Day 2: There she blows...

When we woke up at the campground at Kaka Point, there was a Tsunami warning from the Chili 8.8 Quake, which we blatantly ignored, went to Jacks Blowhole (which apparently hadn't blown in 2 years) ...

and the Fireman came to get us out.

My acting class finally paid off !!

I pretended I had no clue and was astonished that a Tsunami may be heading our way!!

I chased a few sheep on the way back... nothing out of the norm.

After driving to this amazing place and stopping at literally every waterfall, beach outlet, blowhole, rainforrest, lake and lighthouse along the coast, I realized having a rental car is a MUST when you are traveling here. If not, you would just miss so many amazing things along the way.

My favorite waterfall. McLean Falls, Niagra's Sister!!

When we were finally Waterfalled out, we chose to stay in SARAT BAY, a cozy campsite on the beach in a cove.

We were the only people in a tent, everyone else had been scared off by the TSUNAMI warning. After knocking 11 minutes off of our tent time (9 minutes to set up this time!!),

we made a quick and easy pasta/veg dinner and headed down for a sunset walk on the beach.

Sarat Bay is known for it's Sea Lion sightings, so kept my eyes peeled.

I played the game, is it a Sea Lion or a rock?

See pic below. What do you think?

Well, after realizing it was not a rock only 6 feet away,

I went running when the Sea Lion got up. I still managed to snap a shot without being eaten...

Apparently Sea Lions can run about 25-40k.

It's a very good thing I didn't find out that day.

When in Kaka (haha) Point...

It's been a crazy 3 weeks!

I finished my last day of work, sad but true. Already missing all of the crazy times at Barmuda and the wonderful people I had the great pleasure of working with for 3 months in Queenstown.

With that being said, I was off for some fun adventures, not knowing really what to expect because I literally never left the city for the 3 months I was there.

What would the rest of New Zealand be like? Would it be bigger smaller?

For better or for worse, I was on my way.

DAY 1

First stop.

The Caitlins, located at the Southern most part of the South Island. As our lonely planet guide so graciously stated, on a great day you'll never want to leave. In a southerly you'll go running, kicking and screaming.

We set up camp just one block from the beach.

Being the outdoorsy girl I am, I decided we should stay in a 3 man tent.

We used a brick we found by the bush to hammer it in the ground.

It only took about 20 minutes; 15 minutes too long.

I was the only one who had been camping before, so naturally I was a pro at it.

After setting up shop, it was time for a glass of red!! The pub I chose, the only pub in Kaka Point, where the owner was the bartender, and then a customer at the end of his shift. I couldn't understand a word he said, Just smile and nod, smile and nod when ordering.

I happily got my mini pinot noir, plopped down on the cozy couch, and rested my glass on the hand carved lighthouse table. As I was sipping, I noticed a couple sitting next to me. The woman looked so cheery. I gave her a smile and we began conversing. I invited her and her husband over for a drink because I make friends with everyone I meet. Never met a stranger...

I told them my story of what I was doing here and my obsession with sheep, and it turned out Nikki and Murray owned a farm in Gore! They invited us to stay in their cottage. So psyched. We swapped info, and went back to the campsite.

I had a nice buzz and a large case of the giggles after my 3 glasses of wine. Went into the kitchen for a midnight snack of canned tuna and crackers with the All-In-One fork, knife spoons we had purchased at the Warehouse (pretty much like Walmart). I am positive the 3 Germans inside thought I was a crazy American. All I remember them saying was something about Sandflies at Milfred Sound? I may have woken up half of the campsite from my loudmouth laughter. I pulled out the Airplane Size Sauvy B and drank it in the tent before falling fast asleep in my glowworm like ca-coon of a sleeping bag.

All Blacks... A Team Style

Like a mint picking slave, these are the days of our lives.

We are the ALL BLACKS...

Not the sports team, we just all dress that way for work every day.

We Work at BARMUDA, Minibar, Skybar, or Bardeaux:

the best bars in Queenstown,

OBVIOUSLYcoming from an objective viewpoint.

It's like putting on a show every night; same routine, new audience, but many repeat customers.

Not just anyone is qualified for this position...

