I CAN'T BELIEVE IT REALLY LOOKS LIKE THIS!, part one

Queenstown. Hotspot for international students and any persons with a penchant for adventure. If it's terrifing, Queenstown probably offers it. Bungee jumping, sky diving, paragliding, skiing (you'll see, it is!), jet boating, rafting, and driving really fast around really tight bends while ascending and descending mountains. Oh, and probably the best burgers in the world: Fergburger.

I skipped class on friday (BA, bro) in order to make the four hour journey across the south island to Queenstown, which is located in the Southern Alps near the west coast of NZ. I traveled with three friends from AustraLearn (Jenny, Sara, and Kirsten). We stayed at a lovely (read: new) hostel, which was decorated like a night club (sorry, no pictures!). Our hostel was, conveniently, located right in town, which made walking to food a hell of a lot easier.

We rang in our weekend the only conceivable way: by going out for Mexican. The phonetic spellings of basic Mexican foods were a reminder that we are, actually, on the other side of the world. 

Also, I learned why Americans don't use the metric system. A liter is just not enough. Who wants a just liter of Sangria? At least it was nice and strong.  

Saturday morning dawned too early (literally, like 7:30 am), but the ride to The Remarkables was absolutely beautiful, if not slightly disconcerting, simply due to the fact that I was riding in a bus that was trucking up the side of a legitimate mountain. I mean legit mountain. Snow-capped and everything. The Remarks were probably like, five minutes from Queenstown if not for the 45 minute ride up the mountain. 

(wee!)

As for the skiing... well, there's no question that it was the most beautiful place I've ever skied. However, there is a substantial difference between hitting the slopes and ski fields. They are appropriately named, because there are no trees. Unfortunately for me, the visibility was extremely low, and not because it was blizzarding, but more because everything was the same color. I couldn't tell the difference between what was in front of me, what was no doubt a cliff just a few meters away, what was the sky, and what was the trail. 

(confused at what you are looking at? me too!)

Furthermore, most of the ski field was either back country skiing (any one fancy dropping off a cliff?) or terrain parks (no, I don't do terrain parks, I'm too much of a grandma skier), which meant The Remarkables felt way smaller than they were.

(me, not hiking up the mountain to back country ski)

Although it wasn't the perfect day skiing, as I hoped it would be, it was still a fantastic experience. No regrets here. I do want to take lessons again though. I'd love to feel comfortable enough to try back country skiing, but until then, I'll stick to the good old slopes.

(me on a legit trail, yes it was a green)

We had Fergburger when we got back to town, and let me tell you, drinking beer after skiing is great. Just awesome. 

Coming up soon: Lord of the Rings horse trek (it deserves its own post). Stay tuned.

PS, the title is a link to more pictures!