Activity Summary
Wednesday 1st February - Day 153
Explore Queenstown
Patagonia Chocolates
Queenstown gardens
Fergbaker
Fergburger
Thursday 2nd February - Day 154
Chill day - Patagonia Chocolates cafe all afternoon
Friday 3rd February - Day 155
Luke: Ben Lomond summit via Tiki Trail
Nicola: chill day
Saturday 4th February - Day 156
Arrowtown
Drive to Wanaka
Central Otago wine tour:
Chard Farm
Gibbston Valley
Mt Difficulty
Domaine-Thomson
Summary
Queenstown
Winner of the best city in New Zealand award. It’s pretty small but has a great vibe, plenty of things to do, great eatings and the mountains so nearby. Called the adventure capital for a reason.
If we had to pick somewhere to live it would be here.
Accommodation
Queenstown - Driftaway Queenstown
Number of nights - 4
Price per night per person - £17
Queenstown is an absolute nightmare for affordable accomodation. Best example, a backpacker was unable to get their flight to Auckland so was stuck in Queenstown and the cheapest accomodation they could find was $700 a night. Absolute madness - but for such a popular place it is very small.
We had spoken to a fair amount of people who have been before and mentioned that the old campsites they had stayed in were now sold and redeveloped. We were fortunate that Nicola looked early doors after finding all this out and fell on Driftaway, which was a very short drive away in Frankton and basically a brand new set up.
The place was great. Decent pitch overlooking the lake and mountains in the background with more or less brand new and very clean facilities. There were plenty of places to chill and relax but the best was the breakfast bar chairs on the porch of the kitchen.
Great place and as a camper with a car this made this place accessible and affordable unlike the rest of the options.
Diary
To allow Luke some recovery post Routeburn our plan was to have a chill day around Queenstown with some likely self indulgence (outside of activities) for the first time in what felt like ages.
Nicola got up at a reasonable time and spent the morning talking to Tilly. When Luke eventually arose, able to sleep pretty well due to a combination of exhaustion and the morning being a cloudy and cool morning, he immediately gave in to temptation when finding out there was a Mcds around the corner. We were pretty good the evening before and a granola breakfast just wasn’t going to cut the mustard so Luke drove and picked up some mighty breakfast muffins.
Eventually we got going and drove to Queenstown. Initially we failed at finding a spot at the pay and display car park so ended up driving a little further out of town and parking up a side street. It was only a little bit extra added to our journey.
Once in Queenstown we spent the next few hours simply wandering around. Luke finally bought a new pair of swim shorts and Nicola got some new flip flops (basically the same as Luke’s so we can be cute foot twins) after leaving hers in Invercargill. Slowly losing most of our initial travel bag stuff.
What caught our eye was the Fergburger line. The burger joint is an iconic Queenstown staple that serves predominantly burgers and has queues going out of the door. Along the lake side you can see masses of people chowing down on these monsters which obviously meant we had to try out and see what the fuss was about. That and Tom Maclean had it on his itinerary so Luke had to do it as well. Dinner plans sorted.
What wasn’t so busy was the Fergbaker (this Ferg guy had managed to monopolise a whole street) and we had some seriously tasty pies for lunch. The lake side is really nice to sit and chill around with a load of bars, restaurants and easy sitting next to the lake. A big fan.
When the rain started to kick in and Luke got tired we hid away in Patagonia Chocolates for a coffee & hot chocolate and sipped over the really nice views of the lake in the upstairs area.
Lastly we had a short walk around the Queenstown gardens before Nicola went to see the doctor as she had found a lump in her breast she was concerned about. The doctor said it was very likely nothing but she arranged to have a scan in a few weeks to make sure.
Luke sat around the lake writing while being serenaded by an old man singing and playing guitar while his dog howled and sang along with him. Luke was less impressed than Nicola who found it unbelievably cute and funny.
It was time for us to get our Fergburger. The queue was actually pretty short at this point so we were served pretty quickly and took our monster burgers (Nicola the classic and Luke the double classic) back to the lake to listen to the man and the dog some more.
We returned back to the car and the campsite to chill for the evening as Luke opened the last of his wine stash (Poppies Sauvignon-Semillon).
Initially we had planned to go to Glenorchy but driving through to get Luke from the Routeburn, we can confirm it didn’t look worth spending a day here. So we decided to have another chill day, do some research and achieve little else.
We went back into Queenstown rather than staying at the campsite and hid away in Patagonia Chocolates pretty much all afternoon in the good seats. We cleared out shortly after 3pm when it started getting pretty busy and Luke couldn’t handle anymore coffee.
The main activity for Luke was to get a haircut around the corner from the campsite to give Nicola some respite from this stressful activity she really hates doing. The guy responsible however was not great, really not understanding a hair cut should be taking length off and Luke came back annoyed. It wasn’t a terrible cut however.
The campsite advertised having BBQs which are in fact just outdoor hot plates. These are terrible and Luke spent a long time making lunch for the next day and a ‘BBQ’ dinner. He ended up having to cook inside because the hot plates ran ridiculously hot and were unable to adjust this temp.
The rest of the evening we chilled on the downstairs porch looking out over the lake.
After 2 days of rest Luke had planned another bigish hike. Ben Lomond is a popular hiking track so it felt rude not to do it. Nicola was feeling pretty tired and rundown so decided against the walk and relax instead.
Nicola dropped Luke off at the start, conveniently pretty much inside Queenstown, and then left to him his own devices.
Luke story time:
I was feeling pretty fresh after Routeburn and raring to go after having a few days not doing much. So my plan was to try and get up Ben Lomond as quickly as I could for no reason other than my ego.
