i think we've found it

right now we've been in queenstown for five days. first we stayed at the Peppers Beacon right in town and were terribly disappointed in the accommodations. there was a kickass heated bathroom floor and free laundry, however this did little to make up for the $185 / night rate, lack of in-house dining (read: no room service) and nightmarish parking/check-in situation. we loitered around queenstown for three days, getting haircuts, going off-roading and eating the best burgers in the world from locals Fergberger (HIGHLY recommended). On day four Andy was feeling up to par (after and completely rocked shoulder due to the crazy uneven sidewalks around here) and we got back to researching.

i really dig queenstown. it makes me think of places like sundance; funky mountain town full of skiers and young people. however, i get the impression it's more a corporate-ised / american-ised shell of what it may have once been. there's a starbucks and a louis vuitton if that paints the picture clearer for you. (FYI: just about every major city has McDonald's, Pizza Hut and KFC.) but the tourists love it. did you know queenstown is the home of bungy jumping? remember that scene in the first lord of the rings movie where they're canoing up the river and they pass between those two huge statues of kings? that's right by the bungy birthplace. also, queenstown is the number one destination for adventure tourism in the entire world. that's da whole of de earf, yo.

but i still like the vibe of the place.

today we left our fancy pants lodging and headed out to arrowtown - about 25 minutes northwest of queenstown. we'd booked three nights at this place called Shades of Arrowtown on account of their having wheelchair accessible lodgings and internet (our two must-haves) at the attractive rate of $95 / night. this is cheaper even than the local "campground."

we woke up and stuffed the luggage in the Subaru Forrester (our new favorite touring car) under the hoovering eyes of the housekeeping staff - something that will never, ever, never happen at our establishment - and headed out to have breakfast in arrowtown. we'd intended to kill the morning exploring the very small historic village but those plans were cast aside while looking through the local real estate publishing. it would seem Shades of Arrowtown is up for sale. we hurried over and checked in.

we were the first to check in and took advantage of the down time by falling to chatting with Anne, one of the property co-owners. the three of us chatted about the business and our lives for a good part of the afternoon until more guests started arriving. it would seem that the owners are a family from the UK. they moved here as a temporary stopover while their Australian VISAs got processed - seven years ago. Anne's brother bought the property in partnership with Anne and her husband. The husband and brother then built the entire lodging facilities themselves and have run it ever since. Eventually the brother bought out the whole lot and now everyone is moving on. this property really has everything we're looking for:

- minutes outside a major city
- self contained cottages
- potential for growth (we want to put in a fancy pants cottage and convert the manager's cottage in to a backpackers barracks)
- protected atmosphere / setting

we haven't talked price yet but we're planning to have dinner with Anne and her husband and brother. we're thinking if we can get a taste for it that would help. perhaps running the place while the family goes on holiday. i reckon they're not terribly excited about simply handing over the business to two yank strangers for any amount of time.

wish us luck. if this works...well...don't hate us alex, we love you bunches. and tom and tessa, pack up your stuff and welcome to indentured servitude! muahahahahah!

also, there's a cafe for sale in town. perfect for someone to open up a burrito / tequila joint or a stellar internet cafe. (*cough*tom*cough*estebanbringyourmom'stortillarecipe*cough*)

best. day. evar.

1. wake up next to my honey and not be in a rush to check out
2. take advantage of the day's short two hour drive from Haast to Queenstown by taking an off-road, muddy, cow-poop-filled detour along the sea shore
3. pull off the freeway for an hour to drive down to the banks of a very large, very shallow and unrealistically clear river in order to fill up the water bottle and take the risk of drinking right from the earth (it was really good and really cold)
4. decide the river bank is a great spot for a midday break by making a small fire in the stone and smoking half a j
5. pull off the freeway to investigate "Thunder Creek Falls" only to find the entire path is wheelchair accessible, the sub-tropical/alpine (yes, you heard right) forest is breathtaking, to find a brilliant waterfall that makes you wish it's summer and you can wade across the river and sit under the waterfall. after watching the water fall down the cliff for what turned out to be twenty-five minutes we realised we were completely stoned.
6. consume an entire large bag of apricot oatmeal yoghurt cookies in five minutes
7. take in the river views of haast pass
8. pull off the freeway to witness brush fires being tended to by a helicopter. the copter would dip his ginormous bucket in to the lake, fly over us to the fires and dump the lot. he gave up about fifteen minutes after we started watching. the poor guy hadn't accomplished much.
9. arrive in to queenstown just as the sun is setting against the mountains, check in to the lovely peppers hotel and enjoy our lake/mountain view.
10. have a delicious supper of "wengyu" (the new zealand version of kobe) and porterhouse accompanied by the world's best potato salad at Beefeater Steak House
11. take in a screening of the most excellent action extravaganza Bourne Ultimatum 
12. hurry home in the freezing wind to curl up in snuggly bed comfort with my honey

shoot me now

photos found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaearhart