Upon arriving in Queenstown, we were hugely impressed and immediately knew this would be one of our favourite places in New Zealand. Once we checked in and discovered our room was overlooking the delightful Lake Wakatipu, this confirmed that the setting was indeed wonderful. I’m not sure what it was about Queenstown that I loved. I guess it was because it wasn’t a city and not as busy as Auckland (although I’ve already said Auckland wasn’t that busy anyway) and compared to stinky Rotorua, it was fresher. I guess it had all of the charm and less of the hype.
The day after arriving at Queenstown, we were feeling rather adventurous and decided to book the Shotover Jet. Well, Queenstown is famous for adrenaline induced activities, so we couldn’t pass the opportunity to do something in that category. Going on the Shotover Jet was a thrilling experience which offered magnificent scenery and certainly something I would do again and again. The jetboat shot up at down the river while tackling grade 3-5 rapids at god knows what speed, through narrow canyons, just missing the rock faces as well as giving a couple of 360 degree spins. We were soaked by the end of it (just as well they provided waterproof clothing). My description doesn’t do it justice so click on this link to take a look.
We woke up very early one morning to travel to Milford Sound. I will talk about this magical and memorable place in another post.
On our last day in Queenstown we spent the morning at Walter Peak Farm. We boarded the TSS Earnslaw steamship, affectionately known as the Lady of the Lake and cruised on the fabulous Lake Wakatipu. We had lunch at the Colonels Homestead Restaurant at Walter Peak before heading back to Queenstown. We spent the rest of our time in Queenstown doing a spot of souvenir shopping and just taking in and enjoying this amazing town and its idyllic lakeside setting.
Tags: New Zealand