Hi, everyone! This week in Queenstown has been grand. From silent discos to walking along the Lake Hayes track, to attending birthday parties of people I don’t know… Queenstown continues to entertain.

Silent Disco & A Birthday Party for a Friend of a Friend (feat. Ballarat and Winnie’s)

On Wednesday, I joined my friend Jasper in the evening to attend a weekly silent disco event. I hadn’t yet been and aside from my brother’s wedding back in 2020, I’ve never properly experienced a silent disco. When you get to the bar, you’re given a set of headphones that have three frequencies. One of the stations had ballad-y type songs that most everyone knew the words to but weren’t very dancey. One was house music and the other was trance-y techno. I erred towards the latter two options.

You would think maybe it would seem a little strange with everyone dancing with headphones on but it wasn’t that strange. I actually loved it. It kind of reminded me of the early days of the pandemic. At the time, to keep myself from going crazy (or maybe embracing the crazy?), I would put my headphones on and dance in the dark to my favorite music.

I had such a fun night out with Jasper.

On another evening, I was invited to go to the birthday party for a friend of a friend… of a friend. Lauren invited me and I was like… err, I don’t even know Bruno? We technically work together but we work in separate departments and I hadn’t ever talked with him. Lauren told me it was an open invitation and some others from the hostel were going. Lauren was also doing Dry January, so I decided to join and be her sober buddy. After arriving at the party, I realized it wasn’t even Bruno’s birthday, but rather his housemate’s. LOL. And yet, his housemate was really nice and seemed to enjoy having people over. I talked with some of the peeps from the hostel, some people from work, and some others I’d never met before.

Around 10pm, we graduated from the house party to some bars in town. I had heard of the bar “Ballarat” before but had never been. I decided I’d go out for a little while. Ballarat had a live band playing and they were really talented but somehow I didn’t know ANY of the songs – yet, everyone else seemed to know the words haha. Some others from work decided to go to Winnie’s and I was like yes, please, get me out of here haha. So off to Winnie’s we went – which is a significantly younger crowd, where people are splashing drinks on one another. Despite that, the music was good! I stayed out until midnight and then it was time to return home.

It was nice to have Lauren out as my sober buddy. I can hang with drunk folks but it’s always nice to have a partner in crime who is on the same wavelength.

I am also happy to be dancing more often. During my early days in Chicago, I went out dancing very often. Once my housemate Michael moved out, I didn’t go nearly as much. Here in Queenstown, people are always keen to go dancing.

Lake Hayes

I didn’t have anything special planned for this weekend but I ended up taking the bus out to Lake Hayes. Lake Hayes has a trail that goes around the entire lake and takes about 2-3 hours. I wasn’t sure if I’d end up walking the entire way… but I did. It’s an easy walk but really enjoyable. It had great views and lots of bird life. I wish I had brought my camera because I’d seen some cool birds I’d like to get pictures of in the future.

The trail around Lake Hayes reminded me of a couple of places my friend Liam had taken me to in Australia. I wish I could remember the name of the one I’m thinking of in particular. I tried going back through the blog but there are so many posts haha.

Along the way, I listened to the new EP from Amanda Palmer – my favorite musician. She just dropped it the other day ahead of her tour down under. It’s really quite good. The EP is a collection of songs written during her time in New Zealand during the pandemic. There is one song I absolutely adore called Little Island which is a tribute to Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s a pretty powerful song. I can’t wait to see her next weekend! A week from today, I’ll be heading to the Sherwood hotel to see her perform. Yay!

Back to Lake Hayes.

Along the way, there were lots of scenic viewpoints. During my walk, I would often sit down on a bench and just enjoy the scenery. There was one point where I sat by the water and a few ducks came up right by the edge of the water. They eyed me skeptically at first but once they decided I wasn’t much of a threat, they hung out by me for a moment. So many ducks in and around Queenstown. I love them.

There weren’t many people on the trail – another thing I love.

