New Zealand Day 4: Serene Solitude at Ben Lomond Track

So, after four whole months of abandoning my New Zealand posts mid-way, I’m taking steps to rectify this. Opening that little black journal made me dive into my memories again, seeing the emotions eloping through the carefully written words that I’ve written mostly before I went to sleep on a particular day. It’s been wild.

Day 4 – Thursday, 19th November 2009

#1 I woke up at 8 without any alarm clock, went to get the free bread in the kitchen for breakfast (or at least, I think they’re free and not someone else’s…), then chillaxed at this cool, contemporary-looking lounge that’s just next to the kitchen and the dining area.

#2 Modern and large kitchen—possibly the largest I’ve ever seen of all the guesthouses I’ve stayed in NZ, and that’s probably because Nomads Queenstown is huge as well and could possibly keep like hundreds of visitors at a time.

#3 Even the bathroom was a fairly large area, although the individual cubicles (which reminds me of a military-style bathroom) consisting of the toilets on one side, and the shower on the opposite side were very small.

I contemplated going for the LOTR trip again, and against my will, I decided to just go anyway since I was there and it might be ages before I ever return there. When I went downstairs to meet the counter lady again from last night, she phoned the tour operator and told me that they have been fully booked since two days ago. I was half-relieved, half-disappointed—half-relieved because this rather difficult decision was made up for me.

And I decided not to spend more money on the Overshot Jet thingy despite how cool it sounded like. Intense adrenaline-pumpin’ moments are meant to be shared with the people you care about, I thought, and experiencing it without a partner and trying to retell these moments later would have a lesser effect than having someone who has experienced it reliving the moments with you.

#4 Yeah this entire building is Nomads Queenstown.

I contemplated lazing around, then I booked a NZD$39 train ticket from Picton to Christchurch at the local i-SITE. The lady told me that there are no $6 meals around here when I asked. -_-

#5 People and birds basking in the sunlight.

#6 Ended up at a fish and chips stall not too far away from Nomads, and proceeded to feast to satiate my growling stomach. I shared the table with a couple of Singaporeans and a Malaysian, with another white dude sitting at the same table a little later.

#7 A view of a part of Queenstown with the surrounding mountains.

#8 At the spur of the moment, instead of lazing around, I decided to go and hitch the gondola to the top.

#9 Ohai thar.

#10 Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown, and the Skyline gondola.

#11 Beautiful view.

#12 Panoramic view of Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown.

#13 Gondola against the lake.

While the view was great, I thought, “Is that it?” as I had paid NZD$23 (return ticket) to get to the top. After napping for a while on a chair, I went to take more photos at the viewing deck (asked a Japanese couple to help take pics of me), and then decided to explore the place a little more to make full use of the ticket I paid for.

#14 Me with Lake Wakatipu.

#15 The sky cleared up a little bit and Lake Wakatipu became a serene, quiet body of blue.

#16 Enlisted a Japanese lady to snap this for me.

#17 A look of a staggeringly long road snaking through the mountains.

#18 Another clickable panorama of Lake Wakatipu.

I then went up to the luge track, then stumbled on the Ben Lomond Track and Skyline Loop Track, which was when I decided off the bat to explore a little bit.

#19 Near the luge track was a bunch of signs signifying how far you are compared to a different country.

#20 Then Lake Wakatipu decided to be surrounded by clouds again..

#21 I thought this frame was an excellent idea to showcase simply how beautiful Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu is.

#22 The luge track.

#23 The beginning of the two walking tracks.

#24 A dead tree-related seed or whatever it was on the ground.

#25 The forest, which I thought look remarkably fairytale-like

#26 Another shot of the forest with greener foliage.

#27 Snaking through the forest.

#28 And then it branches out to either continue with the Skyline Loop Track or the Ben Lomond Track. There’s also a rainbow fire hazard warning sign which indicates how likely the forest can catch fire due to the hot weather or sommat wtf.

When I saw how potentially beautiful the Ben Lomond Track is, I decided to venture further.

#29 There was a minor internal debate in which I tried to convince myself to return, but I saw how narrow the track was and how beautiful the view offered of Lake Wakatipu and the nearby hills and snow-capped mountains that I pressed on. I stopped way too many times to take photos too that I barely inched much in the span of 30 minutes.

#30 Lake Wakatipu. I think I texted Kai Tzin and Matt over how lovely the track and the view was. Also I made full use of my NZ SIM card with some 100MB or so free data connection, snapped a photo from my phone and upload it to Facebook. In a way it feels oddly surreal that despite being alone in the middle of a walking track with nary a person in sight, I’m somewhat still connected to the real world.

I was entirely alone (until a few people wheezed by) and it felt incredible. I felt adventurous all of a sudden which wiped out whatever depression I had that day, with a surge of sudden euphoria filling me up, that I’m doing something potentially dangerous yet the reward—the view—was completely breathtaking. I could’ve sat there and watched the view for my entire life.

#31 The only real danger was a large bee (bumbleebee, maybe?) buzzing around and a few mountain goats wtf.

#32 Yeah, look at the camera for daddy.

The wind picked up occasionally, making it a little cold.

#33 The wonders of having a Gorillapod, which certainly came in handy.

#34 This too wtf.

#35 Jumping around near a cliff isn’t dangerous. Nope, not at all…

Satisfied with my photo-taking session, I decided to make my way back. Apparently it would take half a day to complete the track, and it was already around 5pm when I was there, so going even further (even though the thought was tempting) doesn’t sound like a good idea, despite the fact that it only became dark at around 8.30pm-9pm.

