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!