4/4/14
I've been in Queenstown for two months now, tending bar most every night to pay the rent. Not a whole lot has changed, except for the town quieting down a bit after most tourists returned home at the end of summer and the leaves turning as fall came in. There are a lot of evergreens here in Queenstown, but that only serves to enhance the landscape of a beautiful red, yellow, and green patchwork of trees alongside the turquoise lake Wakatipu in the valley below the looming peaks of the Remarkables. Business has slowed with so many tourists leaving town, so everyone's work hours have dropped a little as we close down shop a bit earlier at Coyote and Arnold's Diner only has a single bar manager on staff at a time, with the rest of us being on call for when things get busy. I'm still working six to seven nights a week at Coyote, but with the cost of living being so high here in Queenstown, a bartender's budget doesn't allow for much more than food and rent each week. I'm lucky to have a staff meal each time I clock out, which has saved me a good chunk of money thus far.
Bartending is a bit different out here in New Zealand than it is back in the States, so my expectations and lived experience differ a little as well. In the U.S., you have to be ready for any drink you can possibly imagine to be ordered by a customer; from martinis to old fashioneds, mint juleps to bahama mamas, mojitos to some of the crazier drinks you learn in American bartending school, like red-headed sluts, pineapple upside-down cakes, and dirty bong waters. Here in New Zealand, the craziest drink anyone is likely to order is a gin and tonic or a rum and coke...which you hopefully don't need to go to school to know how to make. Kiwis keep it pretty simple; they like their beer, and they don't rock the boat much. I work at a Mexican bar, though, so people who come in are pretty far from the beaten path already, and Queenstown is a tourist city, so our customers often have a fairly different drinking palette from that of Kiwis. Margaritas, La Palomas, Tequila Sunrises, and El Diablos are always popular, and it's not uncommon that people order something off-menu. I once made a guy a Purple Haze, which is essentially the same thing as a Long Island Iced Tea with reddish-purple Chambord floated on top, which trickles down the drink in a colorful mélange. My boss has also asked me to have two new cocktails for the specials board every week, and she gave me the liberty to do any drink I like and have the necessary ingredients ordered in to the bar. I'm currently offering the mixed drink Kool-aid (one part Midori, one part Amaretto, three parts cranberry juice) as the cocktail of the week, and the Desert Rose shot (tequila with a drop of hot sauce) as the specialty shooter. I'm wondering if I ought to change the names of special drinks to something relevant to the area or the Mexican theme of the restaurant, but the boss says she likes this one as it is. Next week I'm thinking of doing one of two drinks I made up; one remains unnamed but consists of tequila reposado, pineapple juice, fresh-squeezed lime juice, and whipped cream, shaken and strained, and the other is silver tequila, ginger ale, cranberry juice, triple sec, and orange juice, which I call Silver Sangria. The shot special is still up in the air, so if y'all have any comments or mixed-drink or shooter favorites or recommendations then let me know via facebook, and your drink might become the next rum and coke of New Zealand (maybe I can even give you some credit on the specials board).
With the recent drop in tourists coming in to Queenstown as we've shifted into the offseason, our staff at Coyote has been cut in half and we've all picked up some new duties to keep the show running as a result. I help the waitstaff out and tend to tables when the floor gets busy, and we don't even have any dishwashers on staff anymore, so we all chip in to make sure we don't run out of silverware or margarita glasses. The dishwashing station is right next to the bar, though, so it's me who's on dishes as often as anyone else. Our new off-season circumstances set up a funny sort of paradox, because while we don't have quite as many customers per night, we're all twice as busy covering the jobs that we don't have staff for anymore. I expect things won't change until winter kicks in and we become twice as busy as we were in summer, catering to the massive influx of skiers and snowboarders. We will more than double our current staff for that, and pretty soon I'll be training up barbacks who will become the new Coyote bartenders once I leave town and finally head home. We're even opening a second upstairs bar for the winter season, which offers a spectacular view over the lake and across to the Remarkable mountains. I can't really imagine a better place for skiers to kick back and have a drink as they reminisce about the day's escapades on the slopes.
