Friday 3 Feb
Lake Wakatipu. Mountains simply called The Remarkables. Breathtaking. Magical. Action-adventure. Relaxing. All of these things are Queenstown, New Zealand. Quite different than the metropolitan areas that we’ve visited so far. And, it’s just what we need at this point in our trip.
Everything that I complained about the Hilton was redeemed at the Queenstown Hilton. We got the Diamond upgrade to a suite and, right off the bat, the service was extraordinary. The front desk manager escorted us to our room and gave us a tour of the hotel on the way. Our room is large with a separate living and sleeping space (and after constantly being together this long, a little space is a good thing…remember, Chris and I are used to having some time apart each week). But, the icing on the cake is the spectacular view from our large balcony. This time we have furniture, unlike the Hilton Auckland.
Living Room (shot from the front door)
Living Room (shot from the bedroom door)
Bedroom - great view from the bed
Balcony - lovely views
We arrived in QT around 2:00 pm and just explored our hotel a little. I had collected about a million brochures at the airport for the various activities around town and the surrounding areas so we waded through those too. They really have it all: mountain biking, parasailing, paragliding, bungee, zip lining, hiking, boating, speed boating, fishing, skiing, jet skiing, kayaking, canoeing, helicopter rides, shopping, spas, and on and on.
We needed some lunch and headed to one of the four restaurants at the hotel. A pub. We stuffed our guts with pizza, calamari, and seafood chowder. And, drank some beers.
Seafood chowder with the largest mussels I've ever had. It was good but not the best seafood chowder I've tasted.
Too many beers because as soon as we got back to the room, Chris passed out feel asleep while I blogged on the balcony. Room service for dinner and bed early.
Saturday 4 Feb
Free breakfast at the hotel is so-so but it’s free so we can’t really complain (much). They have a juicer so one can make their own juice. Fresh carrot and orange juice – yum! Our main goal for the day was to hit Queenstown proper. Get acquainted with the town and to find a place to do our laundry. (Laundry is the running saga of our trip) We took the free hotel shuttle to town and Chris immediately was drawn to the gondola rides up the mountain. From the top, there is paragliding (no thanks), bungee (no thanks), mountain biking (maybe), and the luge (yes!).
View from the bottom of the mountain
The gondola
At first, I was pretty terrified to do the luge. I was picturing the actual luge where you lay down and take really tight corners. But, as I watched, I decided to give it a try. And, I was hooked after the first run. They force you to take the easier, scenic route first but then you can take the advanced track. We had so much fun! Plus, the view from the mountain is too pretty for words.
We had to take a chair lift to the luge course
Chris looks huge on the little luge. So cute!!
Me going down a big dip. Woooo!
As you can see, I'm kicking his butt...
After the luge, we headed back to explore the town and grab lunch. And, to find a place to do our laundry.
Surprisingly, there were several restaurants that were closed for lunch. We were starving and, out of desperation, we tried a Mexican food restaurant. Let me just say that we have actually seen a handful of Mexican restaurants in Auckland. More than I expected. So, Kiwi’s are a little familiar with Mexican food, we guess. And, lunch was…well, a good attempt at Mexican. It filled our bellies but I can’t say that my craving was satiated. The best part was all the hot sauces that they gave us to spice up our meal. Here are our faves:
We tried a lot of different hot sauces. I really liked the Osama one...
But, this one was my fave
Bean dip was pretty good
Chris's burrito
My chicken tacos. Rice was, well, not Mexican rice.
We did some shopping but, after five hours in town, Chris was ready to head back. I could have continued shopping and browsing for another couple of hours (at least). But, we’re a team so I went back with him.
Shopped at an artisan fair by the waterside
This time, I was the one who passed out when we returned to the hotel. We had dinner reservations at another hotel restaurant at 9:30. After the nap, we went for a short walk before dinner.
I couldn't resist lolling around the lush hills.
These are our neighbors. Ducks, some birds, and a couple of mountain goats are really the only wildlife we've seen so far. We were told that there aren't bears or cougars in the mountains. Weak.
Dinner was delicious! No pics though – we forgot the camera. The night weather was perfect and we sat outside with a view of the dotted lights across the mountain and the bright moon casting a glow on the water. Since it was so late, we basically had the restaurant to ourselves. That and the view made for a very romantic atmosphere.
Loving life in Queenstown. It’s Sunday, sunny, and hot. The past two days have been overcast. We are taking advantage of the heat and sun so we rented a boat. More to come on that later…
-kb
We Are Tripping 
LOVE THE VIEWS !!!!!!!
Glad to see the pic of you laying on the ground getting some rest from all of these sites you been. Luge and the sky rail reminds of the one in Cairns, they have one similar to that where you ride the sky rail through the rain forest.
I’m really impressed by these pics! Queenstown looks absolutely gorgeous and relaxing. Sounds like a good mix of adventure and relaxation going on.
Safe to assume you don’t miss little ‘ol me sittin’ here in my cube, KB? LOL.
Do they make ravioli in Queenstown? I can’t believe forgot the camera – I sooo look forward to the food pics and I think you could have taken a tape recorder for when you order your meals. You can bet Karen and I would love to hear that!!