The town was named Queenstown by Gold Prospectors in 1860’s who had invaded this region as Gold had been discovered in the nearby Arrow River. There is a story that Irish settlers named the town after a city in their country. Simply put it is a stunning lake town having a population of just around 30,000. While the main attraction remains Lake Wakatipu and its changing colours, the mountains of ‘The Remarkables’ , ‘Cecil Peak’ and ‘Walter Peak’ looms large over the town. The place has a lot to offer through the year as during the winter it is a very important base for skiing in nearby mountains.
We arrived here in the afternoon of a bright and beautiful sunny day and fell in love with the place right away. It is kind of a dream city where you want to buy a house and settle down for life. Everything was perfect the day we arrived here. The Lake was glistening, the mountains were totally green and the city centre was humming with activity. As we were going to be here for 4 days – we had enough time to explore the area and do a lot of touristy things. The main city centre is attached to the Lake and as that is the crowded area, it was good that our apartment was a 15 minutes walk uphill as I didn’t want the hassle of taking the car and then looking for parking. The apartment had bedrooms, a nice kitchen, a living room and a lovely sit out area. It was well equipped so made things easy for us. At times when we didn’t want to walk uphill at night we could just call an Uber. One day we called in for dinner delivery and had dinner in the apartment at leisure. Breakfast was in the premises itself each day as we had got all requirements from the super-market.
Upon arrival and immediately after checking in and depositing our luggage we walked down to the market area for lunch and to get the feel of the place. We liked what we saw and were happy that we were here for the maximum number of days during the trip. Being a touristy town it had that hustle and bustle which makes a place vibrant. There were boutique shops, brands, restaurants, open air cafes and that lovely smell of food. Obviously in 4 days one can’t do everything that this town had to offer so here are some of the things which we did.
Drive to Glenorchy
Glenorchy is a picturesque town 46 km’s from Queenstown. The drive is rated very highly and is featured by many magazines as one of the lovely drives in the world. It has many stops on the way as you take this curving road and encounter forests, snow peaks and magnificent views of Lake Wakatipu. On the way there are so many places where you can just stop and admire the views or have a nice picnic. We stopped at Bennetts Bluff Lookout and Sunshine Bay for photos but the real treat was at the end of a diversion we took.
This diversion took us to Lake Moke which had lovely walking trails and a beautiful lake. It had a camping site and a lot of Livestock. We spent more time here than we had planned as Kapil loved a hike so much that he disappeared in the forests for a long time just enjoying the fresh air and the beauty. Once he was back we continued our journey and after reaching Glenorchy continued towards a place in mountains called the Paradise. This is a gateway to a very famous trail called Routeburn Track trailhead. Then we turned back and had a nice leisurely lunch at Glenorchy. As it is a small town with a lake – it had a laid back atmosphere. As the weather was great there was a lot of activity near the lake. It had been a great drive till here and it was a great drive going back to Queenstown.
A visit to Arrowtown
This was the real gold mining town next to the Arrow river. It also has Lake Hayes- another beautiful lake in this country endowed with so many lakes. The township came up only due to ‘Gold Rush’ and it remains a quaint little town. While coming here we had to cross mountains and we took a diversion and reached at some mountain top where some adventure sports were taking place like Para Sailing and Kite gliding. I wanted to do it but they said we needed to book it in advance. It seemed very well organised. Just nearby was a cycling track in the mountains and we started walking on it but a cyclist thankfully warned us to stay away from it. The way these guys were cycling on it (including some teenagers) was not something a faint hearted person can watch – leave alone actually take part in this sport where they took those hair pin bends on the rough mountainous track at a great speed.
At Arrowtown we checked out the museum where Gold Mining history of the region was exhibited. We roamed around the market enjoying the cafes and checking out the boutique shops. I did buy a few Marino wool sweaters and so did others.