I'm looking forward to the day I'll be headed back Stateside, though Queenstown is keeping me pretty busy at the moment and things are bound only to get busier. I've been here in New Zealand for so long now that everything seems totally familiar and the U.S. is sounding more and more foreign and exciting. Driving on the right side of the road seems totally backwards to me now, and I had to remind myself in this very post to use the word silverware, not cutlery (if you ask for silverware here in Kiwiland, all you'll get is a blank stare). It's funny to hear people talk about America out here (which happens quite often; you'll overhear a conversation concerning the States multiple times every day) because most people in New Zealand have never even been to the U.S., so it gets built up on this crazy sort of pedestal that derives mostly from Hollywood and American pop culture. Kiwis may not have been to Manhattan, but they all listen to 2PAC and watch HBO. I often find myself thinking of home as this radical fantasyland kind of place where every girl is a supermodel, all cars are brand new, all dreams come true, and everything is dirt cheap, but everyone still spends thousands of dollars a day as they live out their high profile lives, partying every night like Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover. Then I compare that idea to the laid-back, simplistic culture of the Kiwis, and I wonder how far from the truth they really are on their image of America.
I've got work in an hour, so I guess I'll have to end this post with those less-than philosophical daydreams of home. Stay classy, America, and tell all your science teachers to quit secretly cooking meth at home in their basements.
Game of Thrones>Breaking Bad,
~Jack
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Saturday, 22 February 2014
The Newest Local in Queenstown
2/22/14
I've been living in Queenstown for about two weeks now, and life's been pretty good to me here. It's a stunning place, with jagged mountains on all sides surrounding a gigantic, bright blue lake, and I really think most anyone would be hard-pressed not to enjoy themselves here. It's also a bustling little town, with people from all walks of life and hailing from most every country in the world coming and going by the thousands each week, and every day feels like a Friday here. I haven't had too much time for adventuring and exploration yet, though, as I've been working two jobs almost since the day I arrived.
I feel very blessed to have found employment so quickly in Queenstown, as almost everyone who visits New Zealand hopes to visit here and stay for a good while. There are lots of things to see and do nearby, and tons of people to meet. This makes the demand for jobs much higher than the supply, and several of my friends from the North Island who have congregated here are still seeking employment. To have secured two jobs that I really like is nothing short of an extraordinary stroke of good luck, and I'm grateful every day to have been so fortunate.
My first job is at an American diner called Arnold's, where I wait tables. The diner is themed after and named for the drive-in restaurant from the T.V. show Happy Days, where the show's characters would gather and socialize, much to the informative benefit and comic satisfaction of the audience. Arnold's here in Queenstown really takes the theme of retro America dead seriously, featuring Coca-Cola swiveling bar stools, a life-sized statue of Elvis, old-fashioned milkshakes in tins, and a neon Wurlitzer jukebox that constantly pipes in rock classics from the fifties, sixties, and seventies through the diner's speaker system.
Working at Arnold's is a lot of fun, mostly because you get to meet so many people. I had a vision before I even left for New Zealand of paying for this whole adventuring sha-bang by working somewhere I could meet and socialize with new people, since I wouldn't know anyone here before arriving, and my job at the diner has realized that dream. Everyone who comes in is always in high spirits, as the vast majority of our customers are tourists who are delighted to be in Queenstown, and conversation is always lighthearted and comes very easily. I was instantly surprised at how many Americans come in to Arnold's; you would think that after having traveled this far from home, we would have little interest in the food we're used to finding on every corner of every block, but that assumption couldn't be further from the truth. Pre-Queenstown, I had only met about four or five other Americans here in New Zealand, but after having worked at Arnold's for two weeks I would estimate that figure has risen to close to two hundred. We may be drawn to New Zealand for its beautiful landscapes and countless opportunities for adventure, but we still can't stop ourselves from carbing up on an American burger and fries after a long and arduous climb or hike. And I have to say, in no attempt whatsoever at making a sales pitch, that the food at Arnold's is absolutely delicious. I had the best burger of my life after clocking out of my last shift, which featured a ribeye steak in place of the usual burger patty, topped with a fried egg, onion rings, lettuce, tomato, aioli, and Coca-Cola barbecue sauce. The food at the diner is also surprisingly affordable by Queenstown standards; you can get an entrée of calamari (a typically expensive dish) for just fifteen dollars there, which is the same price you'll pay for a tube of toothpaste at the local drug store.
