Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Michael and Sarah trying out some goofy hats. Queenstown definitely knows whatsup with the hats.

So Queenstown was a total success. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner last night in Queenstown at this restaurant called Flame. Lindsey, Sarah, Carson, and I decided to order the Combo Meal and it ended up being huge... such a big deal that we had bibs. There will be pictures up later on that, don't you worry.  And today was SO fun! We finally got to wander around a little in smaller groups today as we ventured through Queenstown and it was a blast! Shopping, picture taking, and the warmest weather we've had the whole trip all came together to make this my favorite day of the trip so far. We all had breakfast at this cute little bakery a couple blocks away from our hostel and it was delicious! I tried my first meat pie and I must say it was pretty yummy. Michael made me have a bite of his and I ended up having to beg Gemina to let me buy one for myself. Then we all split up in smaller groups and Sarah, Michael, Brittany, Alex, and I all went with Ms. Bottoms to do some shopping and exploring! We had such a fun time and got some pretty neat things too. Then we all met back up again and after a quick photoshoot in a really neat old cemetery, we all decided to ride the gondola to the top of one of the hills to see yet another beautiful view of New Zealand. 

We snapped a bunch of pictures and then all had a lovely lunch, surrounded by huge windows overlooking New Zealand. Then we loaded back on the bus and headed for our next stop: Wanaka! To get to Wanaka, we had to drive up the highest road in New Zealand! Pretty professional stuff. So we got settled into our new hostel in Wanaka and then went to Bombay Palace and had Indian food. Michael and I could not help but laugh at our ignorance with Indian food. All of the students and I were a little skeptical at first, but it ended up being quite a fun dinner! Well I'm off to bed; I'm exhausted! After all that shopping and eating, I need some sleep! Gotta get up bright and early tomorrow morning with my tripod ready for some early morning sunrise pictures! Then off to some maze exploring and optical illusion puzzle trails and special things that Wanaka has to offer. Can't wait! :)

P.S. If you click on My Photography tab at the top right above this post, you'll see a bunch of pictures that I've taken so far on the trip! I'll be updating that periodically when I have internet connection and time. Enjoy!