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We started our weekend on Saturday afternoon with a good session of rugby. The Rugby Sevens is a national tournament where all the national teams have a chance to play each other for only seven minute halves. This year the tournament was held in Queenstown and just happened to land on our roommate’s birthday. Ali and Steve were already with a crowd of friends at the rugby field and Steve was already well on his way to a good sunburn and hangover the following morning. Saturday was also Alan and Lily’s last night in Queenstown, and all of New Zealand, before flying to Australia. We met up with them at the entrance to the Rugby Sevens and spent the afternoon drinking Speights (which they only sold in 6-packs at the games), eating sausage rolls (a sausage served in a slice of regular sandwich bread), and trying to understand the rules of the game. For their final evening in town we went out to dinner at The Cow, a small pizza restaurant that we have become very fond of, and out for a mandatory-last-night-in-Queenstown-dessert at Patagonia Chocolates, another favorite. Thanks for spending the day with us Alan and Lily and have a great time in Australia. After saying goodbye to them, we made our way to Monty’s where we were supposed to meet Steve and Ali for the rest of the evening of birthday fun. There was no sign of them and we quickly found out that the birthday boy decided to call it a night a little early. We were bummed to have missed him but decided to enjoy some local beats by the band Pass the Sauce before making our way home.

We’ve spent the majority of our weekends and time off in New Zealand exploring the country’s trails by foot. This changed on Sunday afternoon. Coronet Peak, a local ski area, maintains a few downhill mountain biking trails with lift access and although neither one of us had ever been on an official downhill bike* (despite BJ’s very skilled past on a motorcross bike), we decided to rent downhill bikes and spend the evening playing on the trails. (For those who need a little explanation: a downhill bike differs from a cross-country bike (what we ride back in Idaho) in that the center of balance is slightly farther back, the shocks are much larger, and it is very difficult if not impossible to actually ride a downhill bike up a hill.) Although we’ve been relatively dedicated bikers for the last few summers, it took a couple runs of slowing down through the banked turns and rolling over the small jumps to really feel stable again. And then we couldn’t get enough of it . . . gaining speed in the turns, going fast, and jumping (well I only hit the small ones). By the final lap, our butts were sore and our hands and forearms were cramping. But damn it was fun. Still grinning and giddy, we met Steve and Ali in Arrowtown for dinner at the New Orleans Hotel. They had been graciously waiting for us for an hour and were excited to see us so we could all finally order. Once we returned home, BJ quickly hopped on the computer to check the latest bike listings on trademe.co.nz (basically an ebay for New Zealand) while the three of us watched a classic . . . The Lost Boys.

Today, Monday, was the perfect Sunday. We slept in (although it’s very unlike us, I am really starting to enjoy this habit), looked at more bikes online, went for a short hike that overlooks the Shotover River, and played some frisbee by the lake. The Shotover River (or as Gretchen likes to call it, the Shootover) is a hub for many adrenaline seeking visitors. We didn’t realize our hike would be overlooking some of these activities. We watched a handful of people doing a giant canyon swing and watched a jet boat do 360s through tight canyon walls . . . see for yourself.

After wrapping up a work day on Saturday, we popped over to the Queenstown Events Centre, an outdoor venue for cricket and concerts, for the first annual Peak Music Festival. The festival featured a few local bands like dDub and Salmonella Dub, a popular Kiwi band called Kora, British DJs the Utah Saints, and headliner Ministry of Sound. We heard news around 6pm that the Ministry of Sound was still in London and Utah Saints would be appointed the new headliner. Oh well. In the end, we both agreed that the two local bands, dDub and Salmonella Dub, were by far our favorite and perhaps we should have saved the cash and just seen them at a local bar. A majority of the music we have found down here seems to be electronic and Salmonella Dub, with acoustic guitar and bongos, was a live version of what you would normally hear a DJ spinning at a club. They had a lot of energy on stage and we look forward to seeing them live again.

We got a late start on Sunday. Sleeping in to 10am is a rare occurrence for the two of us but with such long days, we hardly noticed. We spent a leisurely morning at home and headed into town around noon for a hike that we have been talking about since we arrived in Queenstown. Ben Lomond peak sits about 4,500 feet above Queenstown, offering views that overlook ALL surrounding mountains. Although a popular trail, we hit it on a beautiful day and enjoyed a late lunch on the peak looking out over Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables.

Probably the highlight of our weekend in Queenstown was a somewhat unexpected visit from two very close family friends. Alan and Lili Penkower have known my dad since the 60s and are very much a part of our family. Their son, Jonathan, spent quite a bit of time living and working in Queenstown about ten years ago and they have been planning a trip down here ever sense. It was a pleasure to show them around during their first visit to Queenstown. We met up with them right before lunch and didn’t stop talking and catching up until we said goodnight just before midnight. We were only able to squeeze out a few stories from them involving my dad and some sort of riot or political march. We had quite a full day as well . . .we went to lunch at Brazz, took a stroll through the Queenstown Gardens, visited the Chinese Settlement in Arrowtown immediately followed by a delicious ice cream cone dipped in chocolate, and after a quick visit to our house, we spent the remainder of the evening enjoying dinner at Fish Bone. They are spending the next few days in the Milford Sound and we will hopefully be able to see them off on their way back through this weekend.