The Ice Bar

After the Milford Sound experience, we headed back from the isolated South, and kind of got stuck in Queenstown once again. This time we had agreed though, to take it easy and not go overboard with some crazy bar again.
One of the things that was on the list to visit was the Ice Bar in Queenstown. Turned out that the entry fee was $32 which was a little too steep even if it did include a drink in the bar. While waiting for Ryan to go for dinner, Joe suddenly found some free entry vouchers for the Ice Bar. We actually had not been able to locate the Ice Bar yet, but as it just happened, the hostel we were staying at this evening, was located on top of the bar.
We went to the bar to get in, but they didn't have room for us, so we had to return half an hour later, seems like it was a little place and they had to control the number of people in there. Maybe it was going to melt if too many people? haha
We came in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops, the lady at the reception gave us a big nice warm jacket, some gloves and offered us some Ugg boots as well. Come on, who did she think we were? If Danes, Scottish and Canadian can't take the cold, who can then? As it turned out, one team member had to seek refuge outside to warm up after a while, but as I don't want to draw a bad picture of the Canadian people, I will let his name be untold. Doh, sorry...
Turned out the entire bar is actually made of ice. It is like a big freezer, but has walls build of clear transparent ice, pretty cool. The furniture is also made of ice, tables, sofas, chairs and walls to give a little privacy, even though you can see through them.
There were a few ice sculptures as well, which I guess don't melt that often in this cold, but there were signs of so many people striking their hands over the sculpture and every time it would melt just a little more. Polar bears, penguins, a gondola cabin, the bar itself, shelves, yeah in fact everything was made of ice.
The bar would serve you anything you could make with Absolute Vodka in it, for a mere $13 per drink. Ouch, this was not the place to get tipsy for sure, it would empty your bank account quite fast.
However, when the drinks were served, it was not in a glass that came out of the freezer, but here they had done it a little more stylish.
The drinks were served in ice glasses, which slowly would melt as you drank from them from touching the lips. There didn't seem to be a refrigerator in the bar, but all ingredients were standing around, already being pretty cool. In fact some of the mixers had to be squeezed out of the plastic containers, looked kind of funny at first sight. Needless to say, none of the drinks were served with ice cubes in them.
Utilized the moment to let the credit card cool down a little, it was so hot it almost went through the table.
After just two drinks each, it was time to leave the bar. The drinks were good, but the toes were getting really cold, the liquid in the blisters had frozen too. Interesting experience for sure.