After having an expensive day yesterday doing the canyoning, the plan for today was to just level out the bank balance and have a cost effective day. Due to this I opted for having a lie in which worked out pretty well in the end sleeping in until about 8.15! After relaxing in bed for a while I soon emerged to ensure I got the free hostel breakfast of toast and jams before the finish time at 9. Half the time I was having jam sandwiches though because I wanted to maximise my intake of food and that was the quicker option!
Still with no idea of my plans for the day, I thought I would go out for a walk round town. When leaving the hostel however I found out it was a pretty grotty day outside which chucked my idea of having a ride on the gondola to go luging because it can't operate in wet conditions. The weather wasn't that bad however and it didn't stop me having a walk round the shops where I came up with my idea for day, well at least the morning .
Yesterday when walking through the gardens which is based on this peninsula going into the lake which Queenstown lies on, I found out about this Frisbee golf course which they had. I initially started with a stick on the first hole but soon realised this was impracticable and headed back to the hostel where I found out I could hire a Frisbee for free. Armed with all the equipment I needed I headed back to the Frisbee golf course. The course basically worked by having 18 holes which were either par 3 or 4, ending with these metal baskets surrounded by chains which were designed to get the Frisbee in.
I won't waste my time describing every hole in detail, but I can say I had pretty good start by my standards getting a par, and then bogeys and a double bogey in my first 6 holes. Hole 6 was my first one which presented with me with trees and somehow got a par on that one, although from here it all went downhill as the course went through the forest. I had no skilled aim and my shots were basically luck which meant I kept hitting the trees! By the time I hit the back 9 there were some monster holes in terms of length which I couldn't approach to get a par opportunity. I did soften the blow on the 17th though, almost getting a birdie but eventually settling for a par. In the end I finished +35!
In the end the Frisbee golf took me a fair amount of time, and it was nice whilst going round to get views of the mountains by the lake shrouded in cloud. From here I decided to check out this out of town supermarket, and after about a half hour walk I checked out this bigger alternative supermarket, although it wasn't up there with the likes of countdown. I haven't really seen a proper supermarket since Richmond because the west coast just doesn't have any!
It was then back to the hostel where I had by now decided to go geocaching to maintain my record of not spending any money all day. Queenstown didn't actually have that many compared to many places of its size, although I cracked on, heading into the gardens for my first few finds. Due to the recent rain however I got a little wet when searching in things like bushes for the containers which I luckily found quickly. After my 3rd find I ended up having lunch on the bench over the lake which was pretty scenic. Lunch today was cheese sandwiches, crisps and wafers.
Continuing round the gardens, I got a further find before heading back into town where I got two dnfs with the two urban micros. I am really bad at urban caching due to the high levels of people, and also because they are so crafty with hiding places sometimes. Despite my failure through town, I was nice to check out this market which was selling local handicrafts. My personal favourite was this guy selling these crushed beer bottles which were made into clocks!
My final cache of the day was slightly more out of town forcing me up Queenstown hill, one of the hills overlooking the town. It took me longer than expected to reach the summit here, going up roads to start with and then on this woodland track which just zig zagged the whole way. It was interesting going up seeing these information boards about how Queenstown has evolved from just another gold mining town to the tourist capital it is today. I eventually got myself to the cache location which was nice big ammo can next to a sculpture at the base of the hill.
Instead of heading straight back down, I decided to just scale the 909m summit whilst I was up there, up top getting views of Queenstown which were slightly obscured at the cache location. I also got views of Frankton and more of the lake, as well views of the clouded mountains. Before long however these helicopters landed nearby so I moved on back down the hill to the hostel to relax. It was funny seeing these mountain goats when going down!
When returning back to the hostel I relaxed as climbing the hill took longer than expected! I then got myself up for the hostel free dinner which tonight was cottage pie, although I ended up going to dominoes pizza again because $5 pizza is just mental! That's like dominoes doing a £2.50 pizza deal back home! I then headed back to my room where I had a nap before getting back up again so I could watch the football. Lets say I could have enjoyed a few more hours in bed!
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