Martin travels Australia: Madness

Queenstown, Queenstown, Queenstown, ... Queenstown! It's like a whisper that haunts you...

Yeah spending five days in Queenstown is pure madness!
You ask me why this town is so un-fcking-believably awesome? I can tell you: Let's just start with the scenery. Queenstown lies next to a huge lake and is surrounded by mountains as it is in the Southern Alps. Marvellous.

The mountain chain 'The Remarkables' behind Lake Wakatipu.

Moreover it is home of the king of all burgers: The Fergburger!

Never had a burger like this!

Also don't let us forget the night life. It's cheap and since the town is full of backpackers you can go out every single night ( what I did...)!

And...oh yeah! I didn't mention the Ice Bar yet but I probably even don't have to explain to you how awesome that is.

Now last but not least: The activities!
Queenstown is the adventure capital and you can do everything there...Bungy, jetboating, canyoning, climbing and skiing in winter.

So what did I do of those activities?
Let's start with the jetboating. We went very fast through narrow rivers and made some stunts and tricks yeah!

Aaaand I - of course - had to do the Nevis Bungy, 134m and the world's third highest!

Another day I went to Milford Sound which is ment to be 'the juwel of the shiny big crown which is New Zealand's landscape'.
So after a long coach ride through the magnificent Southern Alps we finally got there and had a round trip on a boat through the fjord. Even though the weather wasn't that great it was still beautiful and stunning to look upon!

I really wanted to do the canyoning in Queenstown: jumping from big rocks, abseiling, swimming in the strong currents of the canyon rivers and and and. However weather forbid that experience because it was the first snow of the year and you can't go canyoning if there is snow.
So I missed that and played mini golf instead!
And it was the most awesome mini golf game I've ever played! Never seen a parcour like this before.
There were an airport, a castle, space station and gold mine, even a ski pacour and a mountain with gondola,... I can go on with that list up to 18 times...
I played against Mike and Matt and we were damn even and finished with 81, 82 and 83. Matt won, I was in the middle and the loser's name was Mike...

That's it about Queenstown and its madness. Unforgettable days there...

Anyway, after Queenstown the coach brought me to Lake Tekapo. This is a very very small township next to - as the name might have made you imagine - a lake!

We were in one of those really big valleys where the mountains are maybe 20 kilometres away in any direction and there was one little mountain in the middle which I climbed to have a stunning view over the valley and the lake!

Later at night I went out for star watching. Because of the very little light pollution this is one of the best spots to do so!

Last but not least we arrived in Christchurch my final destination in New Zealand. One the bus that was leaving Queenstown I met Kathrin and Felix so I spent my day with them exploring the city.
Everybody I talked to before going there said something like this about Christchurch: 'Oh man don't go to Christchurch! Better skip it! It's a shithole.' Having been there I can say that it certainly is not a great city. Half of the centre are just empty spots where they just finished moving the debris away and a lot of building are just not used at all and you can see the empty shops there with furniture and a thick layer of dust on it. You can see that this city is still destroyed and struggles with the effects of the earthquake.

Still destroyed - the cathedral.

However there are also some nice parts. There is a container mall which is pretty cool and unique and the botanic gardens are worth a visit!

All in all I was glad to having visited the city and later that evening after a nice dinner with my friends I went to the airport to sleep there and safe the money for a hostel night.
5.40 am I'll leave New Zealand to be back in my beloved Australia.

Cya New Zealand! I had a great time and will come back one day in a far and distinct future...