Famous as the home of high octane thrills and extreme sports, we find Queenstown is full of surprises too. 

We’re staying in Frankton and have a park up right on Lake Wakatipu. One of the most beautiful spots and so it was worth paying the lake view premium. 

It’s a Friday afternoon, the sky is blue and the sun is hot and we take a wander around the lake. We end up at Altitude Brewery, which turns out to be a full on apres ski bar…. Complete with chairlift seating and skis on the ceiling. It’s all a bit surreal as we’re sitting outside in shorts and teeshirts. 

We raise a glass to our friends who we missed this season in Montgenèvre. Cheers. 

The local beer and food trucks are brilliant. Altitude Brewing is highly recommended if your here in Summer, or Winter. 

Park Running

We found out that there’s a ParkRun in Queenstown and we’re keen to add a New Zealand event and a ‘Q’ to our log. We were a bit surprised though that ParkRuns start at 08:00 not 09:00! 

Driving to Queenstown Gardens early in the morning there is a constant stream of coaches and mini-buses going the opposite direction. Milford Sound will be busy today!

The town itself though is like a ghost town. I guess those who haven’t left on the coaches are sensibly still in bed.  

A quiet trickle of Park Runners appear from the early morning mist and numbers build until there’s a small pool of us gathered for the 8 o’clock start. Almost everyone is a tourist here! 

We clock terrible times but when we get back to the lake we’re happy and energised as always after an early workout. 

In the afternoon, we’re back in Queenstown and we’re on a mission. 

By now, the town is buzzing and it’s not just the jet boats and helicopter tours. The sun’s out and there’s a busy market in the harbour. People are mooching about, filling up the patio bars and lying out on the grass with a soundtrack of live music from buskers.

After a brief alcoholic diversion, our objective is The Fergburger. 

Visiting Fergburger is one of things on our New Zealand To Do list having been recommended by several people. After the obligatory pilgrimage queue, we’re not disappointed when the food arrives. Sally declares it to be the best burger she’s ever had!

High praise indeed. 

Jet Boats

Before we came out to NZ, we decided that our Bungee Jumping days are behind us and driving past the bridge that AJ Hackett set up the first permanent bungee jump from reassures us we made a good decision. 

We are however going to try out Jet Boats. 

Jet boats are essentially very large engines connected to small, nimble and unstable boats. Propulsion comes from squirting water out of the back rather than propellers and so the boats can navigate very shallow rivers. This suits the erratic mountain rivers of the area.

A little research led us to Shotover Jet Boats. It’s a great choice.

The company has access to an incredibly beautiful part of the Shotover River, above Queenstown. Controlled access it turns out is important as the boats can do 90 km/h. You wouldn’t want to meet one coming the other way. 

It’s insanely good fun and our captain / race driver, Misuzu, is brilliant.

Glenorchy   

The town is sort of charming too with a ‘the road ends here’ feel.

There are a few tourist stops, some cafe’s and bars plus, of course, the ubiquitous helicopter tours. But it’s mid-season now and most places are closed.

The next day, our enthusiasm to head further up the valley on foot to find more Lord of Rings locations is dampened by low clouds and drizzle. 

Instead, we opt to stock up with a couple of Fairlie Pies from Mrs Wooleys General Store and set our course north.

Thanks for reading, 

Sally and Toby

Pie Rating : 7 out of 10. Good but ‘Miles Better Pies’ is still our favourite.  

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