Day 2 in Queenstown - New Zealand Extended Cut
Walter Peak, sketched again! Prints Available
Plot twist! Somewhere between this drawing on Queenstown Hill and my Airbnb I've stopped owning all my bank cards! I have absolutely no idea how the heck that happened! Things just got a whole lot more complicated 😑
Silver lining. I get to visit my first NZ police station in the morning!?
Day 3 - New Zealand Extended Cut
What a palaver.
I woke up to a frosty morning and retraced my steps to try and find my bank cards. I was really hoping for a rest day today because these hills are taking it out of my legs but yesterday's Tom has thrown a spanner in the works.
I hiked back up the Queenstown Hill trail and found nothing. Admittedly it was a lovely morning and trying to walk several miles consciously staring at the floor is excellent meditation. I found some fairy houses I'd marched right by the day before!
Then to the police station. Nothing handed in. Then the Western Union didn't exist. The building it was SUPPOSED to exist in was closed for covid.
The iSite tourist information was super friendly but their finance team were off for a public holiday. Balls.
The silver lining is I spent the afternoon with zero money and it forced me to bimble about Queenstown and really take it in. I got to do a proper drawing of the Earnslaw and then lapped the peninsula. Making the huge error of walking the length of the highway home. Never again.
I've got to go back and do it all again tomorrow 😥
Day 4 - New Zealand Extended Cut
Walter Peak, sketched again! Prints Available
The universe is reeeeally testing my determination to stay here.
Return trip back to the now open Travelex to claim my emergency money. If I walked the same route a forth time I would have lost my mind so I cycled the lakefront. Much MUCH nicer than hiking about on pavements.
The Travelex is closed for lunch... Of course it is.
Bum about on beach for a bit. Make friends with ducks who peck my shoes because I won't feed them. Return to travelex. "I'm really sorry but the Western Union service isn't working"
I could have cried in the shop. How am I supposed to get emergency money in an emergency if it's bloody broken!? Dejected I called on my two QT buddies and they've both got my back. This whole situation is forcing me to depend on other people's kindness which I guess can only be a good lesson in life.
At some point it would be nice to y'know... own money again... and sit still and enjoy this place but all I can do is keep going until this nonsense is dealt with 😥
Day 5 - New Zealand Extended Cut
Walter Peak, sketched again! Prints Available
You just couldn't write this!
Last night I received word that my wallet had been handed in to the police (thank you mystery human!) so down to the police station I went... "Closed until approx 2pm" - Standard. Off to the beach to draw I guess.
Walter Peak, sketched again! Prints Available
Return to police station... "I'm sorry sir but I can't seem to find it. We normally leave them on a shelf and it doesn't seem to be there"
Hahahaha. Of COURSE the police have lost my wallet! 😂
Told to come back in an hour, I got an alert from Moneycorp so I could at least access my emergency money. Cue immediate celebratory flat white! (It's hard to draw coffee without a brown pen) Devil Burger ended my three day noodle diet. Nomnomnom.
Now... somehow... when I went to lock up my bike outside a shop... I couldn't find the key!? Weeee! Another complication! Problem being I'd deliberately walked in a zigzag down every single main street of Queenstown to learn it's layout. Cue very complicated retracing of steps 😅
I led myself all the way back to the police station where I found it on the floor outside. The police had magically found my wallet to. A happy ending to three days of HARD-CORE FAFFING!! Conclusion. I should not be allowed out the house. Especially when abroad.
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