I'm the only American on staff at Arnold's (surprisingly, most everyone else who works there is Dutch), and a lot of our customers appreciate having at least one American waiter at an American diner, in keeping with the theme of the place. Other Americans especially are happy to meet me, as I am happy to meet them, and we often get caught up in conversation for a bit too long about all the wonders of New Zealand and the profound differences from home. There have been a lot of Americans hailing from Washington coming in lately, and it becomes all too easy to fall into conversation about American football and the recent super bowl victory of the Seahawks. The second most common state people come from is Texas, and we talk about similar things along the lines of TCU, where I spent the last four years going to school. Some people have even had family members that are studying there now, and I swear I've never felt more strongly that it really is a small world.
It's not uncommon that conversation turns to the music that's playing, and it's always Americans who ask me to please turn the jukebox up. The music at Arnold's is another one of my favorite things about working there, as many of my favorite bands get lots of airtime courtesy of our trusty old neon Wurlitzer. It's never more than fifteen minutes before another song by Queen, the Eagles, or AC/DC comes on, and it's hard to resist dancing around the place as you move from table to table.
I only work at Arnold's during the day; at night, I'm the bartender for a tequila specialty bar and Mexican restaurant called Coyote grill. Coyote is an equally fun place to work as Arnold's, despite the fact that all of the music that gets played there is in Spanish. The staff at Coyote is full of incredibly nice and energetic people, and we have such a good time working together that all of us constantly have ear-to-ear smiles plastered across our faces. They aren't the kind of hospitality smiles that are designed to please customers, and are gone as soon as you turn away from a table, but more the kind that comes from truly enjoying the work that you do and the people you're working with. Everything's a joke amongst the staff at Coyote, and even when something goes terribly wrong we can't help but laugh about it and figure we definitely won't be making that same mistake again in the future.
I'm the only bartender on staff at Coyote, which makes for a really great work environment because I almost always have the whole bar to myself. I set it up when I come in and close it down when we're done for the night, so everything is always exactly where I leave it, and I'm pretty much left to run the bar and make the drinks in whatever way I feel most comfortable. One of the managers will come and give me a hand behind the bar whenever drink orders become particularly abundant, but most of the time I'm left to my own devices. It's a cool position, because almost all of my time is spent mixing up drinks; I don't have to take orders or put them into the system, I don't have to check customers out, I don't have to set up or clean off tables, and only when we're very busy and the rest of the staff is occupied do I need to run drinks to their tables. Usually, the waiters and waitresses take the orders, put them onto the customers' tab, and present me with the ticket that indicates what drinks need to be made. After each order of drinks is ready to go out to its table, I just group them together on the bar next to the ticket, and then move on to the next order. I'm also responsible for wiping down the bar to keep it tidy, stocking the bar full of the necessary beers and drink ingredients, and keeping the chips and salsa full since they're kept at the end of the bar, but otherwise I'm usually pouring jugs of sangria, shaking up margaritas, or mixing La Palomas, El Diablos, and Tequila Sunrises. Here again I'll comment briefly on the fare of my workplace: our margaritas are delicious and come in all different flavors, and our specialty cocktails taste wonderfully exotic and are marvelous to look at. You can get a margarita in the varieties of traditional, mango, strawberry, pink, or golden, all of which can come either shaken or frozen. It's also worth noting that we don't use pre-bottled sweet and sour mix for our margaritas, as is traditional in the States...rather, our kitchen prepares the necessary ingredients for us, including homemade sugar syrup and fresh-squeezed lime juice, making for the best margarita I've ever tasted. My favorite specialty drink is probably the El Diablo, which consists of our house tequila, lime juice, ginger beer, and fresh cut lime wedges, all topped off with red creme de cassis which slowly trickles down the cocktail in mesmerizing fashion. And, of course, we stock all the usual Mexican beer suspects, like Corona, Pacifico, Bohemia, Sol, Negro Modelo, and Dos Equis. One other fun fact about the drink possibilities at Coyote: our house tequila comes bottled in either a gigantic rifle or revolver pistols, which either way makes for some pretty interesting shots to pour. I'm waiting for the day when one of the customers asks me to pour the shot directly from the rifle into their mouth.
