On the way to Queenstown we stopped this amazing fruit shop. I have never seen so much fruit, so many varieties, in so many ways (fresh, dried, ice cream, etc) in one place!! I bought some dried kiwi and peacherines - both of which were extremely good. The dried kiwi is a bit chewy, kind of airy, and tastes just like kiwi. The peacherines are soft on the outside like a peach and taste like a bit of both. Most of us then got a double scoop ice cream cone, sat outside and ate it, while enjoying the weather and view of the mountains before getting back on the bus. As we neared Queenstown we decided that we would do half and half with girls and guys in the rooms. The room I was in was to be me, Hayley and Sophie (the 2 girls from London), Matt and Calvin (the 2 boys from Canada), and Dan (1 of the guys from Essex). Everyone else from our group was in the other room. The rooms had ensuite bathrooms which was pretty nice considering I'd be staying there for 4 nights (some stayed 2 nights, some stayed 3, and some stayed 4). Luckily, the boys were gentlemen and let us girls have the bottom bunks (a big deal when staying in hostels). Then we all got ready and headed to the bus dinner at Fat Badger for pizza.
I was starving by the time we got to dinner because what I hadn't realized was that that ice cream was our lunch. The dinner cost $15 and was all you can eat pizza, but unfortunately they kept bringing out all these crazy combos, so I only got about 3 or 4 slices, so I didn't really get my money's worth. The pizza dinner was a lot of fun though. We all got to chat, laugh, hang out with Motors, get to know people not in our smaller group, etc. It was funny to see the difference between when pizza came out to our table and when pizza came out to the other 2 tables (a different bus company). At the other tables the noise level didn't change, practically no one stood up, and there was no commotion whatsoever. At our table it got really loud, people standing and leaning, handing plates this way and that way, shouting down the table, etc... we were pretty much like a group of crazed vultures. After dinner we headed to the onsite bar for karaoke night.
Our group plus a few other "cool" people from our bus
Vultures I tell ya!!
Waiting for Pizza with Sophie (London)
There was a good amount of people at the bar although I felt like 1/4 of the people were our bus. When we got there whoever wanted to sing put their name and song on a piece of paper and gave it to the DJ. They called up the people in a random order. I felt bad for the people that sang and no one was on the floor or for the people that sang and people were on the floor but didn't seem to be enjoying themselves. Stray (our bus company) however, knows how to have a good time. A few songs after it started our bus got called up to sing Living On A Prayer (video below). We all huddled together on the stage, sang to our heart's content, and danced when the song called for it. One of the guys from our group, Max (French), got up with our bus driver, Motors, and sang Wonderwall. So naturally all of the Stray bus got right up near the stage, linked arms, swayed, and sang along as loudly as we could. And then cheered ever so loudly when they finished. Just after that one of the girls from our group, Poppy (England), got up and sang With or Without You. We stayed up front, arms linked, swaying, and singing. At the end we chanted her name and cheered as loudly as we could and she got complimented by the MC. From our bus, Iki and 2 other girls sang together as well as another guy who sang solo and another girl. We were there from beginning to end and no other group had as much fun, as much energy, or as much support. Unfortunately because the winning prize was done from a drawing of names our Poppy didn't win, but we had fun and that's really all that mattered to any of us.
Motors - The best bus driver ever!!
During Wonderwall or With or Without You (from me to the end of my left is half of our group, the rest are behind us somewhere)
We all had a long day and had a huge day of bungys planned for the next day so as soon as karaoke was over we all headed up to bed. We were all hoping that we'd actually be able to get sleep amid the nervousness and anxiety of what was to come in the morning/afternoon.
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