Blogs from Queenstown, Otago, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

Geo: -45.0311, 168.663Tuesday Renee and I took a LOTR tour. Our guide picked us up a little after 8 and there was one other girl on our tour who was from London. She was spending the entire year traveling around and had come from South America, was going to Austrailia next and then Asia. Very interesting to talk with her about her travels! We drove around Queenstown first to view a Korean fort that was built for some Cold War movie. It was supposed to be a shell, but the director made an actual fort so you can still see it on a hill. Then we headed north to Glenorchy. There are lots of LOTR sites that we stopped at, but I have no idea what they were. I only know the scenery was amazing! Glenorchy ... read more

Day 118-119 1st-2nd January Happy New Year! Ellory and I were awake surprisingly early and decided to pack up our things and head on out. We were all going our separate ways that day as Gillie and Simon were off to spend that night at his uncle’s house as they had their flight back to Vietnam on the 2nd and had to leave Queenstown at 4.00am on the 2nd to get back to Christchurch in time to make their flight. We had decided to spend a bit longer in Queenstown as there were a lot of things we wanted to do so we loaded our bags into the hire car, thanked Stef for letting us stay and went for a drive to find somewhere to stay for a couple of nights. In the few days we ... read more

Geo: -45.0311, 168.663New Zealand for Christmas, not a bad place to be at this time of the year, although in saying that after one day at the parent's place in Christchurh we wanted to get out and about. Naturally Queenstown was the first option.We all flew in to Christchurch at different flights but on the same day, the prevoius week had been spent in Melbourne, catching up with some friends and attending my brothers graduation.It seems to be the way now where I visit Melbourne for 4 or 5 days and then I'm off again, off on another adventure, not to return for another 4 months, then the whole cycle repeats itself.It was the first time we got to see the new house in Christchurch, perched on the hills behind the city, beautufl views to the ... read more

I leave Te Anau behind after a last visit to my favourite coffee shop for breakfast. Bump into local deer farmer Roy who I'd shared a drink with last night - very nice chap. Spent the rest of last evening with a couple from the Isle of Wight (sorry Rob - they're invading) and a couple from Colorado. Interesting people who don't know each other but keep bumping into each other all over NZ. Then in the car and the long drive up to Queenstown. Take a detour up the Remarkables and take a couple of pics then down into town and check in to my second home at Pinewood. Being back in a town makes me feel a bit low so I jump in the car again and drive out to the road end past ... read more

Geo: -45.0311, 168.663It was a beautifully scenic drive down from Franz Josef via Wanaka, to Queenstown today. It reminds me of Aviemore a bit, everyone is organising their ski hire and trips to the mountains and it has a real buzz about it. There's lots of cute wee shops and all the adventure gear you could ever think of, is for sale. It's set on a lake and is a lovely spot, there is a gondola that takes you away up the mountain to the ski resorts, you can also do bungee jumping, or go carting or mountain biking, but we opt for the trip up and have lunch at the viewpoint. You get an amazing view the whole way to behind Millford Sound from here. We head off to the top of the lake the ... read more