As promised, the Rydges hotel on Lake Esplanade, Queenstown, is popular with young people. Specifically, young Australian students—not a family to be seen. The town itself has all the shops and creature comforts you’d want, all eager to help obliterate your travel budget.

The Remarkables are a popular destination for skiiers and boarders, both beginner and experienced. While the other two were keen to take their new found skiing skills up to the Certain Death run straight away, I was content with the (overcrowded) Probable Injury slope, honing my pizza and french fry fundamentals to perfection. Three days of skiing isn’t enough, because you start to get good and that’s when it becomes enjoyable.

After having to buy things like gloves and thermals, which will be utterly useless back home in the Sunshine State, I’d want to be doing some more skiing in future.

After surviving the icy roads back to Christchurch on the 11th, we hung out there for the evening. Props to Riverview buffet restaurant.

The 6:55am flight on the 12th took us back to Brisbane, where I got to cool my heels for about an hour before getting another plane to Sydney for the Something For Kate/Death Cab For Cutie concert. It would turn out to be a 23 hour day.

New Zealand, you were superb, and I hope to see you again one day. For now, I’m going to just hang out and stop spending money for awhile.