Crazy Queenstown

Hello loves,

Yes, I'm still alive, sorry for only getting back to you now, but Queenstown is just crazy. I don't know how people manage to live here for longer periods of time. But let me start from the beginning...

On Sunday (06.08), I woke up early and finished packing, and then helped a bit with cleaning at the campsite because I didn't work the day before. It was raining all morning, great when you have to load your car. Around 12 o'clock, I set off, of course in the dry. Since it had been raining all night and it was freezing cold, the roads were very slippery. Apparently, there had already been 4 accidents on my route before I even started driving. So, I drove very carefully and it took a bit longer than the GPS predicted. On the way, I stopped at a viewpoint at Lindi Pass and stretched my legs a bit. Unfortunately, because of all the snow, I couldn't walk to the actual viewpoint. But the view from the parking lot was also nice. After that, the drive went past Lake Dunstan, a very beautiful area where you could definitely stop at some point. Then the drive went along a gorge with a river for quite a while. I also stopped there and took a breath of fresh air before the last leg of the journey. In the afternoon, I arrived in Queenstown and checked into my room. The hostel is really cool. Relatively small, right in the heart of Queenstown, and very clean and tidy. In my room, I initially lived with a German and four Australians, who all made a very nice impression. After unpacking my suitcase and setting up my bed, I walked to the Snowcenter to book my snowboarding lessons and such. That worked out great. When I returned to the hostel, the guys from my room decided to go play laser tag and invited me to come along. I thought that was very nice of them to include me right away, even though they were a fixed group. After meeting a few more people during dinner in the kitchen, the five of us headed out to play laser tag. It was once again a lot of fun. After that, I went straight back to the hostel and went to bed quite early because I had to get up early the next day to be on time for my first snowboarding lesson on the mountain.

Monday (07.08) at 6:30 am, my alarm went off and rang in my first day of snowboarding here. I got ready calmly, had breakfast, and then set off shortly before 8 o'clock. First, I went to the parking lot to check on my car and pay the parking fee for the day. Then to the Snowcenter where the bus to the ski resorts departs. I decided to go to the Remarkables, as there are supposed to be many pleasant beginner slopes there. The journey takes between 45 minutes and an hour, depending on how many people get on and how the traffic is. I arrived on the mountain just before 9 o'clock and could enjoy the view here for the first time. Then I went to the ski and snowboard rental to pick up my gear. That went really quickly too. The first pair of boots fit perfectly, which never happens to me. So, at 9:30 am, I was all set on the mountain. Just a shame that my lesson didn't start until 10:20 am. But I used the time to practice a bit on my own and see if my skills from last time were just a fluke. But it actually worked again. Then the time had come and I could start my lesson. Since it was my first day, I joined the first group. There, we were first shown how to lace our boots correctly, how to walk with the board, and so on. When it came to sliding down the mountain, I showed my teacher what I already knew, and he immediately grabbed me and took me to another group. After showing this teacher what I had already learned, he included me in his group, 2b. I was very happy about that and I was able to keep up with the others. At 12 o'clock, it was lunch break and I used the nearly 2-hour break to eat my sandwiches, have something to drink, and then practice a bit more. In the afternoon, we continued practicing for another hour, and at 3 o'clock, my teacher smuggled me onto a chairlift and my group did their first complete descent. It was a lot of fun, even though it took about 45 minutes, but that's how it is when you're learning and there are several people in the group. I was definitely very proud of myself. At 4 o'clock, the lesson was over and it was time to head back to Queenstown. After a quick shower, I went to the kitchen to cook my dinner and realized that Monday was billiards night and there was free pizza there. Very cool, I thought and discarded my meal plans and instead had some fruit and soup. Two of the Australian guys accompanied me to the kitchen and we played cards together during my dinner. Since it was their last evening, they wanted to go out to eat and didn't come to play billiards, but I went with a few girls. The billiards night was fun, although quite different from what I had imagined. Instead of real billiards, a stripped-down version was played. You could play any ball you wanted, and if you didn't sink one, you lost a life. If you sunk the black ball, you won a life. Each player had three lives. I was one of the last five to be eliminated, not bad with over 20 players. The free pizza turned out to be a 1/16 slice of margherita pizza, which was delicious, but unfortunately didn't really satisfy. But as I learned, a little bit of what we eat, we can also drink... After the official part was over, the Australian guys came by the bar, and we chatted and played billiards with a few others. After that, everyone from our hostel went to a bar called Cowboys, where there was a mechanical bull to ride. That was a lot of fun, just like the whole evening. It was nice to chat with so many new people and listen to some of their travel stories. Around 1 o'clock, we went back to the hotel, and I fell straight into bed, exhausted.

