friends have spawned yet either. In fact, the very idea of anyone close to me procreating
used to fill me with dread as, aside from the obvious duty to volunteer as a babysitter, a needy, whinging child would mean the end of our nights out drinking and talking about how we're so glad we don't have any needy, whinging children. Hmmm. Well anyway, watching those two run and crawl around was quite fun, and so was joining in Conner's imaginary games. I forgot how kids have such great imaginations. He was in a world of his own - he was a space man, shark man, convinced there were monsters under the jetty in the harbour. He was laughing two minutes after he was crying and couldn't even remember why. Kind of reminded me of the time I ate some magic mushrooms and ran around pulling my hair in a crowded room and spouting randomness to anyone who'd listen. I think that's the place you go back to when you do things like that as an adult - to the time when your imagination really knew no boundaries, and you could be equally confident that everything you witnessed was the truth.
It must be nice to be a kid somewhere like here - there's so much to inspire their thoughts. They've got mountains in their back garden and paragliding tourists souring over their house. They've got gondola's swinging from giant lines up Bob's Peak (the mountain) and for Conner's birthday this week his dad's taking him on the luge at the top. How different it must be to my own upbringing, where the most excitement that ever derived from my immediate surroundings in the caul-de-sac in Watford was when a tree fell over in the night during a storm.
We all went on the luge, which is basically a go kart down the mountain. I thought I'd give it a try as I kept seeing shrieking children zooming past and I thought, hey, how bad can it be? I have to say though, it frightened the shit out of me. Ugh. Seriously, ever since I rammed mum's car into a lamppost whilst attempting to park, two days after passing my (fourth) test, I've never been the most confident of drivers. I was convinced I was going to veer off the side of the mountain and spent most of the way down screaming
and slamming on the breaks. Simon seemed to enjoy it though, he went down twice!
We managed to find that great apartment on the second night, (the one in the video) and spent two nights there. That was the one I didn't want to leave,... oh and we also had a fab meal in the Sofitel hotel, where Karen's husband Darren is Executive chef. Mmmmm Mmmm, so good. I had oysters in a light batter and then lamb.... awesome. I was stuffed until the next day at lunch time. In fact, I seem to be eating a lot over here. I wouldn't be surprised if my skinny jeans don't fit when I get home. Time for another Cuppa Soup diet me-thinks.
Anyway, after Queenstown we drove up over the Crown Range - NZ's highest road, towards Wanaka, where we stayed in a place overlooking the bluest, most sparkly lake. It seemed like a nice place but we didn't hang round for long. We did have a another great meal though.... in another hotel. I actually had a chilli venison salad, and a cheeseboard, obviously. Although, I have to say, NZ cheese ain't that great. Bring back the Dansh Blue, only 99p from Tesco. Stock up while you can - I'm coming home.
Back on the road again we drove past Lake Hawea, then up to Makarora - the national park, then over the 
Haast Pass where we stopped at the Fantail Falls, a cute little waterfall which unfortunately had most photo opportunities sabotaged by a group of old people who'd set up their picnic on the one piece of driftwood in front of it. We had another quick stop at the Haast township, not much there really. I think there was a backpacker's hostel and a cafe - but there are lots of little places like that on the drive up the coast. We keep seeing the same people actually, driving the same route as us. And as there's only one road up, there's no way we can lose all these camper vans, unfortunately!
Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph glaciers were pretty cool. We saw these from several viewpoints on our way here, at Hokitika holiday camp. (Heidi-hi!). For those who don't know,... (I didn't).... the glaciers are basically frozen rivers running down the sides of ancient mountains. Pretty incredible to look at, especially when you think the ice is millions of years old and you're standing there looking up at the snow in a t-shirt.
So, now we're at this holiday camp in Hokitika, which is a stone's throw from a gorgeous beach, filled with driftwood. We did however, get woken up at 7am by a builder banging together another holiday home next to our cabin. That wasn't so great, but we've got to get back in the car again anyway. Our next stop is Motueka, through the Buller Gorge and Punakaiki, where we'll no doubt stop to ogle a while at the Pancake Rocks, complete with spouting blowholes.
It's weird but I'm sort of getting used to seeing freaky natural wonders. And somehow, witnessing icy mountainside glaciers and rivers of crystal blue and signs advertising bungy jumping off clifftops is getting to be the norm. I can hardly believe that in just a few weeks I'll be back in London staring into my computer screen and wondering if this was all just a magical dream.
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