Queenstown=Remarkable

I arrived in Queenstown, found my hostel, got showered and hit the ground running. Queenstown is beautiful. It is on a lake surrounded by snowcapped mountains. The downtown area is covered with bars, tourist shops, and anything you could ever want to do. Bungee, Canyon swing, skydive, snowboard, jet boating, the list is endless. I could have spent my entire budget in a week in this town.
I was expecting to arrive in New Zealand and be on my own for a while, which I was perfectly fine with. Come to find out I had a mutual friend there who graciously met up with me and showed me around a bit. The problem was finding him as we both didn't have cell phones. Oh the joys of facebook. I sent him a message when I got in telling him I was in town if he wanted to meet up. I got one back sending me on a scavenger hunt. Find his roomate who works at the Quicksilver store who will ring his roomate who he will be meeting up with later in the day. Some how it worked and soon after Anthony, Brett, and I were drinking ciders and carrying away. we spent the rest of the night meeting up with his other roomates/friends and went to quite a few of the bars in town. Not bad for a first night I must say.
The next day I went snowboarding, on the 5th of July but technically it was the 4th of July in the States. So here I am on this mountain, small, smaller than Ski Apache but amazing nontheless. No trees, just snow. The weather wasn't idea and my goggles kept freezing over but thankfully the guys were pretty familiar with the mountain and knew where to go and where not to. BTW the ski are was called the Remarkables, hence the title. The road up there on the other hand was a different story. Think the road to Ski Apache but no pavement, just gravel, no guardrails, no trees to stop you if you slipped over the edge, and did I mention we were on a bus? I tried not to look out the windows but the view was incredible so I did away with my fear and enjoyed the ride.