Our staff's easy-going attitude is maintained even in the realms of cooking and drink-mixing; whenever I make too much for an order of margaritas, I slip the excess into the kitchen, and am quickly rewarded with a bowl of nachos from a batch that was too big for a plate or a dish of sliced up steak that was too much for an order of fajitas. Also, we get a tap beer and staff meal every time we clock out, which usually consists of a bowl full of heaps of everything we use in the kitchen, which I call an enchilada salad. Most of the time, it's made up of rice, steak, refried beans, chili rellenos and other veggies, guacamole, sour cream, and a whole bunch of cheese, with some tortillas on the side. Yesterday, though, we each got half a chicken covered in molé sauce alongside the usual rice and beans, as well as a big plate of churros and cinnamon cream. All things considered, I don't think I could imagine a better place to work.
I'm not sure how long I'll be in Queenstown, but I suspect that regardless it will be for the duration of my stay here in New Zealand. Really, the only question is when to come back home. I love this place and what I'm doing here, but I'll also be ready when the time comes to return to the States, back to my friends and family. I suppose I'll continue to keep the blog updated as best I can, but I suspect that as I'll be working these two jobs for the rest of my time here, there will be little exciting news to relate given the small amount of time I'll have to myself to do things outside of work. There are always interesting people to meet in Queenstown, though, so it's hard to say what kind of story I'll have to tell on any given day here. Oh, and one last fun fact about work at Coyote before I sign off: we get all our ice from a strip club down the street, so it's always pretty funny when we're deciding whose job it will be to refill the ice bins as we close up shop at the end of the night.
Getting people drunk in the adventure capital of the world and getting paid for it,
~Jack
I've been living in Queenstown for about two weeks now, and life's been pretty good to me here. It's a stunning place, with jagged mountains on all sides surrounding a gigantic, bright blue lake, and I really think most anyone would be hard-pressed not to enjoy themselves here. It's also a bustling little town, with people from all walks of life and hailing from most every country in the world coming and going by the thousands each week, and every day feels like a Friday here. I haven't had too much time for adventuring and exploration yet, though, as I've been working two jobs almost since the day I arrived.
I feel very blessed to have found employment so quickly in Queenstown, as almost everyone who visits New Zealand hopes to visit here and stay for a good while. There are lots of things to see and do nearby, and tons of people to meet. This makes the demand for jobs much higher than the supply, and several of my friends from the North Island who have congregated here are still seeking employment. To have secured two jobs that I really like is nothing short of an extraordinary stroke of good luck, and I'm grateful every day to have been so fortunate.
My first job is at an American diner called Arnold's, where I wait tables. The diner is themed after and named for the drive-in restaurant from the T.V. show Happy Days, where the show's characters would gather and socialize, much to the informative benefit and comic satisfaction of the audience. Arnold's here in Queenstown really takes the theme of retro America dead seriously, featuring Coca-Cola swiveling bar stools, a life-sized statue of Elvis, old-fashioned milkshakes in tins, and a neon Wurlitzer jukebox that constantly pipes in rock classics from the fifties, sixties, and seventies through the diner's speaker system.
I'm the only American on staff at Arnold's (surprisingly, most everyone else who works there is Dutch), and a lot of our customers appreciate having at least one American waiter at an American diner, in keeping with the theme of the place. Other Americans especially are happy to meet me, as I am happy to meet them, and we often get caught up in conversation for a bit too long about all the wonders of New Zealand and the profound differences from home. There have been a lot of Americans hailing from Washington coming in lately, and it becomes all too easy to fall into conversation about American football and the recent super bowl victory of the Seahawks. The second most common state people come from is Texas, and we talk about similar things along the lines of TCU, where I spent the last four years going to school. Some people have even had family members that are studying there now, and I swear I've never felt more strongly that it really is a small world.