Tuesday morning, and the evil alarm went off again at 6:30 am. Whose idea was it to go out and party and then want to go snowboarding the next day? But oh well, if you can party, you can also work. So, off to the mountain for snowboarding. This time, I sat on the bus with two girls from the hostel and had a more relaxed morning, as the two had also played billiards with me and wanted to have a coffee first. When it was time for the lesson, I joined the 2b group again. However, the teacher who was supposed to teach this group was the same one who had put me in this group the morning before. He then directly told me to go to Group 3, as they would start from the beginning again with turning. However, in Group 3, we were so many people that they divided us into two groups again. Everyone had to ride down the bunny slope once and show what they can do, and based on that, we were divided into two groups. And what can I say, I ended up in the better group, the one that looked more confident and went straight to a real slope. I was overjoyed that the teachers had so much confidence in my abilities that they put me in this group. This time, I also managed to get off the chairlift twice without falling. Woohoo. Not as easy as us skiers think. Because you're only attached to the board with one foot and still have to ride down the small hill to make room for the next people. Anyway, let's get back to the slopes. In general, everything went well. However, on my first descent in the flat section, I unexpectedly fell, which initially threw me off and gave me a headache, despite wearing a helmet. Those who know me know that I was then quite insecure again. Funny enough, everything was fine in the "steep" part, as far as you can call it steep on a turquoise slope..., and I could make my turns. In the flat section, however, I got tense and lost the momentum I needed to get back to the normal section. Annoying, but after two more runs, I finally overcame myself and made my turns in the flat section. During lunch break, I met up with the two girls from the hostel and had lunch with them and talked about our day. By the way, the two booked the same snowboarding course as me, they were just a day behind me. During the afternoon lessons, we went to another slope that went much higher and therefore the descent was also longer. That was a lot of fun. However, at the end of the last descent, I realized that my legs were absolutely tired and I had almost no control anymore. So, I rode slowly and hardly made any turns. I was really relieved when we reached the bottom and I could take off my boots. On the bus ride home, my legs started shaking from exhaustion, which was the moment I decided to take the next day off. The good thing about the course I booked is that you don't have to take the 4 days of lessons all at once, so a rest day is absolutely possible. When I arrived at the hotel, I took a shower and then collapsed in my bed. Everything hurt, everything. Starting from my knees, which were burning through my jeans, to my thigh muscles and my shoulders, including my head. But at some point, I had to drag myself out of bed again to have dinner. When I stood in the kitchen in front of my food, I realized that I had nothing to conjure up a meal except soup. So, I had to go to the supermarket. Since I was so exhausted, I just bought ready-made pasta sauce and ate pasta with tomato sauce. However, since I was running late, I was still in the kitchen when the quiz night started and was forced to participate. Livia, a girl from the Netherlands, and I were both forced and played on a team. Later, two guys from Ireland joined us. However, apparently, we were all pretty exhausted because we were horrible and didn't even score 10 points together. Haha but well, we had a nice evening and at least I didn't go to sleep at 9 o'clock, but at 10 o'clock. However, everyone already slept in my room. By the way, I now have new people in my room. Two girls who I think are from England and not very talkative.

Wednesday (09.08), I woke up just before 8 o'clock to check on my car and pay the parking fee. After that, I lay back in bed and almost fell asleep again immediately. It wasn't until after 11 o'clock that I managed to roll out of bed, and that took longer than I would like to admit. I haven't had such a bad muscle soreness in a long time. Since my neck also hurts, I probably also have a slight whiplash from my fall. Great, but luckily I made the decision to take this rest day. Clearly the right decision. While preparing my breakfast, Livia came into the kitchen and we decided to walk through Queenstown together. We first walked through the city center a bit and then along the lake. On the way back, we strolled through the shops a bit and kept our eyes open for possible souvenirs. After that, we rested a bit in the hostel, as Livia is also sick. In the afternoon, at 3 o'clock, we went to the famous Ferg Burger. A must-do when you're in Queenstown. It seems we timed our visit very well, as we only waited for less than 5 minutes before we could order and less than 10 minutes before our burgers were ready. A tasty burger, but not the best I've ever had, as is usually the case with things you absolutely have to do. Otherwise, I spent the day relaxing and took care of a few small things. Tonight, I will go to bed early so that I'm fit for snowboarding tomorrow. I'll take it easy and see how it goes. Otherwise, I plan to explore the area a bit this week.

See you soon,

Your Jessi

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