Queenstown, New Zealand

This town is located on the South Island of New Zealand and is the base for all the adventurous activities you would want to take when visiting New Zealand. The town has a wonderful town center with shops and restraunts of all cuisines, surrounded by a lot of hotels, apartments, expensive condos and  single family homes. It is no wonder that the houses in this town are built with one architectural theme...Face the lake and capture its views through large glazed window walls. Here is an example of one of the houses and the beautiful view in front of it! Stunning!





We stayed at the Queenstown Sofitel which is conveniently located in central Queenstown. It is close to the shops, restraunts and tourist offices. 


Plan to start the day by having a hearty breakfast and head over to the Skyline Queenstown for a Gondola ride to Bob's Peak. At the top, there is a viewing deck that allows you get some spectacular pictures of the Remarkable mountain range, the town and the Lake. The viewing deck is part of big building which houses a restaurant, gift shop, restrooms etc.  



View of the Lake  from the top 



This is also where you can get the Luge ride which is highly recommended. Skyline offers a variety of luge packages for different prices . Click on the link  below for their website and information on the rides and packages :

The Luge station requires you to walk from the cable car station down a steep path to the entrance. There you take a chair lift to the entrance. There are two tracks: one for the beginners and one for the experts. We  took the three ride package, with the first being the beginners ride so you can get used to the equipment and then the expert where you can really zip down.  They give you good instructions at the start point and launch you down the beginners path. Eventually you get the hang of it as you can go down the expert track on the subsequent rides. If you want more rides you can buy the pass accordingly. 



Beginner and Expert tracks for Luge ride

Here is a tip that might help you from walking up a steep path when the rides are completed: Instead of walking back up the steep path you came down earlier, take the chair lift back up to the entrance. There is a walkway from there down to the Gondola station which is a lot better than walking up!

Downtown Queenstown 



Having done all this, its time to explore the bars and the restraunts in town. Queenstown center is not very large but it is lively especially in the evening. There are lots of restraunts, shops, ice cream parlors and of course bars. In summer the weather is great for outdoor 



Downtown Queenstown



Madame Wu 

Lower Ballarat Street has a lot of restraunts with different ethnic cuisine styles. I would suggest stopping by Madam Woo, which serves up some of the most delicious  Malaysian style prawns. 
Call ahead and book since they do get busy during peak dinner times. 













The locals say you  haven't been to Queenstown if you haven't tried the worlds biggest burger called Fergburger. This iconic eating place on Shotover street has lines that stretch a block at anytime of the day. The burgers are at least 6" in diameter if not more and with all the fixings it is a meal! New Zealand is renowned for both the quality of its beef and lamb. So try both!

The other delicacy iconic to New Zealand are the savory pies. They come with various fillings, and they are worth trying. They are pretty large and can be very filling!














It is quite common to buy the pies or burgers from one of the many places in downtown and take your food to the Harbor front and enjoy it there. They also sell ice-cream and baked goods but its the burgers that rule. Click on the link below to the Fergburger website. 



Travel further down Ballarat street and you end up at the Harbor front. This again is a lively place in the evening with street performers, magicians etc. 


 


 




Segway ride and Rose Garden  

Give yourself one day to explore Queenstown by taking a Segway tour of the lake front and the suburbs. The guide of this tour gives you a detailed Queenstown history of how the first settlers arrived in 1853 and started farming. Then gold was discovered in the area and the population exploded. After the gold rush the town remained relatively quiet until 1988. This is when A. J. Hackett started a bungee jumping enterprise and Queenstown was well on the way to establishing itself as the "adventure tourism capital of the World". 
The Segway ride is well choreographed and laid out. You start with about 10 minutes of practice in a parking lot with the instructor. Once you are comfortable with the operation you start at the One Mile car park on Lake Esplande road and zip all the way through the town onto the Rose garden. You get some time there to take photos which will be shown below. From there you go along the lake into the residential are where you get to see some fabulous houses with a great view of the Lake. The whole ride along with stops and narrative from the guide is about 2 hours. 




 




 

When you get up on the Segway for the first time you are scared that it is unstable. But it is actually quite an amazing contraption and  easy to use. 






Get more information by clicking on the link below:  



Queenstown Rose Garden 



The weather in Queenstown is ideal for plants and flowers. The town has a beautiful botanical and  rose garden within walking distance of the town. The roses are in full bloom during the summer season that spans from November upto April . Spend a few hours taking in admiring the vibrant colors of the roses. 

 


 



 


 



 


 




Walter Peak High Country Farm 

Our trip to Queenstown ended with the final boat and farm tour to the Walter Peak farm. This farm is situated on the south side of Lake Wakatipu and is about a 45 minute ride on the steamship TSS Earnslaw. Take the option for the dinner cruise. You reach  the beautiful lakeside venue with beautiful buildings and a gorgeous garden.  


T.S.S. Earnslaw




Walter Peak Club house. 





                Beautiful Landscaped gardens

Once you disembark from the cruise ship you arrive at the farm clubhouse where you have cocktails and a sumptuous dinner. The staff is very attentive and the service is excellent . After dinner you walk up through the beautiful gardens to an amphitheater where you get to see the process of how sheep are sheared. The young lady who did the demonstration was extremely nonweldable about the process. It was amazing to see her drag and handle the large sheep and give you a demonstration of how to shear the wool off this animal. Sitting peacefully near her is the sheepdog. the attached video shows the entire process of the sheep shearing and the herding of sheep into the corral by the sheepdog. Click on the link below and enjoy  the video!

Walter Peak Farm

Our trip to Queenstown was full of action and adventure and I would urge you all to visit this fantastic town. 

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