Queenstown: The New Year 2005

Agra is believedsite of an ancient Hindu Kingdom, but the city
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January 1, 2005:
I arrived late on the night of the 29th and then arrived at the hostel in the center of ChristChurch. In the journey, the bag's straps got mangled which meant that I had to spend a majority of my morning trying to find new strap attachments for our backpacking/hiking experience. In the am, I rushed out and got the rental car. Then I spent the rest of the time looking for gear that we did not have for the trip. Basically, hours passed just looking for the right gear and it was time to pick up Josh.

I was sooo happy to go and get Josh. I was so excited to be getting the chance to share this new adventure with him. I went to the airport just on time... and then realized that he still had to make it through customs. I waited. When he did walk through the door, he looked like he needed this break a great deal. So I threw him in the car and off we raced to Queenstown which was about 6 hours away. We were supposed to meet Hanna and Rob in QT and that was the take off point for our hike along the Routebourne track.

Above: Rachel on the road to Queenstown.

Right: The view of Queenstown from above near the luge.

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Journal Continued:
We drove and drove and had a pretty leisurely drive. I mean NZ is an amazing place. Everywhere you turn is one fabulous scene after another. Plus you have rolling hills filled with sheep, sheep and more sheep which is a sight all on its own. We took our time along the road and took about a dozen pictures as we went. That and Josh started the video log of fields of sheep. By the time we got to our hotel in QT, we were both exhausted and we just crashed. Too tired (and I was a little sick from our Thai dinner) to really take advantage of seeing each other for the first time. Plus, in the am, we had a great deal to do to prepare for the three day hike. We needed to get some gear, rent a tent, hire some boots, so on and so forth. So... that is exactly what we did.

Journal Continued:
In the process of all of that, we ran into Hanna and Rob, who looked sunkissed and refreshed from all of their athletic endeavors. They also had a few errands to run, so we agreed to meet up again for dinner. We did make some time for some fun in the meantime. We hiked to the top of the hill behind QT lake and looked around and then we did downhill soapbox racing --luge-- which was so much fun. It was little soapbox cars set up to do some extreme downhill racing on this great little downhill track along the side of the steep hill that we had just hiked up. Josh and I did the track three times and had a blast. It was so much fun. No energy or skill required.

Above: Rachel in the skybox, heading back down to Queenstown.

Right: Josh and Rachel in the skybox.

Below: Hanna and Rachel. See her new ring?

Journal Continued:
This was NYE by the way. We had a very pleasant meal at a nice little pasta/pizza place that had fabulous italian flatbread. Then Hanna and Rob revealed that they were engaged! Evidently Rob proposed at the top of a hill overlooking mt aspiring near wanaka. How romantic. SO congratulations were in order over heaps of drinks and NYE festivities. Josh and I stayed and watched the fireworks over the beautiful lake.

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Left: icecream on the shores of the lake in Queenstown. Yummy!

Below: Drinks Anyone?

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Above: Fireworks, fireworks, fireworks, fireworks. It is New Year's Eve after all.

Left: The road to the Routeburn Track, around the lake. Beautiful.

Below: Josh and Rachel on the way to the Routeburne track.

Journal Continued:
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