It's not uncommon that conversation turns to the music that's playing, and it's always Americans who ask me to please turn the jukebox up. The music at Arnold's is another one of my favorite things about working there, as many of my favorite bands get lots of airtime courtesy of our trusty old neon Wurlitzer. It's never more than fifteen minutes before another song by Queen, the Eagles, or AC/DC comes on, and it's hard to resist dancing around the place as you move from table to table.
I only work at Arnold's during the day; at night, I'm the bartender for a tequila specialty bar and Mexican restaurant called Coyote grill. Coyote is an equally fun place to work as Arnold's, despite the fact that all of the music that gets played there is in Spanish. The staff at Coyote is full of incredibly nice and energetic people, and we have such a good time working together that all of us constantly have ear-to-ear smiles plastered across our faces. They aren't the kind of hospitality smiles that are designed to please customers, and are gone as soon as you turn away from a table, but more the kind that comes from truly enjoying the work that you do and the people you're working with. Everything's a joke amongst the staff at Coyote, and even when something goes terribly wrong we can't help but laugh about it and figure we definitely won't be making that same mistake again in the future.
I'm the only bartender on staff at Coyote, which makes for a really great work environment because I almost always have the whole bar to myself. I set it up when I come in and close it down when we're done for the night, so everything is always exactly where I leave it, and I'm pretty much left to run the bar and make the drinks in whatever way I feel most comfortable. One of the managers will come and give me a hand behind the bar whenever drink orders become particularly abundant, but most of the time I'm left to my own devices. It's a cool position, because almost all of my time is spent mixing up drinks; I don't have to take orders or put them into the system, I don't have to check customers out, I don't have to set up or clean off tables, and only when we're very busy and the rest of the staff is occupied do I need to run drinks to their tables. Usually, the waiters and waitresses take the orders, put them onto the customers' tab, and present me with the ticket that indicates what drinks need to be made. After each order of drinks is ready to go out to its table, I just group them together on the bar next to the ticket, and then move on to the next order. I'm also responsible for wiping down the bar to keep it tidy, stocking the bar full of the necessary beers and drink ingredients, and keeping the chips and salsa full since they're kept at the end of the bar, but otherwise I'm usually pouring jugs of sangria, shaking up margaritas, or mixing La Palomas, El Diablos, and Tequila Sunrises. Here again I'll comment briefly on the fare of my workplace: our margaritas are delicious and come in all different flavors, and our specialty cocktails taste wonderfully exotic and are marvelous to look at. You can get a margarita in the varieties of traditional, mango, strawberry, pink, or golden, all of which can come either shaken or frozen. It's also worth noting that we don't use pre-bottled sweet and sour mix for our margaritas, as is traditional in the States...rather, our kitchen prepares the necessary ingredients for us, including homemade sugar syrup and fresh-squeezed lime juice, making for the best margarita I've ever tasted. My favorite specialty drink is probably the El Diablo, which consists of our house tequila, lime juice, ginger beer, and fresh cut lime wedges, all topped off with red creme de cassis which slowly trickles down the cocktail in mesmerizing fashion. And, of course, we stock all the usual Mexican beer suspects, like Corona, Pacifico, Bohemia, Sol, Negro Modelo, and Dos Equis. One other fun fact about the drink possibilities at Coyote: our house tequila comes bottled in either a gigantic rifle or revolver pistols, which either way makes for some pretty interesting shots to pour. I'm waiting for the day when one of the customers asks me to pour the shot directly from the rifle into their mouth.
Our staff's easy-going attitude is maintained even in the realms of cooking and drink-mixing; whenever I make too much for an order of margaritas, I slip the excess into the kitchen, and am quickly rewarded with a bowl of nachos from a batch that was too big for a plate or a dish of sliced up steak that was too much for an order of fajitas. Also, we get a tap beer and staff meal every time we clock out, which usually consists of a bowl full of heaps of everything we use in the kitchen, which I call an enchilada salad. Most of the time, it's made up of rice, steak, refried beans, chili rellenos and other veggies, guacamole, sour cream, and a whole bunch of cheese, with some tortillas on the side. Yesterday, though, we each got half a chicken covered in molé sauce alongside the usual rice and beans, as well as a big plate of churros and cinnamon cream. All things considered, I don't think I could imagine a better place to work.