The atmosphere was slightly moody. It was overcast and looked like it could potentially rain but I ended up getting lucky.

AND… there was a boardwalk at one point!

I enjoyed my walk at Lake Hayes. I’ll definitely be back but next time with a camera so I can snap some shots of the cool birdlife.

Millbrook Spa & Sauna

After Lake Hayes, my friend and soon-to-be coworker Varun picked me up and we went to Millbrook to go to the hot pools and the sauna. Varun works at Millbrook so he was able to get me in for free which was really nice. We hung out in the hot pools for a while which was super relaxing. Before leaving, we went in the sauna. Those saunas get HOT. At first, I was like, “oh, yeah, it’s not that hot in here.” Five minutes later, I was sweating profusely.

Varun also got these essential oils that were mixed with cold water to toss onto the hot coals. As the steam rose from the coals, the sauna filled with the smells of eucalyptus and tea tree. My sinuses were happy.

Millbrook was a great way to wind down and relax after walking around for a few hours at Lake Hayes.

Skyline

Since being in Queenstown, I have seen the gondola every single day but have yet to ride it to the top of the mountain. One of my hostel buddies told me she got the annual pass – as a local, you get it for $99 and you have unlimited access for the year. It also comes with some pretty great discounts at the restaurants/luge ridges up at Skyline.

Getting the annual pass is a great perk of being a local because it’s basically already $99 for a tourist to take the gondola up & down a single time. We love being locals!!!

Skyline has the southern hemisphere’s steepest gondola which I thought was a fun fact.

Today was the day. I finally bought my pass and was able to get up to Skyline! It was great to finally see the views from up there. With the annual pass, I will surely be returning to go on the luge rides, for dinner, etc. It also provides an easier starting point to the Ben Lomond track which I will likely be attempting next weekend.

After enjoying the views from Skyline, I walked by the luge track which looked like it would be a lot of fun. I almost did it today. I’ll do it another time – I am feeling slightly exhausted. Instead, I did the thirty minute Skyline loop track. Along the way, it offers a great view of Ben Lomond. An introduction for is what to come.

When I’d finished the loop track, I saw what I thought was a small, white dog. There was a lady looking at it. As I approached, I realized it was actually a baby goat! Adorable! I was a little worried about it because I didn’t see its mom anywhere. However, moments later, when I was taking the gondola back into town, I saw probably ten goats (if not more) hanging around the side of the mountain. They will reunite sooner or later.

I’m glad I finally got up to Skyline. I am definitely going to utilize this annual pass as much as I can. As the sun starts to set earlier, it might be a pretty prime spot for aurora hunting, too!

Miscellaneous

I think my biggest annoyance at the moment is that I keep getting STAINS all over my clothes. It’s this damn job at the hostel haha. I clean so much and then get oil/grease stains on my clothes without noticing. By the time I do notice, it’s too late to get the stain out. Sigh. I’ve taken to just wearing all black each work day. Emily is back on Thursday and then I’ll be back to the hotel. I have really enjoyed working at the hostel – especially because I don’t have to wear a suit here – but it is time. I’m looking forward to having free lunches at work every day. I’m looking forward to not having tenants asking me work-related questions while I’m trying to enjoy my lunch or dinner. And my poor body is looking forward to not cleaning as much haha. However, I’ll miss being able to do my laundry for free!

I got a card from my parents which was a lovely treat, too! The picture looks crazy because I edited the addresses on the default Photos app on my laptop and the app is… not very good.

One evening, I met up with two new friends: Lloyd and Tom. They are kiwis from Christchurch who moved here about nine months ago. We went out to dinner at Black Burger which had good veggie burgers. Afterwards, we got ice cream at a new place called Anita’s (very good) and we walked through Queenstown Gardens. It’s nice to finally make friends with some kiwis. With this being such a tourist town, it’s difficult to get to know people who are actually from here. I also think most of the kiwis live outside of Queenstown.

Speaking of Queenstown… One thing I keep hearing people say is that “Queenstown is a bubble.” It is easy to get wrapped up in the town itself and to not leave it at all. I’ve met some people who intended to stay here for a few weeks or months and have ended up living here for years. With all the adventure activities, the bars, the hiking… I could see how it has its appeal. I have also seen it for myself. Now that I’ve made some friends, it feels really easy to just not go on an adventure and instead, hang out by the lake practicing slackline or just hanging out at the hostel practicing Spanish. It’s sort of weird in that way. At the same time, I make an effort to go do something new every week – if only so I have something to share with you all on the blog haha.

Regarding my Spanish-speaking efforts… a few funny/cute things from this week. My dorm mate Nick is also trying to learn Spanish but it’s mostly just basic phrases/words since he hasn’t had any experience with Spanish in the past. One night, Lau was teaching him the phrase “Qué paja” which in Argentina can mean “feeling lazy”… but what he didn’t tell Nick was that it can also mean “to jerk off” in some other Spanish-speaking regions. At one point, I looked over at Nittsy and Valeria and they were doing the jerk off motion with their hands and laughing. They thought it was funny Lau was teaching Nick such a controversial/regionally based phrase.

My friend Juan was showing me a video on the balcony one night that was two guys singing a song in Spanish. For my benefit, it had English subtitles as well as Spanish haha. It was basically a song about how there are regional variations in different Spanish-speaking countries so a word could mean one thing in Argentina and something completely different in Chile. The theme of the song was that Spanish is a hard, confusing language haha. One part of the song that tickled me is that “una fresa” is a “sissy.” I had to message my friend Michael because when we used to live together before he moved to Australia, we got into a tiff about him eating my strawberries. I also was trying to practice Spanish a little when we lived together, so Michael and I already have an inside joke about fresas. Dos fresas fighting about fresas. Hahaha.

And lastly… there is this drink called “mate” which is sort of a tea. My friend Marcos was telling me that it is very much a communal thing – he will hang out with his friends and they will share the mate. He asked me if I’d like to try it sometime which was thoughtful of him. Hopefully one day soon!

Art of the Week

Reflections

I think it will be a strange transition for me to go from my private room back into the three bed dorm later this week. With that said, it wasn’t so bad to begin with. My current roommate Cammy messaged me today saying that he and Lauren found a three bed house and asked me if I was interested in joining. While it would be nice to have a place to myself, I don’t want to spend upwards of $300 a week on a room at the moment. I pay $170 right now and I am wanting to try and save up for a car or maybe a campervan. I don’t make that much money at work so spending over $300 a week would put a dent in my saving haha. I also am really enjoying the social aspect of the hostel at the moment. I feel if I left, I wouldn’t be practicing my Spanish or hanging out with people as much. I was glad Cammy offered, though! And also, if he’s leaving that means I get to take his twin bed which is far superior to the bottom bunk I’m currently in, in the dorm.

After searching and searching and searching… one night, I finally saw a freshwater eel! It was way bigger than I thought it would be. I was truly delighted to see it pass back and forth a few times throughout the evening.

It’s crazy that it’s already halfway through January. I stop home at the end of March for a few weeks and am really looking forward to seeing family and friends. It’s strange to see pictures and videos of the snowstorms in the states. Such a contrast to here. In the past week or two, it is finally feeling like summer here in Queenstown. I mostly only need a sweater at night. However, this morning it was odd to look out the window and see the image below. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a day where Cecil mountain isn’t visible at all!

I am looking forward to having a chill day today. I think I will go for sushi… AGAIN! I love the sushi place here haha.

I don’t have any concrete plans for next weekend. On Friday, some friends from the hostel are doing an open mic night at a nearby bar. I will likely go to that. On Saturday… I swear there was SOMETHING I had on the books, but now I have no idea.

Until next time. Sending you all my love!
xx