Friday 18th July
I got up to another grey day in Wanaka, but it wasn't too bad, a good day for the drive to Queenstown with Mark. I had decided to get a lift from him as it would be better to have the company and it didn't make sense to leave later in the day just for the sake of using my Magic Bus pass. We took our time in getting ourselves ready, not in too much of a rush as Queenstown is no more than an hour and a half drive away from Wanaka.
We eventually left at 11.00 and I was sad to say goodbye to the guys, especially Danika who I had been travelling with for the last two and a half weeks. We had a lot of fun together and walked a lot, and we both seemed to want to do the same things, so it had worked out well. But, she was going to continue on with her friend Amanda who she had come with to NZ, and it was probably about time that I got back on the bus.
The drive to Queenstown was also very nice, with the usual beautiful scenery, especially the road into Queenstown. Mark dropped me off at the 'Last Resort Backpackers' hostel at 12.30 and I checked into my room, it was small but a good place, with free internet and the beds had decent linen and a small Crunchy on the pillow, not something I had seen anywhere else on my trip!
I met Mark an hour later and we pottered about town for a bit before we decided to go see 'The Love Guru' with Mike Myers. I didn't really think about what I had let myself in for when I bougth the ticket – I was just looking to fill a few hours – but realised that it was a mistake as soon as I sat down in the cinema. It was as bad as I had expected, but it at least passed a few hours.
I left Mark and went back to the hostel, made dinner and then went out to the pub for a bit with some of the guys from the hostel. They were a friendly bunch, and one of them was a girl called Emma whol lived in Stoneybatter, where I used to live for a few months in Dublin. I returned to hostel after an hour or so, and had an early night ahead of an early start the next morning on a long day trip to Milford Sound.
