Though I wrote a diary for my Queenstown trip, I thought keeping a photo journal day-by-day here for my own enjoyment and for you to see things to do in this part of New Zealand would be a good idea!
So here it goes:
Day 1
You've just come off a presumably long-ish flight, and you don't have too much energy to spend doing all the fun adventurous things you may have in store for later, so I would suggest exploring Lake Wakatipu and the streets of Queenstown is a good place to get your groundings. For dinner, head to Ferg Burger for delicious burgers (I got Bun Laden, a falafal burger which was huge and satisfying). I suggest heading to Ferg Burger early, though, as this place has a line well up to 2am. Later on, go and get yourself a Ferg Gelato - it just opened and it's next door to Ferg Burger, with flavours such as apple pie (with real pie crust - Yum!)
Day 2
Ok, so you've settled in and got rid of some inevitable jet-lag. It's time to explore.
Because there is limited amount of things to do within Queenstown itself (though you can spend a number of enjoyable days within this town), the hiring of a car (or a tarago named Earl in our case!) is fairly useful and an asset to your trip. We used Earl to drive to Milford Sound, a 4 hour trip away from Queenstown. I talked about this wonder in my last post, but I'd suggest a stop off at Te Anau, about 2.5hours from Queenstown, for dinner. There are a variety of restaurants near the lake - we went to an authentic Italian place which was quite lovely - or else we were just VERY hungry haha!
If you don't have a car at your disposal, however, there are bus tours which leave every day :)
Day 3
After that long adventurous day yesterday, it's time for exploring a touch closer to home (well, to Queenstown). This includes starting the day right with a breakfast by the lake, or if you're interested, a breakfast on T.S.S Earnslaw.
Then, when that leisurely breakfast is done, take yourself to the beautiful Arrowtown (which we actually ended up frequenting 3 times during our week stay in Queenstown!). An old mining town, with a Chinese settlement home and the most wonderful food in the Queenstown region, it is a beautiful town to walk through. Don't forget a stop off to the pub, The Fork and Tap, as well as to the Remarkable Sweet Shop to try some fudge.
Day 4
Over halfway into your trip! Day 4 is another exploring day, with a trip to Wanaka - not one of my favourite towns I must admit! But on the way we did see some gorgeous sheep!!
Cromwell is a must; a gorgeous almost theatre set-like mining town where you feel as if you've stepped back in time - incredible! On the way back to Queenstown, stop off in winery county and sample some wines, or else stop and befriend a cherry farmer - we were lucky enough to get invited inside the orchard to learn about how the cherries are picked, grown and sold! It pays to talk to the locals!!
No trip to Queenstown is complete, though, without a jet boat ride - there are many, from Lake Wakatipu to the Shotover River, we chose one through an old goldfield town called the Goldfields Jet. Exhilarating and fun!!!
Day 5
Today happened to be quite rainy for us, so we braved the weather and wandered through the beautiful Queenstown Botanical Gardens, which double as a golf course! On your way out of the gardens, stop off at what was arguably one of the best meals we had - Vudu Cafe, which was full of organic, homemade and delicious meals!! I got the haloumi burger and my oh my was it good!
We then went to visit relatives, but do as you please with this afternoon off! I would recommend the Boiler Room for cocktails later on in the evening, with cocktails such as Toblerone and standards as Mojitos - be wary that contiki tours do pass through every night!
We ended our night with a viewing of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, at the Reading Cinema, which was a lovely way to wind down the day.
Day 6
Just one more full day to go! We started our day off with a relaxing traipse through Glenorchy trail, followed by another track a little closer to Queenstown - definitely would recommend getting out there and finding some trails to explore and just get in touch with nature.
Racing back home, we boarded the infamous Queenstown gondola up to the Stratosfare buffet with views overlooking the lake, Queenstown, the paraglider and the brave bunny jumpers! A good spread, but limited for a vegetarian like me :/
Nevertheless, the best part of the gondola (apart from the ride up and down which I wish would've lasted longer) is the luge - a must-do as you ride on a toboggan down windy track hugging the mountain...the only scary bit it the ski lift up there!
Unfortunately, it's back to reality now, but this trip was amazing and I'm so grateful for all the opportunities and adventures I had! I hope this post has helped somewhat in showing you a little bit of everything Queenstown has to offer!
