5/7/18 - queenstown short post

I think I’m gonna like Queenstown. My bus driver into town is blaring music and has the look of a bearded biker gang member. After everyone makes it on the bus, he turns the music up a little louder and steps out to have a smoke.Yeah definitely gonna like this place. 

Queenstown itself feels small. But as we ride in it is apparent there is a lot of different demographics of people visiting this place. 5 doors down from a outdoor shop is a Luis Vuitton. The boardwalk has hikers, tourists, wealthy visitors, and student looking persons alike. It feels like a cross between a sleepy mountain town, with a little bit of night life, splashed with a casino, that exists solely for the tourists and adventure seekers.

When I flew in at noon I had a very specific list of things I needed to get accomplished. So I am just gonna list out what those things are and then elaborate as needed. 

Book hostel - I needed a place to stay for the night. 

Pickup shelter tickets for Milford track- the Milford track, consistently labeled as one of the most beautiful walks in the world has 2 seasons. During its high summer season you must book your time on the track in advance. There are huts along the track and it is required that you sleep at specific places along the way. As of may 1 the track goes into its winter season. Each hut does not have a ranger watching over it and sleeping arrangements and responsibility falls on the hiker and the honor system. But for each night you stay in a hut, a hiker needs to purchase a ticket. 

Rent gps beacon - no hiker will be admitted to the track without a beacon 

Book pickup and drop off on the track - the Milford track boasts only a few things that no other trail in the world can boast. 1, everyone walks in the same direction. 2. The track is the only walk in the world that requires you to be both dropped off at the start and picked up at the end by boat. 

Grocery shopping - I had to pick some reasonably light things that I would wanna carry while on the track and eat consistently. I settled on single serving bags of pasta with bacon flavor, peanut butter, snickers, and some other random assortments to get me through the days 

Book bus ticket to  Te Anau - the track doesn’t start out of queenstown, it actually starts about 2 and some change hours away outside of a town called Te Anau. After booking the bus ticket and finding the bus pickup point this was checked off the list. 

Determine what I would need on the track itself - I stayed pretty light overall carrying duplicates of underwear and socks and then remaining clothes would keep me warm or dry. I decided I would take my larger Sony camera with the optimism that it wouldn’t rain too much and I would be able to use it. 


After all that was done the rest of my night in queenstown involved just walking around for a little while and then promptly passing out cold from exhaustion around 8:30. I think I got some good sleep on the flight from Gold Coast, but I needed to crash and get a full nights sleep. The bunk room at the hostel I picked was a little loud and if it stirred me from my coma I don’t remember. 

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