The Coolest Kiwi Corner: Part I

Day 1

We'd already heard that New Zealand's South Island was the more beautiful of the two, but what took me by surprise was seeing nothing but snow-capped mountains beneath us as we looked down from the aeroplane. After a 1 hour and 20 minute flight, we landed in Queenstown too late for breakfast but not late enough for lunch. As we walked to arrivals, we were surprised by a busy airport, a stark contrast to the near-deserted Wellington airport we'd departed from that morning.

After a trek through the airport our luggage in tow, we got to Hertz car rentals to pick up our Kia Carnival. We hoped the car would be like the one we'd rented in the North Island - so new that we were the first to use it. As we walked through the rows and rows of rentals, we saw the car - our car for the next few days. Just as big as the last one rented in the North Island. but not nearly as good. Any hopes of having another brand new car plummeted as we ducked our heads inside to see the countless stains and bits of dust and crumbs. Being the only one willing to occupy the very back seat, I found myself sitting with the two backpacks behind my head, a suitcase by my side, and various marks - red, white, and brown - above me. From the airport we made our way to our first stop, The Boat Shed Cafe. It started pouring!

The cafe was by the edge of Lake Wakatipu. It was a small wooden building with a bright red door. The waiters were rushing in and out of the kitchen to get to the tables and just behind the door was a crowd, either waiting to be seated or simply seeking shelter from the onslaught of rain. We'd made a booking beforehand, but what we hadn't prepared for was reaching too early for our own booking, which found us out of the cafe and on the pier just metres away.

It was still raining, so we sought shelter in The Boat Shed Bakery. We bought a simple but delicious pesto-feta-dukka danish, while the fam - that's the term the grown-ups in our two-family-group use to refer to each other - ordered a passionfruit and mango mousse cake. We ate our snack and treat standing under a garden umbrella outside the bakery as it was only a small shop with limited space inside. We ate with a view of the mountains across the lake, largely shielded by fog but still showing the snow that covered the otherwise dark peaks. Five minutes... then ten... a few pictures of the boats lined up on the pier... twenty minutes... my parents and I returned to the car because just standing outside in the cold and staring at the mountains got boring... twenty five minutes... we were scrolling in the car, each to our own, and chatting... the fam joined us... thirty minutes... thirty five... it was finally our booking time!

It was a beautiful cafe with equally beautiful food:

• my dad had breakfast butty

• my mum had chorizo scramble,

• the fam had mushroom pasta, and

• I had cilbir eggs.

We ate happily and hungrily, each of us getting drinks that we thought would go well with the food. My parents got a Biscoff coffee, while I tried a strawberry matcha after being told by my friend that it was great. It was.

The sun was out. Although it was cold, my mum couldn't resist stepping outside to take photos!

By the time we left, it was almost 12:30 pm. Still too soon to check into the Airbnb, we started a windy drive along Lake Wakatipu to Glenorchy. What showed on google maps as a 50-minute drive stretched far longer as we stopped every few minutes to admire and photograph the vast lake and snowy mountains before us. Sometimes the sky was covered in menacing clouds, and sometimes a bright afternoon sun flooded the winding road.

Once we did finally reach the town, however, we realised there was little to do with the time we had, so we stopped briefly outside the General Store, bought a bottle of water, and headed to the Airbnb we would spend the next three nights in.

On the way back, we made an unplanned stop at the Bennetts Bluff Lookout. A very short hike to the viewpoint opened up the panorama of Lake Wakatipu with the backdrop of snow-capped mountains. The rain had stopped, and although the wind had picked up, the sun peering through the clouds and engulfing us was nice and warm!

Perched on a high plot, and with a perfect view of Lake Wakatipu and the mountains, our three-storey Airbnb was a dream come to life. The entrance was at the top floor, where the master bedroom was also located, and stairs led down to the other two. The ground floor had the remaining two bedrooms and the floor in between was where the kitchen and lounge were. Each floor had its own balcony. After setting up our rooms and relaxing for a bit, we headed to the city centre, to Ferburger, to be specific.

As soon as we left the multi-storey carpark right in the middle of the city centre, the cold air hit us. The walk to Ferburger was no more than 200 metres. The city was abuzz with loud music and constant chatter. The main source of all that excitement was a snowboarding competition at what we later discovered to be Brian Smith Park. Snow had been piled into a large hill, which competitors were riding down, while deafening music and the booming voice of the commentator streamed out of the speakers that seemed to have been placed all around the city! The ground beneath us vibrated solely from the noise! We watched the event for a while before continuing to Ferburger.

The queue outside the burger joint was at least 100 metres long! We devised a plan - that we'd be taking turns in pairs to keep our spot in the line so that the others were free to do as they pleased. I paired up with my mum and took this opportunity to find the nearest grocer to buy onions. We found a Four Square supermarket about 200 metres away. We bought the onions and returned to the Ferburger queue. Our waiting pair had travelled up several metres. They were happy to stay, so my mum, who had caught a cold and was feeling a bit tired, and I decided to find a relatively uncrowded corner and people-watch.

In the movie Wonder, Auggie, the main character, said that you could learn a lot about people by looking at their shoes, and I believed that to be true. As each person walked by, I looked down at their shoes moving across the footpath. Most wore skater shoes, thick and chunky around the ankles, the kind of shoes I would browse on the internet when I had spare time in class! To me it looked like wearing Vans was almost like a city-wide culture. The fasihion, along with the noise and crowd, made abundantly clear the kind of city Queenstown was - always alive and kicking!

When the burgers were collected and everyone was accounted for, we drove back to the Airbnb. We freshened up before finally sitting down with the famed food. Baba and I had Sweet Bambi and Maa Cockadoodle Oink. The Fam had Ferg-lafels. And we all had onion rings.

The burgers were massive, full with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cheese, and of course, the patty. Each bite as perfect as the one before, every ingredient filling the mouth. One would think that a burger could be devoured in no time, but the sheer size of the ones we were eating held us back from a quick and easy meal. They were difficult to hold even with both hands!. Elbows on the table and all proper dining etiquette forgotten, we bit into them. The sauce rolled down and smeared our palms.

The night rolled by as everyone retired to their parts of the airbnb. Harsh and I were excited about the activities planed for the next day, especially the luge. After a short debate on when the alarm should be set, we tucked ourselves in, planning on falling asleep by 11:00 pm. However, we chatted for over two hours like we'd done every night up until then and only really fell asleep sometime after 1:30 am!