I can check off, “Partying Way Down Under” off of my to-do list.
What started off as a casual visit to a flat (house) to see about a room, quickly escalated to an evening of drinking Wild Buck beer, and sharing crude stories with my new-found friends, all of whom were from the British Isles, with the exception of one North Island Kiwi and his Aussie friend. More than half of the tenants (of 16 total) were in attendance, and it made for some hilarious tales of conquest and defeat. Fitting that we were at a round table; it was like King Arthur’s misfit Knights. As it were, I was in the company of many of the town’s bartenders and bouncers, and they were impressed to find out I was a Yank, as they all thought I was Canadian…because I’m so polite and well-mannered, of course.
The evening wore on and we ate a bacon lasagna that my new Kiwi friend had brought along (there wasn’t actually any pasta in the dish – it was excellent). After the meal, I departed to get ready for the night ahead; I had been invited along for a wild night out – on a Sunday. I rendezvoused a little while later with everyone downtown, and was immediately handed two different drinks. And then another. And then another. And then we moved onto the next establishment, where this process was repeated. This pattern kept up for two more stops there after, and despite a quieter night in terms of crowds, we managed to make the night a good one. Considering I hadn’t had a drink in 11 months up until Sunday, I hung on just fine. One of the lads remarked that he didn’t think I was going to make it out with them, or be able to hang through the whole night – he clearly didn’t go to Uni (college) in Burlington, Vermont.
It is Tuesday here in eNZed, and I made it through Monday just fine, following the Holy Day Party. I even made it to the gym and Hulk’d Out for a bit. Today is the day I try to not become destitute in a foreign country, and after seeing one very nice place already, I’m keen to see how the other two places stack up later today. This afternoon of running around town will prove to be a “fun” challenge. Unlike most other places I’ve lived or traveled, Queenstown is a little difficult to navigate, not for a lack of direction, but because it sits on the side of a mountain that climbs straight up out of the lake. So, anywhere you go, aside from the main drag of downtown, you are ascending or descending roads that you’d expect to see Sherpas hauling gear up to make base camp somewhere near by. The good news about that though, is one has to try dearly to stay out of shape here.
