We've been in Queenstown for 3 days now. Our B&B sits high on a hill just outside the city and the location affords us a fantastic view. From our balcony we can look to the right and see the deep blues of Lake Wakatipu and the lights of the town center; to the left we see the craggy Remarkables mountain range. (We're told that the Remarkables is one of only two ranges that runs true North to South, but I haven't bothered to confirm that.)

Queenstown is much smaller than I'd expected and has only ~10,000 residents, with perhaps the same number of transient workers to support the busy ski season and summer season. It's certainly a tourist town with all the pros and cons that entails: there are tons of little shops and great restaurants, but there are also lots of other people (tourists, yuck :) browsing those stores and eating in those restaurants. It actually isn't bad now, but I'd hate to be here during peak times.

Sadly, we haven't formed the same emotional connection to Queenstown that we did to Christchurch. The alpine scenery is beautiful, and the journey here was mind blowing, but we just don't feel inspired here. There are fewer people here than Christchurch, and less shops, and less traffic, and yet we find ourselves wistfully remembering the Langdon House B&B, the Avon River running through downtown, and the welcoming Kiwi spirit. Maybe we're just in sensory overload from an eventful trip, or maybe Queenstown just isn't what we were looking for in New Zealand.

It's getting late, and my wife just hinted that it was time for me to wrap up the laptop for the evening, so for now I'll just post some pictures from our B&B and from our walks around town. Tomorrow morning, before leaving for the airport, I'll briefly share photos from some of the activities we enjoyed in Queenstown: the Canyon Swing, a nature walk and a helicopter flight/winery tour.

Until then, there's one last sleep in the land of the Kiwi…

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