To Queenstown

Monday, July 23

Once again, we were up bright and early on vacation. Today, we were up by 4:30 as we had a shuttle picking us up to take us to the Auckland Airport at 5am. By 5:05, we were downstairs, checked out, and waiting for the shuttle. We got to the airport without much difficulty, and despite the rain, were at the airport by 6am for a 7:15 flight. We checked in and got to our gate, only to find our flight delayed due to weather, but not for long. I capitalized on this opportunity to doze a little more, waking back up long enough to board the plane, and then fall back asleep. 

It was a short flight to Queenstown, only about an hour and a half, landing around 9am. Upon our descent, Stephen snapped some great aerial photos, seen below. The important thing to notice – there is snow on those mountains, even with the ocean just a few kilometers away.

 This is Queenstown:

We picked up our bags and headed out into the cold (about 30F this morning), debating between a shuttle and a cab to get to our hotel. The shuttle drivers told us a cab would be cheaper and faster, so we opted to catch a cab. 5 minutes and $30 later, we were at our hotel (reminiscent of the cab ride we took in Auckland to the hotel by the airport). We were staying at the Kawarau Hotel, owned by Hilton, and on the same property as the Hilton Queenstown. One would think it would be simple to differentiate the buildings – it wasn’t. We wandered close to 10 minutes before we found a hotel employee we could follow into the entrance. 

After that, we checked in and headed to our pretty sweet room – thanks to Stephen’s incredible hotel status, we were upgraded to a suite that had a full kitchen, balcony, and even a blackout sleeping room. However, this was not the opportune moment to appreciate the sweetness of our hotel room, as we had to quickly change before catching the bus into the city – where we were going to embark on our first Queenstown adventure. I put on four layers, Stephen put on three, and we headed to the nearby bus stop to go into downtown Queenstown. While there was a transfer required, it was quick and easy (unlike the Gold Coast), and by 11am, we were in downtown.

 We first when to the local information center, in part to figure out where we needed to be to pick up our afternoon adventure and in part to book the rest of our Queenstown adventures. The first adventure we signed up for was a trip to Milford Sound – something everyone said we had to do (and something we had failed to book prior to beginning our trip as we had no idea what tour we should do). Fortunately, the visitor center made it incredibly easy – pulled out a spreadsheet with a breakdown of 15 companies and all their perks, and within 10 minutes they had called and booked us on a tour for the very next morning. After that, we also decided to book our Wednesday adventure – bungee jumping. We opted for the 43m jump off Kawarau Bridge – the original bungee jump in New Zealand.

By 11:15, we had booked two new adventures and knew where we needed to be for our afternoon pickup at 11:45. We briefly walked around downtown to get a sense of the area and stopped in a local store to buy me some $5 lime green gloves – as I had forgotten mine and it was particularly cold. We had also heard from some friends on the SCUBA trip that the adventure we were going on was unbelievably cold – so we wanted to be prepared.

We then went and checked in for the Dart River Wilderness Safari, an afternoon trip that included a 90-minute jet boat ride, a half hour bushwalk with commentary, and a scenic drive around the area where Lord of the Rings was filmed. It didn't disappoint.

Once our whole group had arrived (8 people in total), we got on the bus to begin the hour long drive to the site of the Dart River. Stu, a Maori man (Maori are the indigenous people – Stu was a descendant) was our tour guide, and despite not having very many teeth, he was quite talkative with lots of stories about the history of the areas we were driving through. Once again, I fell asleep – but Stephen not only stayed awake to hear the stories, but also take some pictures.

Once we got to the company building near the river, we were provided 2 more layers – a waterproof parka and a life vest, bringing my total layers to 6 and Stephen’s to 5.

We then got on board the jet boat – Stephen and I opting for the very front row next to the driver, figuring we would get the best view. We were provided a warm blanket to put over our legs, a heated handle bar to hold on to, and directions about how to not go overboard when the driver subjected us to 360-degree turns.

Now would probably be the right time to explain what a jet boat is. It’s somewhat like a speedboat with the maneuverability of a jet ski. It has a unique motor that sits inside the boat and sucks water up to propel itself, allowing it to easily travel in areas with as little as 4 inches of water. This is a key point as the Dart River looked less like a river and more like a stream – with lots of jets of water coming together in a braided pattern, with the water never being deeper than 1.5 meters. They had a spare motor set up in the building so we could see how it worked:

We spent the next hour and a half jet boating up the Dart River – here are some of the great views we had.

After the incredible jet boat adventure (though it was cold, Stephen and I both loved it), we returned to a site in about the middle of the river to go on a “bushwalk” for 45 minutes. Our guide spent a good deal of time explaining how many locations, creatures, and plants had been misnamed in New Zealand, while also identifying local flora and the lack of local fauna – there are no insects, spiders, ants, snakes, or large predators in New Zealand. In fact, New Zealand had no native land mammals except 2 species of bat until about 200 years ago when man introduced them. It was one of the most unique rainforests we’d hiked through, with very little moisture and no ferns. Here’s what it looked like: 

Once our bushwalk was over, we headed to a van that drove us back to the main office (where our jet boat was located), stopping in “Paradiso” (land of the Gods) to allow us more incredible pictures and an opportunity to see a few sites where Lord of the Rings was filmed

 We then got on the last bus and headed back into Queenstown – this time with me as the photographer and Stephen the one sleeping.

 

It was about 5:30 at this point and we were HUNGRY. We had not been fed on the Dart River adventure, so we decided to get some food. The most popular “restaurant” in Queenstown is “FergBurger” – a burger joint with eclectic burgers the size of your face. Stephen really wanted to try it and we decided if they had nothing for me, we could get me some noodles from the noodle bar down the street. Surprisingly enough, FergBurger had a vegetarian option called "Holier than Thou" – grilled tofu with peanut satay, vegetables, and a spicy coriander sauce. The place was packed – almost a 30 minute wait for the food, but we managed to find a few stools at the bar and ordered. The burgers were great – nothing particularly special about the style – but the flavors were good and the food was hot, so we were quite happy.

After we were full of FergBurgers, we hopped on the bus back to the hotel, changed into warm pajama pants and kept on a few of upper layers, and curled up to watch Dinner with Schmucks and warm up. 

When the movie was over, we headed to bed, as tomorrow we have to get up early for Milford Sound.