The room got INCREDIBLY cold in spite of having the heater on. It got so bad that something "twinged" in my left ankle in the middle of the night, making it very painful to put much weight on. So Regan headed out early by himself to get some coffee and returned with some luscious (almost too much so!) treats.
We had to return the rental car at the airport by 12:30. So we cleaned it out (as best we could, given all the crumbs in the back seat... fortunately the smell of pickles had subsided) and drove out there. We stopped to top off the gas (gas averaged around NZ$2.10 per liter... which works out to around US$6.80 per gallon) then followed the signs for rental car returns. We kept driving in circles around the parking lot, looking for the section that said "Ace" on it. Nope. Everything but. Finally we saw someone who looked like she might work there and asked. Apparently you have to return Ace cars (and ONLY Ace cars) elsewhere... back at the their office.
So we navigated the one-way streets back to where we had signed up for the car. The place was PACKED. The only place to put the car was just inside the driveway, blocking a whole slew of other cars. We fought the crowds and waited for someone to come inspect it. Eventually a guy came in looking for the key to move it out of the way. So Regan handed it to him and he zipped off with it into a garage.
We still kept waiting around, figuring we had to sign off on something. Eventually the guy who had moved the car came back and we asked him. Nope. There was nothing we had to do. So we pushed our way back out of the throng of people and headed out of the airport.
Originally we were going to take the bus back, but it was $8 per person for a less than five minute drive, so we decided to walk the 5 miles back to town. I figured it might be good for my ankle as well (get the blood flowing and all). The path was beautiful, cool and tree-lined, and followed the lake shore.
Some fall color
Walking next to the flight path
Dreaming of future trips
A cute little pier
Female...
... male...
... juveniles?
These weren't just ordinary dog prints... they were dog prints under several feet of incredibly clear water!
The amazing color of the water
This tree trunk was incredibly happy... ok, it had crossed the line to insanity.
We got back to town, and since my ankle seemed to be hanging in there, we decided to attempt the Queenstown Hill Walking Track. I should have know this thing was going to be trouble right from the start... even just the streets leading up to the trailhead were ridiculously steep!
It's hard to get a feeling of HOW steep this really was!
This quail is probably wondering why don't we just fly up. It'll be a LOT easier.
The steep path led through some lovely forest. It was punctuated along the way by signs which talked about the history of the area.
A Tui
We made it to the top of a small plateau, where things leveled out and there was a big murky pond and some funky artwork. We could get a nice view of the city, but the summit was still a ways to go.
Queenstown, far below
Another quail sat perched watching over his domain.
The "Basket of Dreams"
The trail to the summit
Finally we made it to the top! It was gorgeous weather and a spectacular view. We found the highest rock and just sat for a while taking it all in.
Finding the highest rock
Appropriate footwear
Taking a rest in the sun
Moss
Careful not to accidentally bump into this plant!
Eventually we decided it was time to start heading back down. We left the summit and made our way back down to the basket art. My ankle was starting to bother me a bit. We entered back into the forest and down some steep hills.
Heading down from the plateau
Entering the trees
We reached a junction with two choices: one, to go back down the way we came, or two, to follow the rest of the info signs (which we thought also took us back down). So we chose door number two.
It was definitely not a boring walk. The dimming light made the dead stumps and trees look like zombie hands reaching up from the ground. But there was a problem... it seemed like we were going up instead of down. At some point we stopped and considered going back... but according to a sign, we were almost at the end.
So we continued a bit further and emerged... at the murky pond and basket art! Ugh! So we had to go all that way back down again. By the time we were near the bottom of the hill, my ankle was screaming.
Deja vu
Heading into the trees... again
We came across a large family of quail... a mother, a father and five chicks. They kept ahead of us for a bit, but when they realized we were gaining on them, dad and four of the chicks shifted nervously to the side of the path to let us go by, while mom (and one of the little ones) flew up into a tree and started screaming at us.
Mom gave us a piece of her bird brain while her baby hides behind her... probably glad the lecture was not directed at him for once.
The steamboat pulls into town.
We got back to the hostel and I took a hot shower. That helped my ankle a bit. We then went back to the indoor food court and got some Nepalese food... a thali and some momos. Delicious! On the way back, we picked up some dessert from the grocery store.
We had already devoured most of the thali by the time the momos arrived. It was all so good!
Fruit, yogurt and a couple of chocolate sticks covered with licorice
We turned up the heater but it was so tiny that it was almost pointless... the room still remained ice cold. Giant curtains covered two walls of the small room. Just as a fluke, I decided to pull them back all the way and discovered that the far windows on each wall were wide open. Why anyone would do that was beyond me when one could have just opened the front windows by the edge of the curtain, but I closed them and then finally the room started to heat up.
