Day 25 Lake Cruise & Bob’s Peak

Treating ourselves to going out for breakfast seems to be turning into a bit of a habit! Today’s choice was a lovely chocolate shop on the lake front where we all started the day with a full on sugar high after our incredibly decadent treat. To make the morning even better, just as we were finishing off our breakfast the weather seemed to magically clear! I ran out to the lake and booked myself a cruise for the early afternoon, and crossed my fingers that the weather would hold. I’m glad I booked early as the warmer the weather got the bigger the queue became!

I had an hour or so to kill before my cruise so I took the opportunity to walk around the bay in the sunshine.

The iconic coal burner 

looking back over Queenstown CBD 

My view while I waited for the boat to dock

The cruise was very informative as the driver seemed to know everything there was to know about the lake, including interesting facts, funny stories, lots of history, as well as countless other bits and pieces about the architecture fronting the lake and the animals which live on it, such as the fact the water is so pure it doesn't conduct electricity... The views from the lake were pretty gorgeous too.

Feeding the Trout, there's 3 different types in the lake apparently with the californian rainbow trout being the most aggressive

Voted one of the top ten most scenic golf courses in the world

The new Hilton Hotel

 The famous bridge - there's a whole story surrounding these gates involving two men basically single handedly flooding Queenstown while they went on holiday!

On the left is the expensive section of Queenstown where most houses cost a few million while on the right is the 'dark side' of Queenstown as it goes 3 months without any sun because of the mountains

As soon as I stepped off the boat Axel rang me asking what I was up to as he had given up trying to find the music shop he had been searching for. We opted to go up the gondolas to the top of Bob’s Peak. I’d really wanted to walk it but people had warned us not to do it right after a heavy rain as the path can be treacherous so we just paid to have the cable car ride to the top. The views were stunning!

Once we got to the top and walked around a little bit we went to sit down to soak up the views some more when we found a rather muddy and exhausted Cara and George – they’d braved the walk and looked rather worse for wear for it! So we shared some chips and a drink and spent the rest of the day admiring the views and exploring the lake in the sunshine, finished off with us all stopping off at Fergburger again!

P.S it’s so weird seeing ‘seasons greeting’ and ‘merry Christmas’ lights in windows when it’s 30 degrees and the sun is blazing down… just strange! 

Day 26 Glenorchy

Another beautiful sunny day in Queenstown led to a lovely morning walk down the lake to Frankton, along the golf course and through some beautiful scenery. Perfect way to start the day!

(Winston Churchill's Boat in WWII)

Once everyone else was up we went to the iSite, a kind of tourist information centre they have in most towns, and booked some bits and pieces now we could be reasonably sure we’d have at least two days of sunshine. Me and Axel booked to go on a 4x4 tour of the region which showcases alot of scenery used in various films with particular attention to the Lord of the Rings. And then we all booked an exciting trip for tomorrow!

I'm blaming the water in Queenstown but regardless of the why, all our hair has gone a little crazy since being here so ignore the crazy monstrosity on my head in this photo...

After lots of interesting stop offs at different cliffs, roads, bridges, and a whole host of interesting stories and facts from our tour guide about everything in the area, from cow breeding, horses, the formation of the landscape as well as funny stories from various films we stopped at an idylic spot for a picnic. And while there these two fellows walked over to join us

 I attempted a panoramic sort of shot which has kind of worked I think 

 Some random cows milling out in the road.. pretty standard for New Zealand

 The driver pulled over in a forest and gave us all a tiny bit of leaf asked if we liked spicy food and then told us to try it... well 6hrs later the tip of mine and Axel's tongues are still completely numb!

The 4x4 tour was really fun, we saw some amazing scenery, I spent a good portion of the trip just soaking up the scenery, trying to place where I’d seen everything before and the rest chatting to our amazing tour guide. The tour guide was hilarious and really knowledge so he explained the importance of Jade to Maoris, how traditional tattooing is done as well as lots of information on the landscape.

This is one of my favourite views from Queenstown and this spot will probably we one of the lasting memories I take from my time here

I finally went to Agies Shack for dinner when I got back, then it was a quick stop off at the supermarket to buy some supplies in for the next few days, and an adventure in the kitchen making fruit pancakes with George and Cara before trying to get an early night as we had a ridiculously early start tomorrow morning! 

Day 24 Queenstown in the Rain

Today has been grizzly and grey, almost felt like being back home! We’re all holding our breaths that the weather picks up soon as the budget isn’t flexible enough to allow us to stay in such an expensive place for an extended period of time – Queenstown is beautiful and so much fun but it’s not cheap! In the mean time we’re doing the few bits and pieces that you can do in bad weather.

First up was to try a FergBurger. Kind of a cult restaurant for Queenstown, everyone who comes apparently needs to try one, and I have to say it was very good, but it was absolutely huge! Mine was literally the size of my head! And mine was just the standard size, Axel got the Big Al which was ridiculously sized, and is basically a heart attack in a bun!

I met up with some people from Saturday night and went to see Thor (there really isn’t a great deal to do other than shop and go to the cinema when it’s raining) I did venture up to the cemetery – sounds macabre I know but all the guide books kept saying how interesting and beautiful was, and the misty settings did give it a magical sort of atmosphere!

This is the hostel's dog and he's definitely the highlight of the place :) we're moving hostels tomorrow morning though as if we're staying a while we want somewhere cheaper - so cute!

On the plus side it’s not particularly cold here, even when it’s raining.

Day 23 Hung Over & Hunger Games

This morning was a slow one.

We had an amazing and eventful night out last night, as Queenstown night life is definitely something! We ended up meeting a big group of cool people from our hostel and going to a house party, where there were easily a few hundred people, and then into town!

We didn’t leave the hostel until early afternoon, as it took a while for us all to be functioning enough to walk down to Vudu Café and treat ourselves to breakfast out. Claudilia joined us, she met George and Cara yesterday when they went on a walk when she took a photo of them and invited them round to hers for coffee and cake then she went out with us last night.

After a delicious breakfast/brunch/lunch we headed to the lakeside walk for a while, the weather was pretty cloudy and windy today, and I forgot my camera, but the view from the lake is just so lovely. Slowly falling head over heels for Queenstown. Me and Axel then headed up to the botanical gardens, which are beautiful, and spent the afternoon wandering around the gardens chatting away and looking at all the different types of birds they have here.

Next up was to find a cinema and check out the times for Hunger Games. We found a tiny little cinema in the heart of Queenstown, where we watched Hunger Games, and then we pretty much just crawled into bed.  The weather forecast isn’t promising so we might have to postpone a lot of our planned activities, not that we’re particularly bothered as Queenstown is beautiful rain or shine.