Queenstown

Our next stop was the famous adrenaline capital of New Zealand--Queenstown. We took the scenic route from Wanaka and went down a very steep hill into the valley where Queenstown and it's neighboring towns are located. We weren't there to spend lots of money, so for us it was a bit of a dud, as everything in Queenstown costs money, but we still managed to have a good time and enjoy the feel of the place. 

The first thing we did was, once again, on the suggestion of Mark from Sequoia Lodge in Picton. We took the gondola or "Skyline" to the top of Bob's Peak. It was a pretty steep ride, but from the top you could see out all over Queenstown. It wasn't the best weather that day, and the coldest day we'd had yet, but it was still a very beautiful view.

We combined our gondola ride with two luge rides that they have at the top. You sit in little plastic luge buggies and ride down a track. There are two different ones: a beginner one, that everyone has to do first, and then you can do the more advanced one. John and I bought two rides each, so we were able to do both tracks once. It was quite fun, though my hands were numb by then end as I didn't wear gloves and it was very cold and windy on the top of that mountain. 

Luckily, our luge rides got us a great deal in their cafe at the top as well--a sweet and hot drink for $6! Which, for NZ prices, is pretty darn good. 

Next, we headed over to our hostel, The Last Resort, to check in. I had read good reviews about the hostel as it is one of the smaller ones in Queenstown, and thus much more quiet. It was once an old brothel, and then became a dilapidated building until the current owner bought it and fixed it up into a backpackers. It was still a work in progress, but the beds were very comfortable and it had a nice kitchen and nice flat screen TV with a pretty good DVD collection. 

The hostel also had a dog, a female Alaskan Malamute named Coco. Coco seemed like a pretty nice dog, but I found out she could be a bit testy. Sometimes when you went to pet her she seemed fine with it, but when I went to remove my hand she snapped at it. So I was pretty timid to pet her after that unless it was on her back while she was walking away. 

But the hostel was right in the center of town and walking distance to everything, which was nice, but it was also tucked away in a corner so it was also nice and quiet--which was essential considering we were there over the weekend and Queenstown is known for it's bars and pub crawls. No drunken loud kids coming back at 5 a.m.! (as the bars close at 4). 

We relaxed in our hostel for the afternoon, and then took a walk through the Queenstown gardens. It was nice, but very chilly and the first day that it really felt like winter. High clouds gave the sky that all-over grey, overcast look and the temperature had definitely dropped. After our little stroll and walking through the town, we headed back to the hostel.

For dinner that night we ate at a famous burger joint in Queenstown called Fergburger. It's quite popular as they serve huge, delicious burgers for a very reasonable price (mine was $10) and are open until 5 a.m. to feed the hungry, drunk people after all the bars have closed. They make bank as I never walked past the place without having several patrons inside. Indeed, it was a very good burger. It's funny how New Zealand tends to do gourmet pizzas and burgers better than the United States, but indeed I am convinced they do. 

That night we met up with our old flat mates from Hastings, the British couple Keelie and Ross, as they had just found a house and were staying in Queenstown for the duration of the ski season (which had yet to start). They both found it difficult to get jobs in the city, as there was NO snow yet at all, so there were tons of young people descending on the town looking for work that had yet to start--thus the supply exceeding the demand. Apparently, a good number of people had already come and gone, as they couldn't afford to stay in the town without work. Glad John and I were able to secure ours (that came with accommodation) early on!

Anywho, we just hung out at their new house for a while--talking to some of their friends and housemates, who were all very nice. At about 12:30 we all left to head into town to go out. But first they were making a pit stop at a house party. By that point I was simply too tired, as I am an old lady and it was past my bed time. So we caught a lift back into town (as their house is about a 7-10 minute drive outside the downtown) and bid our goodbyes and went back to the hostel to hit the sack!

The next day I had to wake up at 8:00 a.m. to go feed the meter for our car. There was public parking right across the street for $2.50 per day, which is really cheap, and free parking from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. But right at 8 I had to run outside and across the street to pay for our parking for the day. As it's winter here, it was still a bit dark at 8 a.m. and rather cold, so I made sure it was John's turn the next morning :)

The weather that day wasn't great--grey skies with patches of light showers. I wanted to do a walk that went up Queenstown hill, but John wanted to stay in and enjoy the nice flat screen. Luckily, the place had free internet so we were able to occupy ourselves.

Over both days we had several bar advertisers come through the backpackers offering coupons and drink specials at their bar that night. Free shots at this place, drink specials at this one. Obviously we didn't partake in them, but there did seem to be a fair number of nicer bars and restaurants in the area. John and I might plan to go back there for an anniversary dinner in August. Instead of going out, though, we spent the evening watching the Manchurian Candidate--which I had never seen before.

The last day was much of the same. We took another stroll through the downtown in the early afternoon, as the city had picked up a bit more tourists over the weekend. We spent the morning watching old, season 1 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TV--classic!

That night, though, we actually went out as I had gotten a great deal on a website specifically for Queenstown activities called "Book Me" for  a Wine Tasting place right in town. It was called Wine Tastes and they had tastings of both local (Central Otago) and New Zealand wines of all different varieties. We only paid $14 for $30 worth of tasting each. It was really nice--they had a system where you inserted a card with a pre-loaded amount and selected either a taste, half glass, or full glass of the wine you wanted to try--the prices varied by the price of the bottle. We had some Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (which had the most extensive range of choices as it's the prime grape grown in Central Otago), other red varieties, and dessert wine. We were able to get a lot of tasting in on $30 and got to try some wines that I had wanted to try. 

It was a good way to cap-off Queenstown, which we left early and snowless on Monday morning to make the 4 hour drive to Fiordland and Milford Sound!