Queenstown is my kind of town

I had such an awesome day in Queenstown today.  We had 4 go bungee jumping today and a fifth went as cameraman.  We even had a student become the first person in the history of the bungee company to lose their shirt from bungee jumping.  They dipped him in the river below (which holy crap that had to be cold!!!!  winter here!) and the force of coming out of the river with arms up just peeled his shirt and hoodie right off.  First person ever.  Quite the claim to fame, right?!

We went to Fergburger (again) for lunch and tried a new burger.  Amazing.  I don't think eating there could ever get old.  After Ferg, Rebecka and I went back to the hostel and Mark and Melanie went to Skipper's canyon.  I opted out of the Skipper's canyon trip since I get motion sickness pretty easily and the whole drive you're basically a bobble head.

This afternoon a pretty good size group of us took the gondolas to the top of the mountain and had fun taking luge rides for an hour.  I have to say, I almost didn't do it because it seemed a little lame.  OH MY GOODNESS IT'S AWESOME!!!  I had so much fun!  Keith kept laughing at all the photos when we got back because I literally look like a 6 year old kid at Disney World in almost every photo.  We bought two rides and then a few of us ended up buying another one.  The gondola rides were just scary enough that I could do it but I didn't want to look down.  I just kept pretending we were only 20 ft off the ground.

We had jambalya (is that how you spell it?!) for dinner and then we decided to do one more thing in Queenstown.  The students split up into a group going to a haunted house and some went to the ice bar.  The ice bar (called 5 Below) is a bar made completely of ice.  Seats, bar, glasses, sculptures....everything!  They give you a parka and gloves and the room is relatively small.  The group said apparently the bartenders rotate in 30 minute shifts.

Mark, Melanie and I went to a business called Wine Tastes.  I have decided it's one of the best business in the world.  New Zealand has a huge wine culture.  They have multiple regions on both the north and south islands that provide different tastes of wines.  In Napier a big group went to a few wine tastings on guided tours.  We went to a self-serve tasting bar.  You go in, get a card and then insert it into the different wine dispensing machines.  You select your wine and then determine if you want a taste, half a glass, or a full glass.  It dispenses and then puts it on your tab.  At the end you pay your tab for all your tastes and they can print out a list of the wines you tried.

Fortunately for me I kept a list of all the ones I tasted because they were unable to print my list out.  I can say, however, I have found a new favorite and it is the aptly named, Middle Earth (yay Hobbits!) Sauvignon Blanc.  I tried a good variety of wines and all of them from either New Zealand or Australia.  We even tasted a wine from Australia that was a 2008 Shiraz and costs $1045.00 per bottle.  It was a dry Shiraz so I could appreciate it, but it wasn't my first choice.  I can say, however, I better understand wines and the differences between them and have realized there is more to wine that my Arbor Mist (aka Soda wine!).

We had such a great last day in Queenstown.  I'm going to miss being here.  It's my second favorite city on our trip.  Adventure, amazing views, Fergburger, and the amazing views just make this town great.  Did I mention there are amazing views all over the city?!  If you ever get a chance to visit NZ, which is totally something you should go put on your bucket list right now, definitely put Queenstown on your list of places to visit.