continued, Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday April 19th we headed on the road again, out to Invergargil (right at the tip of the south island). We decided to stay in a motel this night, it was a really really really nice place. This was kinda out relaxing day, we wandered the gardens in the city and saw the small zoo they had there. We took a stroll through the town, a little bit of a ghost town but we met some overly nice storekeepers. We also headed out to the beach here but it was kinda gloomy and we decided just to go back and watch TV at the room (consequently we were in bed by 6pm just watching tv and we ordered pizza for dinner).

Thursday April 20th morning drove out to Queenstown. On this drive we got stuck behind a house, hehe, it was just hillarious, but really slowed us down for a bit. Upon arriving in Queenstown we found a good hostel to stay in, Alpine Lodge, which was recommended to us by other travellers we met in Dunedin hostel. The bed we had here was exactly like my black metal bunk beds at home, double on the bottom and everything. It was a really nice feeling to sleep there cause it felt very familiar. Anyhow, after we'd checked in we headed out to the information kiosk and booked our Canyon Swing, the earliest time available was actually Saturday at noon, so we booked it and re-arranged our plans. We wandered around for a bit, then we went into the kiwi bird wildlife reserve and watched an animal encounter session and a Maori performace of Taka, poi, and other various ritual/chants.
Next we went up the gondola to the top of the mountain and had some amazing views of the various paraflyers, bungee jumpers, etc.

Upon returning to ground level we went in search of a restaurant for dinner. We ended up coming across the Minus 5 degree Icebar and decided to check it out. We were provided with jackets and gloves and a free drink in the bar. It was really neat, everything made of ice including the bar, the seats, the tables etc, looks alot like the pictures Jason has of the Ice hotel in Quebec. Dinner took place in the organic restaurant, it was ok, i had the pumpkin but it wasnt all that filling. That evening we hung out at the hostel with some of the other residents and watched some TV, etc.