#36 Another photo frame that can be found.

#37 Returning to the forest.

#38 I feel like Colombus, discovering a new world.

#39 On the way down the cable car.

#40 Spotted en route to the town centre.

To save money, I ate McDonald’s (cost me NZD$6.20) for dinner.

#41 How my dorm of 12 beds look like. It wasn’t what I had in mind because this was clearly very comfortable for a solo traveller.

#42 My drying towel.

(Notes below are written in point forms in my journal unchronologically, so they might be read as such here. They are the conversations I had with some people that I jotted down as much as I did remember, for the sole purpose of immortalising a connection that is often fleeting and immaterial.)

After showering and I returned to my dorm, the English guy who was sleeping beneath me came in, tapped me on the shoulder and apologised for waking me up last night (which he did, but I was so dazed I fell asleep again almost immediately and paid no heed to it). He had tried to be really quiet as best as he could, and I replied that it’s alright. “You sure?” he tried to confirm with me, and I replied “Yeah”. Apparently last night he jumped into the lake at 4am and only got back at 5.

When he returned, he saw me looking at my handphone and asked, “Are you okay?” for some weird reason, and I again replied, “Yeah I’m good”.

He went off and came back again with me in my bunk, he introduced himself as Jeremy and we then got to talking. He has apparently been drinking since 6pm (lol, that would explain a lot of things; it was 8-9pm when we talked) and that he drank too quickly.

He said he should really behave his age, and without me asking, revealed that he was 35. I told him he didn’t look 35, and he said, “Why thank you!”.

#43 Jeremy with a very apt tee. He doesn’t look 35 doesn’t he (as of last year anyway)?

Apparently he has been in New Zealand since September 2009, and will be staying in Queenstown till January 2010. He mentioned something about doing New Zealand to find himself, and in a way, I felt the same way too. “For soul-searching”.

He told me that he was somewhat of a failed entrepreneur, and that he has done real estate, pubs… and he was married but was now separated, and used to have a business together until it went nearly bankrupt.

He left the dorm again and I was left in my bunk jotting down in my journal when he came back (and Jodie the South African girl came back shortly before that), said sorry that he rambled a lot and then proceeded to wear a blue tee (in the above picture) on top of his current one. I told him he looked good in it, to which he said, “No, you’re just saying that”, but then he asked if he looked fine in it, and I said yes, and he said, “I don’t know why I trust you but I will; I don’t even know you”.

He also picked up two cans of beer, tried to decide between the two, then put both hands behind his back and asked, “Left or right?” and I said “right”, and it was a beer with a black part at the top of the label.

#44 Lying down with the aforementioned beer.

I asked if I could take a photo of him and he obliged—I told him I like to take photos of people I meet during my travels, and he laughed and said, “You mean stupidly drunk people” lol. And he earlier asked if he looked stoned cos someone told him that, and I said no, just happy and a lil drunk lol.

He also apparently calls himself “Jess” for short (from Jeremy) wtf.

Another English guy (at least I think he was) in checkered shirt asked me, “Light on, light off?” in a goofy smile hahaha. Earlier Jeremy turned off the light when I told him I’ll be sleeping early, and he ended up turning the lights off when he asked if I want the lights on or off, which I told him, “Up to you”.

Jeremy also lives at the south of England, Winchester or sommat.

He recommended me to go to Glenorchy, which he described to me as the best place in NZ. He told me about the 2 German girls who hitchhiked to Glenorchy, and this really nice lady showed them the lakes and everything, and I think he wanted to try it as well. Apparently it was the highlight of their trip.

I also talked to my German dormmate, and asked about her canyoning trip, to which she said that she’s not the thrill-seeker kind but it was really cool, and the water was really cold as well and she had to keep her hands warm by putting them out of the water. At that point I asked her if she knew how to turn off the room’s air-con as it was exceptionally cold (she agreed), and thankfully she did.

He also mentioned something about NZ being relaxing and it’s like being baby-sat, to which he kept asking me, “Do you understand what I mean?”. I told him South-East Asia isn’t anything like that, and told him to be more cautious/wary when he’s there. He then asked, “Can I party?” or something cos I misunderstood and misheard him and said “No”, which he then asked, “I can’t party?”.

He talked about NZ being a party country, and I said yeah, in Queenstown, and apparently he really does think that way about the whole country. “Or maybe I just hang out with the wrong crowd” lol.

He also asked if I drink, and I said “Yeah, sometimes”, and he said something like, “Not as much as me though”. Apparently he gets hammered here nearly every night.

Jodie mentioned, “The Aussies can’t hold their drinks” and they (the two girls) preferred the Kiwis better. Also something about the English who likes to pick a fight for no reason, especially if you looked at someone else’s girlfriend, according to the South African girls.

Jeremy mentioned that I sound smart and experienced, as if I’ve been travelling for a long while (after I told him about Thailand, such as Couchsurfing at Johnny’s, and Laos). I also told him about Couchsurfing when he asked how I met the Finnish guy whom I would be travelling with tomorrow.

When he left to get on with his drinking session at another bar with his friends, he wished me for my travels, “Good luck, buddy”.

#45 Lying down with the aforementioned beer.

After taking photos of him, I asked him if he’d like me to e-mail the photos to him, and he was like, “Yeah. Um no. Yeah. Um nah I’ll probably regret it”, lol.

He also said that he like girls a little too much, whatever that means, and that we should learn from mistakes.

Thanks Jeremy, for possibly the most insightful and somewhat inspiring conversation I had with a fellow traveller in this entire journey of mine in the South Island.