NZ 2023 - Ben Lomond (Day 3 of 33)

Link to Day 3's video: https://youtu.be/M7czRb2BrgE

Today woke up at 6am to climb mountain. Yeah seriously. The sun rising at 5am is something I will never be able to complain about! And the cold weather too! Walked to FreshChoice supermarket but I was one hour too early. So I crossed the road to the petrol station and bought some sausages for breakfast. Damn nice sia, for NZD$8.50. 

Then FreshChoice opened so I went to buy some water and snacks for my ascent. NZD$20.99 for them. Got a huge piece of bread to eat at the summit. And then, the climb begins.

Originally wanted to take the cable car up to the mid-point, but I was 2 hours too early for the cable car to open. So instead just took Tiki trail. Almost wanted to gave it all up after 30 minutes of the first part of the trail. The intensity of the hike was crazy and my average heartrate was in the red zone really fast!

But I persevered and reached the highest point of the cable car, which is at the base of Ben Lomond. I took a left turn and headed up Ben Lomond. 60% of the path was just a slope uphill with a lot of breathtaking views. The remaining 40% is straight up rock climbing on sketchy rocks. Damn.

I even wanted to give up at the remaining 10% because I didn't know how much more I needed to climb. 

Thankfully I didn’t because the view was insane at the top! Ben Lomond trail was even more intense than Tiki trail. I was the first human to set foot on the summit today. Simply wonderful! The view is straight up out of a movie set!

Spent like an hour at the top enjoying the view before it got super crowded super fast. Went down the mountain with a new friend called Dan, from UK. Dude is the most chill guy I met on this trip, and he has a taste for extreme adventures just like me!

Promptly went back to the hostel to shower, rest and recharge my phone before dinner! Headed right out to town at 6pm. Ate Erika fish and chips for dinner! Very nice! NZD$22.80 for a scrumptious dinner! Then bought a cookie shake for NZD$13. Shiok life!

Then I went to a bar to join the few people I met on the summit for beer at Ballarat (NZD$13.26). Had a wonderful night and I consider today in Queenstown a total success! I actually quite like this routine of waking early to do crazy stuff, recharging in the afternoon, and scrumptious dinner at night. Hope to experience more of New Zealand this way in the days to come!

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