Journal #4: Queenstown
Date: 3/5/16
Cover Photo: “The Faded Silhouette”
Sheep Spotted: ~50

Bumper Sticker of the Day (on a camper van): “Thou shall not steal… That’s right, God is watching, you thieving cunts!”

Today I started by heading out to Moke Lake-which is a smaller lake between Queenstown and Glenorchy. I primarily chose this trail because I didn’t want to find out what happens when my Toyota Carolla encountered a truck on a mountain road while it was pouring rain (worth mentioning too that when you drive to Glenorchy, you frequently hit stretches of highway so narrow that there are actually no lane dividers, which I think is the Kiwi way of saying ‘you’ll figure it out!’).

Moke Lake is as majestic as it is bug ridden- I lasted about 45 minutes before turning back, since it is basically a giant swamp. In fact, if you look up the word “Moke” it’s actually British slang for ‘Donkey’- so it should be of no surprise that this hike is a real pain in the ass.

After escaping Moke Lake (with today’s photo!)- I headed back to Queenstown, where I spent the rest of the day. Queenstown, as I’ve mentioned before, is basically a ski town. It’s situated in the mountains on a lake called “Wakatipu”- which apparently stands for “trough goblin” (in case you’re wondering- I have yet to hear a coherent explanation of why the Maori chose that description).

Since I promised last night that I would talk about Beer and Food in this blog- I’m going to be doing today’s post in two parts- one now, and one after I go out. That’s right- I’m going to get drunk for this blog! Stay tuned…

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Part 2: Drunk Posting

So I can officially say that New Zealand beer is quite average. Tonight I went out with my Australian Roommates, Dan and Chelsea, and we drank quite a bit. The best beer I had today was the “Altitude Mischievous Key” which is called an “IPA” but in the U.S. would officially be classified as a Session Beer or ‘Saison’ (If you feel like being an uppity French-Belgian). After that, it was slim pickings:

1) Altitude Mischievous Key IPA (see above)

2) Monteith Pale Ale- Very Sweet nutty taste, goes down easily

3) Altitude Singleetrack Mind Red Ale- Rougher taste as you would expect from a Red, not as hoppy as American equivalents.

4) Monteith Golden Lager- Smooth. Very drinkable- much lighter than most lagers, but better tasting than light American beers. had this while sitting in the sun waiting for some finger food.

5) Drinking Straight from a Urinal- self-explanatory
6) Monteith Classic Ale- Tasted kind of like Yuengling

The average beer price is luckily quite cheap- around $4 USD, or in the right places, $2.50 USD.

Anyways- On to Mt. Cook early tomorrow!

Cheers,

MB