New Zealand - Queenstown

I guess sleeping in means waking up at 7 am, and being out on the trails by 8:30 am. We checked to see if the café was open for breakfast, but nothing was open yet (at least some people get to sleep in). The trails today were nice. All were just off the road and a short walk to scenic photo opportunities. We saw a couple of waterfalls, unfortunately the blue pools were closed off. We passed by it the first time, and then noticed that an area was closed off with caution tape and a large danger sign. Now, if it were just me, I might be tempted to venture out into the unknown, but alas my sense of adventure was hindered.

We are staying in the small town of Arrowtown near Queenstown. It’s a quaint little residential town, and has that wonderful small town atmosphere. The people here are really friendly, and very trusting. When we were scoping out places to stay for the night we came across a lodgings called Shades of Arrowtown. The reception office was closed with a note on the door saying that the keys were in the doors and we were free to check out the rooms. If we decided to stay we should just take the keys and check in later in the afternoon. We checked out all the rooms and chose the only one that could accommodate three people. I get my own bedroom which is neat, while the master is situated in the main room.

Arrowtown is home of an old Chinese settlement. We checked it out and it has the old relic buildings. The story is similar to that of the immigrants that came to Columbia, CA in the California Gold Rush. In fact, they came to New Zealand for the same exact reasons. The entire town has a very “old town” feel which helps emphasize the history.

The heart of town is a few minutes walk, so we decided to give the car a break. Tonight we ate a restaurant called Willow Tavern. The food here was excellent and locally and organically grown and raised. I had the Maryland Chicken which came with a tomato based butter sauce, a baked potato, broccoli and cauliflower, and a small side salad. Then for dessert I had a delicious date pudding.

On our walk back I looked up at the sky and noticed that the stars are especially bright (wait, we have stars?) . It’s like staring at a brand new sky. Not only because there’s too many lights in California to ever see the stars, but because the southern hemisphere has a whole different set of stars ahead. It took a while, but I eventually found Orion (a autumn/winter constellation). It was lower in the horizon and at a completely different angle than what I‘m used to. The rest of the stars remain completely foreign to me, but a complete joy to contemplate.