The view from my backyard

So here is a picture I took this morning from my backyard. It's a bit hard to see the lake, which is huge, but covered up by our fence and the house to the left. Sometimes it feels like the mountains are so close, yet so far. There's some snow on the peak of the mountains right now, which is a nice treat after the rains. The weather here has been really weird--it gets really hot one day and then freezing cold the next. I can't wait for the summer to set it so that I don't have to wear my winter gear anymore. I'll get some more pictures of Queenstown up shortly....

Living in Queenstown

I can't believe I've been here over a week! I found a job and a flat in Queenstown just days after arriving. My flatmates are super cool. Two are kiwis, and one's from California. I love the kiwi accent. They say "hay" in the middle and end of every sentence. It's so cute. And they use the word "heaps" all the time, meaning "alot." So, for instance, "they heaps of caas fa sale righ now, hey." Translation: there are alot of cars for sale right now. Ha ha! I also chuckled when one of the English girls at the hostel said, "wha' a bugga'," when I told her I had to work that day. I've come across so many different accents here--australian, kiwi, scottish, irish, english, japanese, brazilian, you name it! i almost always have to ask people to repeat stuff. The flat I'm living in is sweet. It's up on a hill and there's a great view of the lake and mountains from the living room window. My room is small, but very cozy. Emma is one of my flatmates, she's a kiwi and works as a beauty therapist. She did my toenails last night. :) Joe is my flatmate from California, he works at a video store and always brings home movies for us. He's gonna bring some bollywood films for me, hopefully soon. :) And Lee owns the house, he's a kiwi and he works as a plumber. Lee has made this place very homey for us all. So the living situation is great. I've decided to stay in Queenstown for only 3 months, and then head up to the area around the town of Nelson, a hippie beach town. There's a Anahata yoga retreat center up there that I'm planning to stay at for a couple of weeks. They offer reduced rates for accommodations in exchange for work. They have an organic garden, use only solar power, and the retreat center sits on top of a hill overlooking the ocean. The work part of it involves cooking veggie meals, gardening, and cleaning. I also just made a booking for another 4-5 day hike up in the Abel Tasman National Park, which is near Nelson. So that's TWO long hikes that I'm doing during my stay in New Zealand. Man, I hope I survive. The Abel Tasman is along the coast, and it should be so awesome!

First few impressions....

Well, I've only been here in Queenstown for less than 2 days now, but it feels like a week, in a good way. I thought I would get lonely here, but so far I've had plenty of people to talk to, which has kept me from missing home too much. Folks are really nice and helpful. You know how in the United States, you might be suspicious when random people talk to you for a really long time, because you might think they either want something from you or they are trying to sell you something. The first few times random people just chatted me up on the streets for really long periods of time over here, that's what I thought. Later I felt guilty for thinking that because they were genuinely just being nice and friendly. So I like that about this place. I don't know that I'll stay in Queenstown the entire 6 months I'm in New Zealand. Right now, I'm thinking I'll stay here for 3 months, and then go to Nelson (northern part of the South Island) for the remaining 3 months. Nelson is near a beautiful national park, and beaches too! Queenstown is also very beautiful. It's set around a huge lake surrounded by snow-peaked mountains. The snow is starting to melt though, as the summer sets in. The nights and mornings have been chilly, but it tends to warm up a bit in the afternoon. Still, I've had to wear my fleece AND coat! The hostel I'm staying at is cool. But I must say, I feel like the high maintenance backpacker. One of my hostel-mates was making fun of me because my luggage is so big. I don't know how these backpackers do it. They're also staying for about 6 months, sometimes more, and they're carrying 1/3 of the baggage that I'm carrying. And I thought I minimized! I'm still trying to figure out how to use my laptop here so that I can post some pictures on this blog. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon so that I can share with you all!