Adventures in Queenstown, NZ

Queenstown, New Zealand (South Island)

In November, 2018 Ken and I spent 3.5 days in Queenstown, NZ. Words cannot do this town justice as it was so incredibly beautiful. Since we had three full days, we broke up the trip as follows:

Day 1 (half day) – check out the town, get the lay of the land

We walked along the water, took in the sites, went up in the Gondola, visited the large kiwi statue, just wandered. Tip: If you buy a Gondola pass ahead of time you can use it many times and get discounted luge rides. https://www.skyline.co.nz/en In November, there was a year pass discount which was the same price as one trip, so it was a no-brainer for us, plus afforded us the opportunity to ride it more than once to get the amazing views from the top.

Day 2 (full day) – go on a wine tour in Central Otago (amazing Pinot Noirs)

We booked a tour so we could enjoy and not drive ourselves. The tour was through Queenstown Wine Trail tours. It was a small group which we liked, and we went to 3 wineries, one was including lunch (which you can opt in or out of) https://www.queenstownwinetrail.co.nz/

The wineries we got to go to included: Gibbston Valley (this is the main one with the caves – almost all tours go here). They also offer a tour just to Gibbston Valley from downtown Queenstown if you don’t have time for an all day or half day tour to include other wineries). Mt Rosa, and Kinross. Kinross featured other wines that do not have cellar doors (Hawkshead, Valli, Domaine Thompson).

The tour included wineries that were all pretty close to Queenstown, so the bus trip was relatively short.

We had the opportunity to try some of the other wines when we were at dinner. Our favorite was Amisfield, so if you have a chance to visit there go for it (or just try the wine at a restaurant).

Day 3 (full day) – go to the Milford Sound, Mirror Lakes, and Fiordland National Park

This was an ALL day affair. 12 hour trip. Worth it, yes, but a very long day and a lot of bus time. There is an opportunity to fly home from the Milford Sound but that will cost you more, plus is weather dependent. The day we were there the weather was not great, so flights were not going. Very cold and rainy, so the views were not as picturesque as we hoped for. Many people like it when it rains because of the numerous waterfalls that appear, but in my opinion the rain was a hinderance. Who likes cold driving rain when you are on a boat? Not this girl. But you win some and you lose some when it comes to travel and weather. The sound was still breathtaking! We booked the tour through https://www.awesomenz.com/

Day 4 (full day) – Explore Queenstown, go Zip lining, check out the Luge and Gondola skyline

There are a ton of cute shops, and just walking around enjoying the Remarkables (mountain range that serves as the beautiful backdrop of Queenstown). We booked a zip lining adventure, which was super cool! Queenstown is the Adventure capital of the world, so if anything from zip lining, to skiing, to sky diving and bungee jumping go for it! We took the moderate route and went zip lining through Zip Trek. There was a 4 line and a 6 line option. We went with the 4 line. https://www.ziptrek.co.nz/ The team at Zip trek was extremely helpful and we felt 100% safe as we enjoyed the scenery from up in the tree tops. There is also a really cool place called “The Winery” where you can taste all of the local wines – also a great place to visit if you don’t have time for a wine tour.

Weather:

The weather was a bit all over the place. Best tip is to have layers. One day it was warm, next it was raining, and just general unpredictability. I had jeans, a rain coat, and a warmer thin puffer coat. It gets pretty chilly at night too.

Where to stay:

We booked an Air B&B at first, which actually ended up cancelling on us 24 hours before arriving. This was a panic! We were lucky to get another spot, albeit more expensive than we were planning on. The place we ended up was perfect though. The views were spectacular, and we had a small apartment where we could relax in the living room, and reheat leftovers in the kitchen (portions were pretty large at the restaurants). https://www.swiss-belhotel.com/en-gb/swiss-belsuites-pounamu-queenstown Wherever you end up staying, I recommend staying up on the hill for the views (to the right of downtown on the map below). There are buses to take you to the center town, or you can walk (15 min) which we did most of the time.

Restaurants:

There are a ton of options, but here is where we ate, the Queenstown marathon was happening when we were there, and we were not aware, so we didn’t have reservations, if you have a place in mind, make a reservation:

The Grille – delicious. We got a seat outside for the views. http://www.eichardtsdining.com/thegrille/

Captains Restaurant – also got to sit outside. https://www.captains.co.nz/

Fergburger – very iconic. We grabbed a burger here for a quick bite. Ken loved it, I thought it was a bit overrated. https://www.fergburger.com/

The Cow – old and cozy. Get the garlic bread. Trust me on this one! http://www.thecowpizza.co.nz/

Other restaurants we heard about, but didn’t go to include:

Botswana Butchery https://www.botswanabutchery.co.nz/

Rata https://www.ratadining.co.nz/

Madame Woo https://www.madamwoo.co.nz/