Queenstown Hill walking Trail
The city has a lot of walking trails and people are always seen exploring the trails. They are of all ages. I accidently got on to Queenstown Hill walking trail as it was not very far from our apartment. I kept climbing and climbing and it wouldn’t end. A couple of girls who crossed me (they were coming down) gave encouragement and assured me that I could do it. And I did. It was hard work but I managed to climb to the top. What I remember from that hike is the smell of fresh air and lovely views of the lake and the city. Trail hikes are an important part of New Zealand itinerary and one must find about the trails and the effort level required in advance to plan the schedule.
Milford Sound- The Fjords
Actually we didn’t do this trip. Most people who travel to the South Island have 2 objectives in mind – visit Queenstown and take a trip to Milford Sound. Though we didn’t take a trip there, I wouldn’t discourage people from visiting these amazing Fjords. I have read about them and seen photographs. Had we driven, it would have been a full day trip as one way it can take 4 to 4.5 hours. One can take an organised tour or do that trip where bus takes you one way and you fly back the other way. This is expensive but may be worth it. At New Year’s time Milford sound is known to be very crowded with parking and other hassles. Devicka and I have been to several Fjords in Iceland and Norway so we had decided to include the west coast in our itinerary instead of this trip.
The New Year’s eve
This was fun !The town centre next to the Lake is where the action is. Being so far East in the world it was a good feeling to usher in the New Year before much of the world did. The setting couldn’t be better. There was a lot of crowd but very well behaved crowd. Drinking was not allowed in open but you could go into any bar or restaurant and have a drink. We roamed around and saw the beautiful sunset and then went to a restaurant for our dinner. The city was revved up by the time we came out with some great music by live bands. Next to the Lake and mountains in great weather it was just fun, fun and fun. There were multiple events happening at different places but it was the music and the live performance we stuck to. There were pop up stalls and most places were open till late. The dessert places had long queues and there were long queues to enter nightclubs as well. At stroke of midnight there were spectacular fireworks over the lake. It was such a lovely evening.
Golf in Queenstown
1st January 2024 – the first day of the year had a perfect start for the year for Kapil and me as we drove to Queenstown Golf Club for a game of golf. It was indeed the most picturesque golf course I have ever played in. The Royal Spring Golf Course in Srinagar is another spectacular course that I have played in. There is another golf course called the Jackspoint but this one was closer. You had great views from almost all the holes and the colours of Lake Wakatipu appeared to be even deeper turquoise from here. It was hard work carrying the golf set and going up and down the hills but it was so fulfilling. We went to the clubhouse after the game for a well deserved beer.
The food
At the edge of the market is a hamburger shop called the Fergburger. At any time during the day or night – from the time it opened to the time it shut, it had a queue of about a hundred people.
We keep eating New Zealand lamb chops everywhere in India but hardly saw it on the menu of any restaurant there. ‘Pedro’s house of Lamb’ promised much and had a great menu but it remained shut through our visit. Owner must have gone for a holiday.
The Indian and Chinese restaurants were very popular as they were open till late. There were some good places like Flame Bar and Grill, Public Kitchen and Bar, The Grille, Boardwalk etc but their kitchens used to shut down latest by 8 or 8.30 PM and most needed advance booking. There was a good Irish pub called Pog Mahones where I enjoyed a few pints of Guinness beer a couple of times.
Adventure Sports
Queenstown is a place where people do all the fun stuff like speed boating, Bungee jumping, para sailing, kite gliding, sky diving etc. We didn’t any of this stuff here but booked for sky-diving and helicopter landing on Glacier & Glacier walk from here. They had a lot of agents here and they provided comprehensive information. Sometimes you can get good deals also. Most important thing is to have courage to participate in adventure sports. The Skiing slopes are not too far away so their winter tourism mainly is all about Skiing.
As we were driving to Franz Josef Glacier township at the West coast as our next destination from here, it made sense to do all this stuff there. I have already written about my skydiving experience at Franz Josef Glacier. The link is : https://rohinarora.com/2024/01/10/sky-diving-in-new-zealand/
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