adventures in Queenstown with my best friend

Click this link for the whole album of our weekend fun.

Going back a few weeks to the third and final weekend that Spencer and i spent together in New Zealand...since we had left Lucille at Alexandra Auto Parts just days earlier we now had the issue of figuring out what we would do that weekend and how we were going to get there.  Ironically, the other group that was planning to hike the Routeburn Track with us had car issues as well and had to be towed, so they were out as well.  By this point we just laughed about it, what else is there to do?  But unfortunately, the Routeburn was just no longer going to be a possibility.  I found us reasonably-priced bus tickets to Queenstown and we decided to just spend a long weekend there, in hopes of finding some overnight hike to do and we would just stay in a hostel the other nights.  The bus left on a Thursday afternoon and as we were packing i realized that i was missing something important: Leonard.  A feeling of dread overcame me as i thought hard about where he could be.  Since my room was just an explosion with both my and Spencer's stuff everywhere i hadn't noticed that Leonard was missing until i was trying to find him, leaving a window of about 3 days when he could have been lost.  The first thing i thought was that i must have left him inside the car...but how in the world could i forget Leonard in the car?!  Of all things, i would have gotten Leonard out when i was cleaning it.  Anyways, i was pretty upset about it and this was actually the only time while Spencer was here that we fought...as i accused him of not caring about me when he looked at me and said "jenn. it's just your toy llama.  chill out".  i was not a happy girl.  But.  Acceptance had to come, Leonard was gone : (

to call it a large burger is an understatement

We headed to Queenstown and arrived in the evening.  After checking into our hostel we went out to eat at Fergburger, a Queenstown legacy.  This was specially for Spencer, obviously.  Upon looking at the menu he promptly suggested that since we were at Ferg we should just go all out and get the biggest one.  WELL, that is one big burger, let me tell you.  The menu reads:

BIG AL $17.00 Al delivers a double serving of prime New Zealand beef (1/2 lb), lashings of bacon, a whole lotta cheese, 2 eggs, beetroot, lettuce, tomato, red onion, relish, & a big wad of aioli. 

Early the next morning we woke up and went to the Department of Conservation center right away to ask for any suggestions on hikes and the woman proceeded to recommend Routeburn, which is about an hour from Qt.  I was like yeah, yeah, yeah, i've done all the research and we've tried to figure out how to do it but we're carless and poor and it's not a loop track so i don't think it's going to work.  Fortunately she recommended going to Info&Track, a local transportation company, to check on rates for transporting to the start of the track.  We went across the street and inquired and it turns out that they happened to be taking a group out that day at 1:30 - what?!  And further, Kailey and her bf Tony were also hanging in Qt that weekend and were planning on just doing a day hike on the Routeburn. Things couldn't have worked out much better after we worked it out so that Spencer and i could hike a day in and then back out on the same end that we started at, catching a ride back with Kailey/Tony.

The Routeburn was AWESOME.  It was just what Spence and I wanted for our overnight hike.  The views were absolutely spectacular and we woke up to snow the second day.  It was a good decently challenging tramp and we just so enjoyed experiencing God’s glory through creation together.  Here are a few of our favorites:

Spence leading us to the ridge on day 2

us at the ridge, the highest point on Routeburn

Spencer's pretty epic picture of me, if i do say so myself.

at the summit of Ben Lomond!

We got back to Qt and cleaned up and found a great pizza spot and then had the best gelato I’ve ever tasted, by far.  The next morning we headed out for a full day hike that I’d heard about, called Ben Lomond.  We began with hiking up the skyline gondola hill, because we definitely weren’t going to pay $25 each to ride it to the top, where the Ben Lomond Track officially begins.  The skyline gondola track is an established hike, but it’s pretty steep.  We got going and it was a nice start, then we were off to do the real deal.  I didn’t realize until we were on the track that Ben Lomond is actually a peak that we would summit, pretty cool, eh?  It is actually a really challenging hike, especially with Spencer’s blood sugar deciding it was going to be too low.  But it was well worth it and we experienced some of the most spectacular views I’ve seen yet, which is pretty good considering all I’ve seen this semester.  Coming back down was a bit of a fiasco, as we somehow ended up in a field of sheep below the gondola, quite the adventure, as always!

on our way...

not a bad view of Queenstown

my favorite one

So…our Qt weekend was quite an active one with the two tracks we hiked and just experiencing some of what Qt has to offer.  I am glad to say that it is on the itinerary for my family and I’ve finally found someone to bungee jump with!!  (not that this was an issue in nz…but I’ve been nagging Matt to agree to do it and he has!)  Before Spence and I left I fed him his first meat pie, a Speight’s no less, and then we went to Starbucks, which was such an experience for me.  You see, Starbucks in nz serves coffee in the same size cups as at home, which seems so incredibly foreign to me now.  I am not exaggerating when I say that coffee portion sizes are literally at least half of what America serves.  So I ordered a small and it was, no joke, twice the size of the large lattes I get at school.  Crazy.

So after our adventures in Qt we headed back to Dunedin, which was a bit sad because we both knew that Spence was heading out the following morning. The time that he spent here went by so so so fast.  It was very difficult to say goodbye again.  I didn’t think that it would be easy but I didn’t think it would be that tough.  I was pretty homesick for the next day or so and have been so ready to get home since then, but it’s been a really good last few weeks here and reminding myself to be content in my situation right now and make the most of my time left.  And I’m obviously so excited about my family coming – they get here in less than one day!!  I think I’m going to experience about every emotion under the sun over these next few days!  But God is so good and has been so faithful in reminding me constantly of how incredibly blessed I am.  Looking forward to sharing more of what I’ve learned in the upcoming posts!

Oh and one more really exciting, totally important, urgent message: a few days ago i decided i should just put my thoughts to rest and call Alexandra Auto Parts, just in the very unlikely event that they might have seen Leonard and that maybe if that was the case they had for some reason decided to keep my stuffed llama...i know, this is quite pathetic, isn't it?  But regardless i called.  Now you will laugh in imagining me calling to speak to a car mechanic and trying to explain to him that i have this very important toy llama and i think i may have left him in Lucille, my car, and i'm wondering if he knows anything about this llama that i am missing.  He told me to call back in 5 minutes and when i did he asked "oh yeah...is it like a furry creature thing?" I pretty much exploded with joy and was soooo excited.  So, Leonard and i shall be reunited in a few days, when i drag my family a few hours west to stop by Alexandra to retrieve him : )