Invercargill

Made it to Invercargill yesterday and I'm very much enjoying it here. I drove through Queenstown with the intent on getting a hostel room there....but I did not like the vibe there. The city was teeming with countless tourists dressed in golf pants and safari hats. They were all reading maps, bumping into each other, and fighting over who gets in the queue first for a latte'. It was not a good scene. The main street was littered with outlet stores and shops for people with a lot more money than me. Even the hostels had a weird vibe. I drove by a couple and instead of seeing the usual young backpacker sitting out front next to their backpack....I saw people in polo shirts sipping fancy beers and chuckling about how unsophisticated the hostels are. To make matters worse, the traffic was terrible...especially for someone still learning to drive on the left side. I got a very uneasy feeling there and immediately dropped my plans and headed south to Invercargill. For those of you that have seen the movie "Into the Wild", I compare my feeling in Queenstown...to the feeling that Chris had when he first arrived in San Diego after being in Mexico. Too many people....too fast.

I popped into a hostel here and it is exactly what I was looking for. I think I made the right decision coming down here a day early. The weather is cooler here too. Tomorrow I head out to Stewart Island for a 7+ day tramp along the Northwest Circuit track with some fellow USAP ice folks. I can't wait.

Crazy Suspension Bridge over the Dart River

The Dart Glacier (again)