Luge is the only sport where you can die during the event and still win.

After yesterdays huge rushes of adrenaline, I decided to take it easy for a little bit by doing the luge in Queenstown before I had to go pick up my rental car. I wasn't expecting too much out of it, however I had a lot more fun than I anticipated. I took the gondola ride up to the top of the hill overlooking Queenstown. It is from here the paragliders launch with there also being a bungy platform, restaurant, and luge facility. Once getting to the top I had to hop on another lift to the top of the luge area, grab a helmet, and then take down one of the tracks. The first track was required to be the scenic, slower trail so that riders could get use to the pod, however steering and braking were pretty easy to figure out. Once one got to the end you just had to hop back onto the lift which automatically picked up the pods and deposited them at the top, so there was no real work involved. I took a total of 6 rides town the track and had a blast not only passing others, but taking the curves way too quickly and just skimming over the concrete surface!

I timed my car rental so that it would have to be returned just a couple of hours before my flight in Christchurch in a couple of weeks. After the morning activities, I was picked up by the car agency and got my vehicle. The campa (kind of like a kombi) from Jucy Rentals was a great setup for travelers. It had a small kitchen area with a sink, stove, chill box (which barely kept anything cold), eating utensils, and seating that could be converted to a full sized bed. I was a little nervous at first in driving on the left side of the road and dealing with round-abouts, however I got used to the driving very quickly. I never did completely get out of the habit of hitting the windshield wipers many time when I was attempting to signal a turn since the controls were completely opposite as they are in the United States. I suppose seeing someone with wipers at an intersection is an easy way for a Kiwi to know someone is from out of the country.

After getting the car and driving around a bit, I decided to stay in Queenstown for the evening since it was already getting late and I preferred to drive in the day in order to take in the scenery. That evening after sneaking a shower and use of the kitchen at the Base X hostel, I went pub crawling and ended up at an Irish bar with a live band. While just enjoying a drink and the music, I started talking to a couple of girls, Cindi and Emily, after one had asked if I was on the Routeburn Track recently. Apparently they were in the Falls Hut the same time as I and saw me when I was listening to my audio book. We started chatting about the trail and experiences so far and got to the plans for the future. I explained that I was probably heading south and had no set plan. Everything I had done for the past month was pretty much planned out in advanced day by day, so I intentionally left the rest of the trip with no set schedule. The girls were traveling together and had planned to rent a car, however after a bit of comparing notes on what we wanted to see, I offered to have them join me for a few days. So after a couple of hours of conversation, we made plans for me to pick them up from the hostel the next morning and hit the road. This kind of spontaneous experience is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy when traveling; leaving oneself open the the opportunity to meet others and go in an unexpected direction to see wherever the road may go!