Monday, May 14

May 14, 2007

We woke up and I had breakfast on the courtyard patio while Josh watched tv. It was cold outside but the sun was shining and the leaves were turning colors so it was very nice. Too bad my breakfast was Apricot Delight cereal aka Horse Food because it tasted so bad…seriously, this stuff is for farm animals…mostly because it is too oaty rather than being based more on the corn flakes or rice puffs that are also in the cereal.

We had a short drive to Queenstown today. We skipped Puzzle World as we left Wanaka and we were happy that the sun was shining as we drove along. It was good to be out of the rain forest on the west coast! We saw a marker for the 45 Parallel and thought that was interesting because we think Arkansas is also located on the 45th Parallel. That would explain why we have similar weather down here. Also, Josh and I thought New Zealand was a lot farther south than it actually is which is why it doesn’t get dark super early like in Alaska in winter (which is what I was expecting when we moved down here). We drove past and visited Roaring Meg waterfall. Josh and I could smell autumn in the air. I said it reminded me of Paris in September and Josh said he was reminded of going to the Razorback football games.

Upon arrival in Queenstown, we stopped into the center of town to grab lunch before going out to Glenorchy. We scored free parking for 30 minutes close to the McDonald’s and then we walked there. As it turned out, the McDonald’s was on the lower level of a food court area of a three story mall.

We ordered a two cheeseburger meal to split. We ate the food and returned to the car. As we left town, there was a bright rainbow over the lake that I took a photo of. Then, a steam ship went underneath the rainbow and Josh said to take a picture of that too. We were on the road to Glenorchy and it was really dramatic with the sun breaking through the clouds in streaks. There were three islands in the water: two islands were named after animals and the other was called tree island.

When we reached Glenorchy, there wasn’t much there but Josh saw a store that only sold items that were made in Glenorchy. We had a laugh at that. We also saw the Dart River Safaris office, however, I hadn’t booked us on that for this trip. Josh and I decided we’d do that when his parents visit if they are interested in doing that.

We drove down to the pier and sat in the car because a light rain was falling. We saw a bright rainbow across this part of the lake too. We just had a look around for awhile and then we were off back to Queenstown to check into the hotel.

On the drive back, Josh went to look at a waterfall on his own while I stayed in the car and read the Introduction to his Holy Blood, Holy Grail book. After awhile, I wondered if Josh would be coming back. There were a few black bugs buzzing around while I waited. Just when I was starting to wonder if the police would blame me for Josh's disappearance, Josh made it back to the car and we were on our way to Queenstown.

We drove through town and out past Arthur's Point on our way to the hotel. This hotel was free using our hotel points. We reached the hotel and it was empty. When we went inside to the receptionist desk, it was really cold in there but a fire was going in the fireplace. This place is really schmancy.

I got the room upstairs that I’d requested, however, even though the hotel was empty (there was only one other guest that night) we did not get upgraded from our garden view room to a mountain view room. What’s up with New Zealanders not upgrading people in an empty hotel?!? After the lady had shown us our room, she said to go get our luggage and then she’d give us a tour of the property.

We got our bags and got settled in the room. Then, we returned downstairs to get the tour. We were shown the swimming pool and hot tub that were outside. We saw the gym area, restaurant, and breakfast room. Everything was completely empty. The lady, Helen, giving us the tour said that if we wanted dinner in the restaurant we’d need to book ahead so she could arrange for a chef to come out to the property since it was low season. She then showed us a private movie theater downstairs that you can hire for $15 to play DVDs in. We thought that was really cool but since we essentially had the entire hotel to ourselves, and our tv upstairs didn’t carry the movie channel, we decided we could watch movies in the regular lounge area of the hotel if we wanted to.

Helen pointed out that they would be putting new windows in while we were there. I thought it was for the highway noise but she said it was actually for the cold. They were putting the new windows in on the mountain view side which could explain why we weren’t upgraded but still…ahh! This meant that periodically throughout our stay we’d hear banging and drill noises in the mountain view rooms that were located across the hallway.

We hung out upstairs for awhile before deciding to go into town to have dinner. I got dressed up while Josh sat downstairs in the lounge watching tv. The lounge is really cozy with a fireplace and big screen tv with lots of overstuffed couches to sit on. When I was ready, we drove 10 minutes back to town to eat at a Mexican restaurant called Sombreros we’d seen earlier in the day and that Josh had found a coupon for a free sangria drink with a dinner purchase.

We parked in the same place we’d parked at earlier that day, however, after 6 pm, parking is free and the time to park is unlimited. We found Sombreros which was located on the second floor of a building. Upon entering, I knew we were in trouble when I saw a couple of kids wandering around unsupervised. It turns out their parents were eating but still letting the kids run around. Great.

Josh and I ordered a chips, salsa, guacamole, and bean dip starter and got the two sangrias as well. Pretty soon, to my relief, the family left the restaurant. Josh ordered tacos and I ordered chicken enchiladas. The chips and dip were great (definitely the best guacamole I’ve ever had) and the enchiladas were okay. The Spanish rice didn’t taste like Spanish rice so that was a bust.

We had a good dinner and when we went to pay, our waitress was from America (Boston). Lots of foreigners in Queenstown. Like us. Anyway, there wasn’t much else to do in Queenstown besides look at the few gift shops that were still open so we did that. Josh found a hat that fit him for the first time ever so he bought it and was happy. However, I totally freaked when Josh put the green hat on because he looked JUST LIKE his brother Trin. Trin wears hats but Josh never does so seeing him like that was so crazy!

Back at the hotel, we dropped our stuff off upstairs (noting that we had received turn down service and the electric blankets had been turned on in our bed- nice touch) and then returned downstairs to watch a movie on the movie channel down there. Well, Josh watched a movie and I read a magazine…they had tons of old magazines so I was good to go. Even though the fire was going, it was still really chilly in the lounge. The two resident lap dogs, Brandy and Mimi, were trying to take over the couch.

One of the worker guys said he could take the dogs away if they were bothering us and I was like yes but Josh said no. The same worker guy brought us two glasses of water while we sat there which was a nice touch too.

Towards the end of the movie, it was just too cold for me sitting down there so I went back up to the room and Josh finished the movie. Then, we were off to sleep in the comfy warm bed.