Getting people drunk in the adventure capital of the world and getting paid for it,
~Jack
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Helicopter Tour through Milford Sound & Finding Work in Queenstown
2/9/14
I've never really been a fan of cities, but Queenstown has to be my favorite one I've ever visited (if it can even be called a city). The panoramic view of the jagged mountains that surround it is, frankly, ridiculous; even the worst house in town has a better view than any multi-million dollar estate elsewhere in the world could ever hope for. And the lake that wraps its way around the town center is an incredible gift, providing a beautiful waterfront and a wharf that is full of bars and always teeming with people, both locals and tourists.
My parents and I checked in to the Hilton hotel that lies across the lake from the town center as soon as we arrived, and were out the door to explore the town shortly thereafter. We figured the first day would be best spent staking the place out and getting an idea of what our favorite bars and restaurants were, as I'd be applying for work as a bartender soon. I don't know if this is a year-round thing, but the amount of people who have been here in Queenstown since I've arrived is unprecedented. And from what I've been told, this is a serious down time in the Queenstown tourist season, which picks back up just before winter as skiers and snowboarders come flocking to the highly desirable ski slopes. It might be worth noting, however, that it is also the week of the Chinese new year, and there are at least ten times as many Asians here currently as there are people of any other ethnicity.
My German friend Lion (that's his real name) joined me and my parents in our touring of the city, and we both could hardly contain our excitement at the prospect of living here for the foreseeable future. Lion's plans are very similar to mine, so we've been thinking about going in on a nearby flat together. We started exploring the classifieds and browsing the posted ads in the windows of real estate offices throughout town as we explored around, and we've found a few places that look really promising. In the meantime, though, it's back to another hostel, and we made reservations at a solid looking place where I'll be joining Lion as soon as my parents head out.
After a day of feeling out the town and getting myself oriented, I spent that night printing out dozens of resumés (which Kiwis call CV's) to hand out to likely places the next day. My goal was to get a job as a bartender at one of Queenstown many bars, restaurants, and pubs, but I was also open-minded to the idea of working in sales at a sporting goods shop or a clothing store, so I augmented my resumé accordingly and made copies of two appropriate CV's. I spent all day walking around dropping them off at places I liked that would accept them, and my heart sunk time after time as I saw the gigantic pile of other resumés that mine was being added to at each stop. I knew Queenstown was an extremely popular place, but I hadn't thought that there would be such a gigantic oversupply of aspiring workers, and I started to worry that I wouldn't find a way to pay the bills that would keep me here. To my delighted surprise, though, I had two job offers by the end of that same day, and my worries of having to return home early quickly melted away.
The first place that offered me a position is a Mexican grill and tequila bar called Coyote grill, and they contacted me in search of a new bartender. This had been one of my favorite places that I'd applied to, as I have a profound love for tequila, and I haven't had a good margarita (or, in fact, any margarita) since I've been here in New Zealand. I went to an interview at Coyote that same night, and having liked what I learned there, I agreed to work my first shift this coming Tuesday night. Coyote opens every day at 6 p.m., and my manager made sure to inform me that I'd be free to take another day job if I felt compelled to do so, as my hours working the bar would likely only amount to around thirty per week.
The second place I got a call from is called Arnold's, which is a retro bar and café themed after the American 60's. Maybe they were looking for Americans, or maybe my timing was just really good there, but it's a sparkling place in great shape that I like almost as much as Coyote. I'll be having an interview with them tomorrow, and will perhaps take up a position there if they're agreeable to my working during the day.
