QUEENSTOWN, 18 May 2024
So, we made it. Queenstown. The furthest south we go before the long journey home.
…and the onset of winter followed us with a vengeance.
We’d been given the heads up the night before that today’s day had to be cancelled. This chapter should be filled with photos of 7 different locations! Sadly, it can be filled only with the things that Jon and I got up to. Both together and later alone.
After waking up far more rested than we’d planned to be, and catching up with loved ones back home, we made our way to an absolute feast of a breakfast serving. From Indian and Japanese breakfast delicacies (well…the “Miso soup” was more like American Grits, go figure) of Khichdi, Dhokla and more, to fruits and fresh yoghurts (plant based), cooked food, and a lovely deli counter of artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes. I made a feast of mushrooms and SD tomatoes on sourdough topped with pine nuts and felt BOUGIE! Pop off, QT.
As the rain hammered Queenstown, like true Englishmen, Jon and I decided it was the perfect weather to go to the Kiwi Park sanctuary, as it was the one animal we hadn’t seen yet that was so intrinsically tied to Aotearoa. So, off we ventured, into the fog and rain, while everyone else stayed indoors and read books and did other very homely and cosy, recuperative things.
Unfortunately, we did get to see several kiwis and a feeding too, but as they’re incredibly shy, nocturnal animals, we couldn’t take any photos of them. But, the park itself was beautiful, featuring several birds that we’d seen both in the wild and at Auckland Zoo.
The only bit that was surreal and more than a little sad was catching the “conservation” talk. Now, to explain, Aotearoa has an incredibly unique ecosystem, similar to Australia, most of their native wildlife is endemic. This means it needs protecting in an incredibly strict way.
Now add a ton of colonial bullsh*t and you have their current problem. Possums. Not the mostly herbivorous Australian variety. The one’s brought the ANZ became carnivorous and with no predators to stop them, they bred. A lot. Like by the millions a lot.
Sadly, this means that in order to protect birds, flora and more, the hunting and killing of Possums is somewhat encouraged. This is where I can’t quite join the team. I don’t see why infertility and sanctuary could be explored or even repatriation, over the more brutal genocide that’s being suggested. But, sadly, here we are… It made me sad, incredibly so, to see a conversation talk actively push for the fur trade. Something I find archaic and outdated.
With that, and a veritable boat load of rain in every fibre of our body. Jon and I headed back to the hotel, him to stay in and me to change and head back out to do some writing. As we left, we noted it funny to see the clouds of fog that were mistily clinging to the top half of most of the mountains… Little did we know…
After a great session of writing over some pizza, I met Joseph at Kingpin, an arcade-cum-VR experience-cum-bowling alley… place. We were on our way to leave, thinking it just the two of us after a bunch of us from the tour had said to meet there at 3pm, when we bumped into Laurie and Emi, two more fellow younguns that were also up for a solid arcade session before we all gathered for a “Farewell Quiz”.
It was amazing. From smashing out dance pads with stamina I did not think I possessed, jamming on large piano keys (a cheat on my part, I’d played this one before), a VR rollercoaster and a game with ACTUAL water pistols. It was a blast!
The games all wrapped up, we left and had to hurry back to our hotel in time for the team quiz and farewell dinner! That was when we saw the one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen. The fog I’d spotted earlier wasn’t fog at all, it was falling light snow. That snow had now dusted all of the pine forests behind us, and indeed, across the bay, the mountain ranges all had a perfect transition line from snow to being to warm and turning into rain. It was gorgeous. I was left speechless, I think we all were.
Our final dinner was a buffet style boardroom affair, it had some friendly options that were divine, and with drinks shared, we quizzed our hearts out. Joseph had outdone us all in true Aragorn fashion and written a lot of the questions himself, with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings available as a reference. We answered first…
And were decimated. When last I checked, this was a LOTR tour, not a Silmarillion tour. It’s weird when a team of geeks get out-geeked by other geeks. The universe implodes, I gather.
Emma, myself and Joe got to work immediately making new questions with Julie’s blessing. We cut our easier questions and replaced them with some doozies. We asked our questions and with the amount they were getting right, we all sat back and waited to sound our applause for them…
And it never came.
We had not gone through hell and high water to falter now! A day may come when we lose a quiz, BUT IT WAS NOT THIS DAY!! With that, Julie announced that Team Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien had clinched its victory!
Then, we all went to bed and prepped for our finale, not without a sudden onset sadness. We had an INCREDIBLE 4×4 off-road safari booked for the whole next day. But, not before we’d have to say goodbye to Julie and eventually, each other.
The Breaking of our Fellowship had come.
– Jake,
22 May 2024
P.S. Jon is also writing about his version of events over on his Tumblr page, Misplaced Midlanders! Check it out!
The Long Expected Journey 