Checked out of the hostel and headed down the road to where the climb for the Ben Lomond trail began. There’s a full day version of the hike that takes you to the very top, but I was only keen on going as far as the top of the skyline gondola.
The trail started off well signed, and it was easy enough to get underway, but eventually I reached a point with a dead end. There was an orange arrow, usually an indicator of which way to go, but it was pointing directly at a small waterfall. I turned around and headed down another trail before reaching a point I’d already been. Decided to head back and got to the waterfall again. Two other hikers were there as well now, and both as lost as I once was. I joined forces with an Austrian who was doing the full climb, and was well equipped with hiking poles/sticks and hiking boots. We headed in yet a different direction, and found another path, this one looking a little more promising. Eventually we were underway.
The rest of the trail went smoothly, until we reached one point where a sign said “No Hikers, Only Mountain Bikes”. I checked the map I’d taken a photo of beforehand, and decided we could reach our respective destinations by breaking the rules and using the bike trail. The Austrian had been travelling around New Zealand for two months and doing plenty of hiking along the way. Once again I managed to keep up, despite my obvious lack of hiking poles.
Reached the gondola and parted ways with the Austrian. Had a look around the area near the top of the gondola – not too much going on. There was a small luge track, but it didn’t look like you got much speed – and an unused bungy jump platform. It was $10.00 to take the gondola down, but no one was taking tickets so I hopped on and headed back into Queenstown.
Stopped at the internet shop and finished burning some cds for the road. Headed back to the hostel and had a quick shower, then jumped in the car to Te Anua, to the south.
The drive was beautiful, but not too eventful. There was a hitchhiker just outside of town, but I didn’t see him until I had passed him. No other hitchhikers on the road, so I trekked on solo, happy to have some music to listen to.
In Te Anua, I went in search of a decent web connection, to upload some pictures, but the situation was even more dire than Queenstown. I grabbed some groceries for lunch the next day, and dinner for the next two nights, and headed back to the hostel.
Read for a bit, and met a couple of girls in my room from Canada, Katie and Jen. Like most of the Canadians I’ve met thus far, they were from B.C. Vancouver, this time. Went to cook dinner, but the kitchen was too busy, so I headed back to the room and played some cards with the Canadians. They were off to happy hour at a local bar, so I told them I’d join them later, and prepared my dinner. Dinner was lamb, and potatoes. Not much I could do to add some flavour to the potatoes, since the spice rack at the hostel was dry, but the lamb was good. I’ve seen a huge number of sheep here in New Zealand (they outnumber humans by a longshot), so I figured it’d be a shame leaving without trying some.
Joined the girls for a drink, then headed back to the hostel and eventually went to bed.