New Zealand!

We flew to New Zealand on Sunday, Nov. 3, landing in Queenstown on a bit of a roller coaster ride due to high winds in the mountains. Travel pretty much shot the day, since we lost a couple hours due to the time zone shift, so we got settled and headed to the town center.

While Queenstown might have lots to recommend it, it wasn’t really our cup of tea. Our first hint was when we talked to the folks at the car rental counter, asking where the local folks went for a bite and a pint in town. The three of them kinda looked at each other, shook their heads, and said that there really weren’t many locals in town. Even though they worked in Queenstown, they weren’t from there and didn’t consider themselves locals, nor did they really know any. Hmmm.

This first impression was confirmed when we got into town, where the place was packed with (predominantly young) people wandering around town, or occupying every available public bench or green space (usually drinking beer), or filling out all the restaurant patios enjoying dinner and drinks. We squeezed into a corner of an Irish pub (there’s one in every town on Earth) and grabbed a beer and something to eat, then headed to our Airbnb.

Our accommodations were a bit of a drive from the city center, but we couldn’t escape so easily. We had an apartment attached to a larger house on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, and the occupants of the main house were twenty- or thirty-somethings. They had a house full of folks and had been partying since about 4:20 in the afternoon and there were two full-size recycling bins that were already full of bottles (as well as plenty just laying around). We chatted to them about the parking arrangements, so nobody would get blocked in, because the driveway was rather narrow. Fortunately, they turned out to be pretty reasonable, and kept things fairly quiet as the evening wore on.

If we had a do-over, we probably wouldn’t stay in Queenstown since there are better options nearby, including Wanaka and Te Anau – more on that later. That said, everything around Queenstown is really great.

Some of those things included spectacular scenery, great walks, and a beautiful (huge) lake. We took a long walk along Lake Sylvan near Glenorchy, and then the next day drove up to Wanaka, swinging through Arrowtown (and a few wineries) on the way back. And now, here’s a few pics from the Queenstown area.