* * Day 10, Queenstown

So even paradise can lose its luster sometimes. I’ll explain in a moment.

This was to be our quiet day, not many miles, not many new people or new experiences. We started the day by washing and drying a couple of loads of clothes (which cost us $10). We had a leisurely morning wandering the main street of Te Anau, loving the sunshine. We bought groceries for the day’s breakfast and lunch and we dined at an outside picnic table. There was a fountain beside out table, a boulder with plumbed water spilling from the top and rippling down it. Te Anau is a lovely little town, right by water’s edge.

We headed eastward, out of town on the same highway where we’d arrived yesterday. We stopped for gasoline – petrol – and poured another $90 worth into the tank (our fourth so far). We then turned north and made an impromptu stop at an attraction which was a scenic steam railroad. Inexplicably, it was closed for “cleaning and maintenance.” This would be the busiest tourist time of the year for this area, yet they chose it for a down-time. We had lunch on a picnic table by the lake and then walked on a nature trail nearby.

Our destination for the day was Queenstown, where we were to have an orientation meeting for tomorrow’s 3-day hike on the Routeburn Track, one of the premier hiking trails in the world. We then sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic for an hour, missing our meeting. The cause? An accident? No. A construction site? No. Answer: There’s but a one-lane bridge leading into town on one of its main highways. Grrrr! There are apparently always backups, but with the New Year’s traffic it was much worse.

We finally arrived and attended the end of our meeting where we got our orientation, borrowed backpacks, sheets, and pack covers, then hired trekking poles. We checked into our hotel – a much nicer one than we expected, and then wandered into town where dinner as usual was twice as expensive as home. The whole town has the feel of a Myrtle Beach or Miami at spring break, except it is colder and hillier. Teenagers cruise up and down the street and honk at each other. Bars overflow onto the sidewalks.

My women are busily packing for the hike just now. Jane is fretting over what to pack to keep herself comfortable. She’s habitually either too warm or too cold, often at the same time. The weather report? "Dismal" would be an understatement. Tomorow, cool with rain. Day after, cool with heavy rain. Day after, cool with rain. The weather improves once we're done.

We depart early in the morning and this will be my last chance to post for the next three days. Then I’ll send a full report on the premier hike in the most appealing nation on earth.