Now, back to the beauty that is New Zealand...today was one of the best days I've had so far in this country, which I spent going on a helicopter tour over Queenstown, a few surrounding glaciers, and nearby Milford Sound. I had never been in a helicopter before today, and it was a profound experience...taking off was a lot of fun, as the mighty engine powers up and the props whirr overhead, lifting you straight up into the air before you shoot out in a beeline towards the landscapes beyond. The real life experience was better than any simulation that movies or video games can offer you, and that's before you're hovering above some of the most beautiful scenery this world has to offer.
I've never really been a fan of cities, but Queenstown has to be my favorite one I've ever visited (if it can even be called a city). The panoramic view of the jagged mountains that surround it is, frankly, ridiculous; even the worst house in town has a better view than any multi-million dollar estate elsewhere in the world could ever hope for. And the lake that wraps its way around the town center is an incredible gift, providing a beautiful waterfront and a wharf that is full of bars and always teeming with people, both locals and tourists.
My parents and I checked in to the Hilton hotel that lies across the lake from the town center as soon as we arrived, and were out the door to explore the town shortly thereafter. We figured the first day would be best spent staking the place out and getting an idea of what our favorite bars and restaurants were, as I'd be applying for work as a bartender soon. I don't know if this is a year-round thing, but the amount of people who have been here in Queenstown since I've arrived is unprecedented. And from what I've been told, this is a serious down time in the Queenstown tourist season, which picks back up just before winter as skiers and snowboarders come flocking to the highly desirable ski slopes. It might be worth noting, however, that it is also the week of the Chinese new year, and there are at least ten times as many Asians here currently as there are people of any other ethnicity.
My German friend Lion (that's his real name) joined me and my parents in our touring of the city, and we both could hardly contain our excitement at the prospect of living here for the foreseeable future. Lion's plans are very similar to mine, so we've been thinking about going in on a nearby flat together. We started exploring the classifieds and browsing the posted ads in the windows of real estate offices throughout town as we explored around, and we've found a few places that look really promising. In the meantime, though, it's back to another hostel, and we made reservations at a solid looking place where I'll be joining Lion as soon as my parents head out.
After a day of feeling out the town and getting myself oriented, I spent that night printing out dozens of resumés (which Kiwis call CV's) to hand out to likely places the next day. My goal was to get a job as a bartender at one of Queenstown many bars, restaurants, and pubs, but I was also open-minded to the idea of working in sales at a sporting goods shop or a clothing store, so I augmented my resumé accordingly and made copies of two appropriate CV's. I spent all day walking around dropping them off at places I liked that would accept them, and my heart sunk time after time as I saw the gigantic pile of other resumés that mine was being added to at each stop. I knew Queenstown was an extremely popular place, but I hadn't thought that there would be such a gigantic oversupply of aspiring workers, and I started to worry that I wouldn't find a way to pay the bills that would keep me here. To my delighted surprise, though, I had two job offers by the end of that same day, and my worries of having to return home early quickly melted away.
The first place that offered me a position is a Mexican grill and tequila bar called Coyote grill, and they contacted me in search of a new bartender. This had been one of my favorite places that I'd applied to, as I have a profound love for tequila, and I haven't had a good margarita (or, in fact, any margarita) since I've been here in New Zealand. I went to an interview at Coyote that same night, and having liked what I learned there, I agreed to work my first shift this coming Tuesday night. Coyote opens every day at 6 p.m., and my manager made sure to inform me that I'd be free to take another day job if I felt compelled to do so, as my hours working the bar would likely only amount to around thirty per week.
The second place I got a call from is called Arnold's, which is a retro bar and café themed after the American 60's. Maybe they were looking for Americans, or maybe my timing was just really good there, but it's a sparkling place in great shape that I like almost as much as Coyote. I'll be having an interview with them tomorrow, and will perhaps take up a position there if they're agreeable to my working during the day.
Now, back to the beauty that is New Zealand...today was one of the best days I've had so far in this country, which I spent going on a helicopter tour over Queenstown, a few surrounding glaciers, and nearby Milford Sound. I had never been in a helicopter before today, and it was a profound experience...taking off was a lot of fun, as the mighty engine powers up and the props whirr overhead, lifting you straight up into the air before you shoot out in a beeline towards the landscapes beyond. The real life experience was better than any simulation that movies or video games can offer you, and that's before you're hovering above some of the most beautiful scenery this world has to offer.