What does it take to make the A TEam?

**A great sense of humor

**Flirting skills are a must!!!

**Have a charming smile

**Ability to drink mass quantities of liquor (shots, champagne, beer you name it) and still count loads of $$ at the end of the night

**Be able to sell expensive drinks with Finesse

**Adapt to a changing customer base, from the Friday afternoon oldies but goodies, to the late night young and crazies.

**Sometimes the job calls for dancing on bars...

We pick steroid size mint aka "Green Gold", cut limes with the sharpest of knives, and even beat the ice with a muddler the size of a baseball bat for our delicious Mojitos.

Every night is the best night of our lives (or atleast me make it look that way).

We are the ALL Blacks and this A TEAM knows how to have a great time every long lasting night and day!!!

The Simple Life...

Some people may say I'm high maintenance because I drink a lot of champagne, Although I do enjoy a nice glass Veuve, Moet or Krug every now and then,

I also take pride in the simple things in life.

Welcome to Glenorchy "The Gateway to Paradise"

Apparantly their version of "paradise" is a town with

ONE PUB

ONE CHURCH

ONE MAIN STREET

ONE LIBRARY Which is only open for

ONE HOUR

A WEEK

and ONE DOLLAR heat damaged Perky Nanas
(this is a candy bar they sell at the One convenient store on the ONE MAIN STREET next to the ONE PUB. not what your dirty little minds are thinking)


We had some fun on the docks...

And also experienced hurricane force winds...
Great Surfing conditions, only this is not the ocean
its the lake.

When we decided to drive out to see the Routeburn Hiking Track, we discovered some more of the simple life here in Glenorchy.


Here's proof of the pure enjoyement I get out of the simple things in life that
MAKE
ME
LAUGH...
A LOT!!!!!!!



Wait. Theres more...


For some reason, the first video cut off the part where I got out and chased the cow, still working on that one.

Apparently cows know how that they should be running in the left lane as well, and passing is on the right! (ie. Video #2)

We also spotted two cows shagging but werent quick enough to take a photo of that one, sorry guys.

I Love a good story, so here's my little soap opera of the 2 cows we met today I've made up for you...


Version 1.

Black man cow shags brown woman cow, brown cow is now pregnant, brown cow gets kicked out of the pen, black cow gets kicked out as well, brown cow and black cow live happily ever after outside their pen.


Version 2.

Black man cow meets brown woman cow, black cow has instant attraction to brown cow, black cow and brown cow wander out of the pen, black and brown cow eat hay together, black cow shags brown cow, black cow freaks out, brown cow Moo's, black cow avoids brown cow, brown cow Moo's louder, black cow second guesses, brown cow Moo's more, brown cow thinks black cow is a comedian, black cow is taking things way to seriously outside the pen, black and brown cow are now separated, but still outside the pen, black cow gets married, brown cow lives happily ever after.

Choose your own ending.


God, I loved this simple life day in New Zew Zealand!!!

"Training" Day...

It started out like every other Tuesday night...

slow, and relaxing,

enough time to chat with the customers while having a glass of Rose.

At 12:55, Mairi and I decided it wasn't getting any busier, so she went home to get some rest for our Canyoning trip in the morning.

At 1:05

Disaster struck Barmuda!

By that I mean everyone who works for Goodbars came in.

It was like Cheers,

as I literally knew everybody's name IN and ON the bar.

We had dancing, drinking, more dancing, loads of Elton and Michael playing. The night didn't end there, I made my way over to Bardeaux to join the colleagues, and crazies.

A special friend of mine bought me a few glasses of Veuve

*****a noteworthy Thank You to him for contributing to my hangover ;)

I had a whole 3 hours of sleep. My hangover was gone the very second I jumped into the ice cold water.

We Swam

Slid

Zip-lined across waterfalls

Repelled

Climbed

And Jumped 8 meters (26 FT!!!!!) into the water!

LOADS OF MUCH NEEDED FUN!!!!!!!

all while wearing massive wet-suits, and gear to keep you warm and afloat.

We did the Queenstown 1/2 Day trip, but there is also a full day-trip outside the city. The staff is great, very knowledgeable, and hilariously funny!