The start went through the Tiki Trail forested track which ran past a load of people doing high ropes / zipline activities so a fair few screams and renditions of ‘I believe I can fly’.
Once through the woods it tops out at the end of the gondola ride overlooking the city. The gondola is at a pretty high point and would definitely say the trip up in it is worth it if the slog up the Tiki Trail is not desired. Nice views from this point and there is a nice cafe to sit and chill in.
Past the gondola the official Ben Lomond track starts which offers some pretty great views. It was a pretty sunny day so I was pretty lucky with views of Queenstown, the surrounding areas and once at the saddle views of the mountains on the other side. Having done Roys Peak I particularly like this walk as the view is constantly evolving rather than just zig-zagging up a mountain.
The last part is pretty steep and I had gone pretty quickly to this point as the path is very straight forward and no technical sections existed. The issue without stopping much throughout came back to bite me as I tried to climb the last part with the same gusto and the lack of food started giving me bonk like fears. I was able to push through but slowed me down a great deal and summited in about 2hrs 15mins. Pretty happy with this and then could chow down on my sausage sandwiches as I sat there for a while taking in the views. Sadly the cloud cover on the Queenstown side would not dissipate but the views from the other side were great.
It was also fun to put down a loud mouthed American who was bragging about how quickly he had done the track.
After a while I was back on my way down and again going pretty quickly as the path required little to no thought. I did see some mountain goats which was a little odd as I thought they'd all been killed off for environmental protection reasons. For some reason not here.
Overall an enjoyable hike. Stat summary (from AllTrails & time from Strava):
14km
1,425m gain
Moving time = 3hrs 58mins
Elapsed time = 4hrs 45mins
Max elevation = 1,748m
Luke story over.
Nicola picked Luke up from the car park, now pretty tired and we drove back to the campsite for a chill evening in the TV room with some more victory wine.
We took off from the campsite in the morning with relative ease and made our way over to Arrowtown, a suburb of QT that has a fair amount of gold mining history.
We parked up in a grassy/rocky area that was a weird extension of the free public carpark (a bit odd and others were doing it so it seemed fine) and had a bit of a walk around the town. It was a nice place, plenty of what looked like classy restaurants, bars and cafes with a very quaint atmosphere. The mining history was etched into the building design which all looked a bit country Western.
There wasn’t a whole lot to do so we took off after not too long, with a very short walk down the river that families had come to on their weekend to play by.
We were heading to Wanaka next and fortunately for Luke there was very little to see on the route there apart from a ‘bra fence’ and a shed tone of Central Otago wineries. Nicola was not fussed about the fence so Luke got to have another day being driven to wineries. At least this time it was in a sensible order on the way to a new pasture.
The Central Otago wine region has a number of subregions so much like before, Luke tried to pick one from each.
Chard Farm - Gibbston
Gibbston Valley - Gibbston
Mt Difficulty - Bannockburn
Domaine-Thomson - Cromwall
The first visit was at Chard Farm, located up a long gravel road and a perfect LOTR spot - the Argonath on the Anduin River. Lovely picture with the winery in the background.
Once at the winery Nicola laid her blanket out on the grass reading her book and left Luke to it. Firstly he was roped into trying to help resolve a computer problem at the winery which somehow he managed to do. So the winery rewarded him with a free coaster.
Maria Rose 2022 - 7/10 *** pinot noir grapes, made it pretty dry and nice
Swiftburn Sauvignon 2022 - 8/10 *** softer on the palate
Judge & Jury Chardonnay 2021 - 6/10 *** acacia barrel rather than oak
Pinot Gris 2022 - 6/10
Mata Au Pinot Noir 2021 - 6/10
Viper Pinot Noir - 7/10
Was a nice winery and experience. Luke ended up talking with two Scots on bikes and even ended up dropping their purchased wine in the shed at the start of the gravel road for them to pick up later. Very trusting of them but Luke doesn’t really give off thief vibes.
The next winery was Gibbston Valley only down the road. The tasting experience was done by wine tasting tray but Luke was happy to not have the fuss. It wasn’t anywhere near as nice a winery so Nicola was that keen about lingering here when done.
Grand Reserve Blanc de Blanc 2012 - 4/10 *** bubbly Chardonnay; it wasn’t terrible but wasn’t good
Sauvignon 2022 - 8/10
Pinot Gris 2021 - 6/10 *** one of the more drinkable Pinot Gris’ had
Riesling 2021 - 2/10 *** not good
The next winery was Mt Difficulty, chosen simply because the name was cool. It was located in a very interesting part of Otago, the temperature seeming to rise about 10 degrees from where we had been previously. It was absolutely roasting at the top of the hill at the winery.
Luke was looked after by an incredibly talkative and passionate hostess who had only been in the job for a few days but she loved talking about her wine. On her advice, Luke went for the Pinot Noir tasting.
Pinot Noir Bannockburn 2020 - 6/10
Pinot Noir Bannockburn 2018 - 7/10
Pinot Noir Ghost Town 2017 - 8/10
Pinot Noir Long Gully 2017 - 9/10
Pinot Noir Mansons Farm 2017 - 9/10
The last two wines were glorious. There was a lot of advice to buy and store the wine but sadly this wouldn’t have been possible with our tiny travel bags and Luke’s inability to hold back.
On top of that the location was really nice. Nice seated area on the outside porch to sup some vino.
The last winery we went to was a very small one called Domaine-Thomson. We were the only ones there so had a nice chat with the very nice hostess who gave Luke his wine tasting. Of those tried (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir only) the best was a Chardonnay imported from France so it wasn’t all that great a wine experience. It also was very very warm in the room so Luke was pretty keen to get running. It was free however.
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