The mountain range surrounding Queenstown is known as the Remarkables. They are so big and intimidating when seen from the ground that it's a bit difficult to fully comprehend their splendor, but when seen from above, there is no doubting their namesake. The sight that Queenstown and the lake and mountains right beside it offer is truly remarkable.
This is where I live now.
After ascending to an altitude of about six thousand feet, our chopper pilot turned us in the direction of Milford Sound and we began our flight soaring over the mountains along our path. The scenery was so incredibly breathtaking on all sides that I couldn't decide which way to point my camera, and I was frantic to get a shot of everything as we sped by.
We came within sight of Milford Sound after about 25 minutes of flying, which came as a real surprise to me considering the driving time into the sound, which is around four hours. Landing in the helicopter was just as exciting as taking off had been, and with the sound extending out around us on all sides, we couldn't have chosen a more impressive place to fly into.
We boarded a ferry at Milford Sound's small pier, embarking on a two hour cruise that would maneuver us around the dazzling mountains and magnificent waterfalls that were as plentiful here as the Asians in Queenstown during the Chinese new year.
After another photo-taking frenzy, our ship captain pulled the ferry up alongside a giant flat slab of a rock upon which several seals lay snoring. Considering the perfect weather we'd been blessed with and the glorious scenery sprawling for miles around them, I found myself feeling strangely envious of the lazy fellows sleeping in the heart of paradise.
Our tour continued after our brief visit with the less than energetic seals, as did the beautiful panoramic views and the picture-taking mania. I thought to myself with each picture I took that beautiful though they are, it's a real tragedy how a single photo represents only a small frame of the bountiful splendor that surrounded me. There's no camera in the world with enough megapixels to do justice to the wonders offered by Milford Sound.
Not too long after our first encounter with seals, we found a few more lazing about in a similar fashion, upon a rock near a massive waterfall. After drifting us by this second bunch of tired seals, our captain drove the bow of the boat right up under the big waterfall. There, you could literally stick out your hand to fill a cup of fresh water to drink, or just throw back your head and open your mouth wide, so long as you didn't mind getting wet. Somehow, I didn't find the time to indulge myself in a drink, as I was much too busy taking even more pictures (shocking).
We were on our way back into the dock after this final waterfall, and I snapped a few last photos for good measure as we came into the harbor. I may have worn my camera battery very thin, but I'll certainly never forget this day I spent exploring the marvel that is Milford Sound.
After the captain docked us at the pier, we all headed for the tiny airport in the center of the sound to pile back into the helicopter and head home to Queenstown. On the way back, though, our gracious pilot James took the time to take us on a quick detour, flying us directly over a marvelous glacier. The amount of snow we found there was beyond reasonable explanation, and it was amazing how close James could get us. As we approached the glacier, constantly ascending, it really looked like the bottom of the chopper was inevitably going to scrape against the ice.
Before our descent back down to the Queenstown airport, we decided to make one final stop upon the crest of a grassy mountain overlooking the lake below that the city is built along. The color of the water was shockingly blue, and the large shadows from the clouds overhead provided a varying shade of a darker hue. This created another priceless scene, and everywhere you looked was a view worthy of a postcard, to say the very least.
Alright, I'm done overloading the pictures now.
I went out to a great dinner at an incredible restaurant called the Botswana Butchery with my parents, as tonight is their last night in New Zealand. Botswana Butchery was recommended to us several times, once even by our helicopter pilot James, and my parents thought it would be an appropriate place for their last dinner here. They were certainly right; everything each of us ordered was insanely delicious, and I made a mental note to drop another CV by there some day soon, in case they could use some help at one of their two bars in the restaurant.
I'll be driving my parents in to the Queenstown airport tomorrow afternoon, where they'll be flying out for Sydney, and then Lion and I will start seriously looking at flats. I doubt there will be anything so remarkable to write about in the near future as our helicopter excursion was today, but I'll keep the blog updated regardless. And Queenstown being such an exciting place, you really never know what might happen next here.
Your starstruck friend,
Jack
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