After leaving the ship from Doubtful, we headed to Queenstown which sits in amongst the Southern Alps at the bend in Lake Wakatipu and a backdrop of the Remarkables. Everywhere you look there are peaks!
Most of the locals we talked to had suggested that we stay outside of Queenstown in either Arrowtown, or Wanaka, as Queenstown is busy and expensive. We found a little town between Wanaka and Queenstown, named Cardrona, consisting of a hotel, a general store, and a small community of ski chalets/apartments. Fun fact - the snowboarders that won bronze in the Olympics are from the Cardrona ski fields. We settled in with the intention of relaxing and exploring, and we were successful with both! The hotel pub has a cozy inside atmosphere and a backyard of picnic tables, a fire pit, and a life size connect 4 board...no beanbag toss game, but I’ll take it!
The area of Queenstown is known for its outdoor/adrenaline filled sports, jet boating, bungy jumping etc...along with numerous walking trails, wineries, and small towns to explore. We started our first day by exploring Wanaka, and the highway 6 drive into Queenstown. We had already discovered Crown Range Rd that connects Queenstown to Cardrona over Crown Saddle and down into the valley. I think New Zealand is the cure for those with motion sickness.
Wanaka is the smaller sibling to Queenstown, with a beautiful lake, high peaks, and lots of activities. With a walk through town and a stop at the “i-site” our plans started to come together. We continued on with our exploring stopping at Kawarau Bridge to “check out” the bungy jump pod, and then onward to the main street of Queenstown for a stroll and some Patagonia ice cream (Yes Pops...I had some for you!)
The following day we headed back through Queenstown and continued onward to Glenorchy, another small town nestled in the peaks, for a picnic and a walk along the town’s lagoon track. Glenorchy is a stopping spot for hikers along some of NZ’s great walks, and has a little shop with awesome chocolate chip cookies! All fueled up, we decided to head back to walk the Queenstown Hill and check out the 360 views of the area. The walk is about 2 1/2 hours return, with a steady climb to the summit, but well worth it! It starts out in a Douglas Fir forest, that smells like Christmas, and then opens up, for the last 20 minutes, to a rocky path with awesome views. Before the summit you reach the “basket of dreams” a steel structure that is perched on the hill with a view of the lake and the Remarkables. The final steep portion takes you up higher to the summit...all in all a beautiful, heart pumping, walk. After our walk we headed to Arrowtown, a well preserved gold-mining town with a Main Street that makes you feel like you have gone back in time.
Our final full day in the area we decided to join the adrenaline rush and try our hand at Via Ferrata (climbing path), with a company called Wild Wire. Basically you are using iron rungs, rock sides, bridges and traverses to scale a rock face, while clipped to safety cables (no worries mum...all good!) We decided on the intermediate course taking us 320m off the ground (think the height of the Eiffel Tower), alongside a waterfall, and completing approximately 4 bridge crossings. With three of us in our group, our guide Rick did an awesome job keeping us safe, managing my left and right issues, as well as a few nervous laughs. The view throughout the climb was cool, as there is a deer farm, and mountains surrounding the falls. With our climb completed we had a well deserved bbq dinner and were headed off to Franz Josef the following morning. Stay tuned for pics...we need a better WiFi connection first!