A MUST DO for adrenaline junkies like myself:

www.canyoning.co.nz

Canyoning was followed

by a 30 minute nap,

a hot shower

and a Wine/Champagne Training

at Barmuda at 3pm

(aka another excuse to drink).

After we all had a slight buzz, it was time for us to drink the 4 bottles of Champagne we won.

The nap that turned into a 12 hour much needed sleep. I woke up at 8 am today feeling fully rested and fabulous.


Spending all day with the wonderful people I work with made me realize how much I am going to miss working with them. Never a dull moment. So many different personalities, but they all mesh so very well. It also made me realize how important family truly is.
They have become mine in Queenstown for the past 3 months.

Sometimes Roads Lead To Nowhere...

My daytime adventure Queen buddy and I set out for another conquest.

Destination: Jacks Point.

And I actually made it this time...

Jacks Point is an amazing Golf Course on the outskirts of Queenstown overlooking the lake.

According to their website, the land is limited to only 5% development to preserve the beauty of the area, and is one of New Zealand's National Treasures. Below, a picture I found on google image:

It was a brutally windy day, so the ride was 10x's harder. We were so glad to have ridden to Arrowtown first because it made this one feel like Cake!

On our way in we saw a "CONSTRUCTION" road entrance that was a shortcut to the Jacks Point which we later decided to exit the course from.

KEEP THIS IN MIND...

When we arrived at the entrance, I had no other option but to chase my favorite fluffy friends around the field.

Lesson #1: Sheep are much faster than their fat, lazy bodies appear.

We rode to the Clubhouse, grabbed a map of the course of which there are several trails, and started walking.

We ended up along the water and discover some stunning views...

Me testing the water...

And deciding it is far too cold for a swim today!

We ended up going way past the turning point back, and realized that the signs were not really much help as well as the maps we had taken. We eventually found our way to the clubhouse 2 1/2 hours later.

Lesson #2: Don't always rely on the map.

We hopped back on our bikes and decided to take the detour we spotted earlier. We made a left turn down the ONLY road we saw to our left, because this would OBVIOUSLY lead us straight back out to the main road.

Seeing the "Construction only" signs, we knew we were on the right path...

until we ended up at a dead end after flying downhill on our bikes for 2 minutes.

We had 2 choices.

#1 Ride all the way back up the hill to the Entrance

#2 Climb our way out through the massive ditch/hill/whatever the hell it was.

Being adventurous (or just too lazy to ride back) we chose the ditch. We trudged through the field with weeds, dried grass, and sticky bushes up to our waste along the side and down the hill for a while until we came to a crossing.

Mairi went first.

It looked so easy from this point.

We thought the hard part was over.

Mairi took a step and....

She SANK about a foot and a half into water.

She dropped her bike and started yelling, "aggghhh!!!!! Water!!! aghhhh!!!!"

I was in the background laughing hysterically, so hard I almost began to cry.

Her bike was now laying in the middle of the ditch; her socks and shoes drenched.

My turn...

I threw my bike over as far as I could, but it didn't make it.

I got a running start,

thinking if I ran fast enough,

I would pull a "Jesus" and walk on water or something?!

To my dismay, I ended up sopping wet from the calves down as well.

Time to pull out our bikes...

We got them out, and then realized we had to scale a barbwire fence, after throwing our bikes over it. We made it out with not one scratch or bruise. A high five and 2 smiling faces later, we were on our way home.

Lesson #3: Sometimes roads lead to nowhere.

The Fergburger...

New Zealand isn't known for their food and fabulous restaurants,

But there is one must have when you come to Queenstown...

The one and only FERGBURGER.

I am sure the few that I have eaten have happily added to the 2 kilos i feel like I have gained, and maybe alcohol is a contributing factor as well.

They come in many varieties.

FERG-VIRGINS: I recommend the original with cheese. Simple and Delicious.

They are all great from the cock-a-doodle oink, to

my most recent drunken Ferg the Bun Laden.

I though it was very fitting as I am from America, and I devoured that burger!!

No matter what time of day, there is always a line. And drunken people wolfing them down outside between the wee hours of 1am -4am...

Fergalicious!!

www.fergburger.com