There were several optional activities scheduled for the morning, however all but one ended up being cancelled due to a major downpour of rain. The excursion I had chosen was a helicopter flight to see Mt Cook and the Fox Glacier, as well as a landing on Fox Glacier. Another excursion, the heli-hike, a helicopter flight up to Fox Glacier and then hiking around the glacier, was also cancelled. The only excursion that still went on was the hike around the base of Fox Glacier. Many did end up going on the Glacier hike, but just the same, many stayed back at the hotel for the next few hours until the hikers would return. After having breakfast, some of us played cards, while others went back to their rooms and slept. As morning went on, the rain slowed and then suddenly, the clouds cleared and the sun was out. Just on cue, the hikers returned, all of them soaked at least up to their knees. After nearly all of them changed into dry clothes, we boarded the coach and were on our way to the adventure capital, Queenstown.

This was to be one of our longer drives, so after we stopped for lunch and were back on our way, Gavin had us play "Celebrity Heads". Ranny, our resident 2nd Generation Filipino Educated in Hawaii, was the first contestant. Ranny had to walk down to the front of the coach and face everybody as Gavin put a straw hat on his head that had a piece of paper taped to the front that said "Snow White". Ranny had to ask questions with "Yes" or "No" answers that all the rest of us on the coach had to answer for him until he figured out who's name was on his head. In the end we had to practically give the answer away to the 2nd Generation Filipino Educated in Hawaii. His prize was a condom, courtesy of AJ Hackett Bungy, the original bungee jump operator, made of latex just like bungee cords are. Each contestant got to choose the next contestant that had to play and each got the same prize. There were such famous names as "Bugs Bunny", "Bill Clinton", "Barbie", "Bill Clinton", ending off with David wearing "Anastacia".

As we got closer to Queenstown and further south, the roads got windier and the surrounding mountains got larger. We saw some truly amazing scenery during the drive. At one point, we drove into a long one lane tunnel. Other cars travelling in the opposite direction could only get past carefully in the tight space. As we drove in, Gavin played the Mission: Impossible Theme. Upon exiting the tunnel, everybody gave our driver, Tracy a round of applause. However, that wasn't the end of the road challenges. Most of the road leading down into Queenstown twisted and turned so sharply that Tracy had to slow the coach down to a near crawl to avoid having the coach go right over the edge and down the mountain side.

We arrived in Queenstown and stopped on the shore of Lake Wakatipu for our group photograph, with the mountains named the Remarkables as the backdrop. Several pictures were taken, including two in which we were told to act silly. The one that turned out the best was actually one of the silly ones, as shown below.

We hopped back on the coach for the short drive up to the Queenstown Lodge, our accommodation for the next three nights. For the first time, most of the rooms were quad share. My roommates for this extended stay in Queenstown were Chad, Mick, and the 2nd Generation Filipino Educated in Hawaii. The room had two bunk beds; Mick and Chad took the top bunks and 2nd Generation Filipino Educated in Hawaii and I took the bottom bunks. We also had an excellent view of the lake and the Remarkables from our room. We got into Queenstown earlier than expected and so we had plenty of time to kill until we were to meet for dinner and then go out and "party like a rock star" again. The four of us had established an "open door policy", where the door to our room was pretty much left open anytime anyone was in the room. For fun, we all stood inside the room and just stared into the hallway, just to see other people look in as they walked by, as nobody can resist not looking into an open doorway.

We all met in the bar to have few drinks (yes, I felt well enough to have a drink after taking the previous night off) before we all boarded the coach for the short drive to the base of the Skyline gondola, which was to take us up to the Skyline Restaurant, which overlooked all of tiny Queenstown, 790m above sea level. Our gondola passes were good for an additional ride up and down that we could use anytime for the remaining two days we were in town. As we approached the top, we saw people at the Ledge Bungy, a bungee jump with a 47m drop 400m above Queenstown. We would be back here in a couple of nights to see Fred and Colleen the Machine jumping.

Dinner was a six course Taste of New Zealand Buffet covering all types of New Zealand cuisine. We also had live entertainment during dinner. Dinner was very good, with a large variety of foods to choose from. Indrani managed to secure a small cup of Baileys flavoured ice cream, to which many others scrambled to the ice cream freezer to find, but without any luck.

As dinner was winding down, some of us headed up stairs and outside to see the view of the city from outside and above. We weren't outside for very long as it was very cold and windy being up so high. Being in Queenstown finally, everybody was talking about what activities they were going to participate in. Who was going to bungee jump? Who was going to go tandem skydiving? Who was going to go tandem hand gliding? Anyone up for rafting? For some, just taking the gondola up and down was extreme enough.

We headed back down the gondola where Gavin lead us all to a small nightclub. Again, the drinks were flowing freely around, and people were early onto the dance floor. As expected, Anastacia's "I'm Outta Love" was played and everyone in our group got onto the dance floor. However, soon after that and only after a few drinks, I didn't feel so well. It was possible my body hadn't fully recovered from the binge back in Christchurch. A headache and a queasiness in my stomach was enough for me to call it quits for the night, despite a willingness to stay. It was just as well since the next day would be one of the most active ones we'd have on the tour and it would be better to be in good health the next morning, than to be sick and hung over. I headed out and found a group of ladies from our tour, who had all decided to retire for the night as well, waiting for a taxi. A Queenstown Taxi van pulled up and took us back to the Queenstown Lodge.

A rainy morning in Fox Glacier

Rest stops on our way to Queenstown

The Remarkables in Queenstown

The view from our room