Saturday, 19th November 2022

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Another grey, miserable and fairly cold day – around 14 degree’s so a bit like being back in the UK really!

Our plan today was to get from Te Anau round to Queenstown, with a stop off at Arrowtown on the way. We didn’t rush to get out this morning as the marathon we’d found out about the day before was due to take place in the morning and as a result there were road closures in both the places we wanted to go to today.

The drive itself was lovely, as are most drives over here as they always involve views of lakes, mountains, rivers and creeks. We had a pit stop at Garston, which has the title of the most inland settlement in New Zealand. Such a pretty place and really nicely kept – as we drove in we were greeted with a wave by a couple of grave diggers. (I kid you not – digging by hand too!)

I think our main reason for stopping was the ‘coffee bomb’ van. Roy hadn’t had a coffee and it was almost lunchtime so he was getting the shakes by this stage. But before refreshments we took a stroll back through the village to look at the old railway memorabilia and the pretty church (grave diggers had vanished by then). After waiting for the coffee bomb to grow the coffee beans (who knew a latte could take so long to make!), Roy finally got his coffee and we set off again.

We got to Arrowtown and had a wander round all the old buildings and shops, it was very tempting to stop off for lunch as there were so many nice places to choose from, but we had dinner booked for this evening so settled for our homemade rolls.

By this time we figured the marathon would almost be over, so we headed over to Queenstown, then took about 15mins to get to the hotel do to a combination of road works and closures. Everywhere is so steep around here! Once we got to out hotel it was fairly flat to get to the main town area, but to get to the gondola’s for our trip up to the Stratosphere restaurant was like scaling a mountain.

Before that though, after checking into the most expensive hotel ever, we walked around the town to see what we could do before our dinner booking. We wanted to go in an ice bar and managed to get a slot for about an hour later. To pass the time until then, we went to a more traditional bar, except for the fact that it was floating! It was a permanently docked boat with tables on the upper deck. A great place to people watch and see the jet boats going out, as well as some odd looking things which were like submarines shaped like sharks that could dip under water then breach like a whale and land back in the water again.

We headed back to the ice bar to get our big coats and gloves on, then were left standing in them for about 5 mins (by this stage it was a bit warmer weather wise – and with these coats on it was even hotter!). We’d opted for the two cocktail option, it was a bit like going large on your McDonalds meal, or getting popcorn at the cinema, the relatively small additional cost for the extra drink seemed like a bargain!

I had a Peachy Penguin, followed by a Citron Peak Plunge. Roy had an Arctic Sunrise to start, followed by a Ice Craic. All served in tumblers made of ice about 10mm thick – which are surprisingly hard to drink out of!

Some people obviously had very warm hands, as their ice glass sprung a leak and had to be replaced. Ours lasted OK for both drinks although they were getting a little thinner and therefore easier to drink from by the end. It was quite satisfying to smash them into the ice bin once we were done.

Not satisfied with two cocktails, Roy also treated himself to a coffee liquor shot – all that effort to make a tiny little shot glass out of ice, he swigged it in one then smashed it in the bin!

Feeling a little tipsy after our floating bar and ice bar trips in one afternoon, we popped back to the hotel, got changed, then headed up (up being the operative word!) to the gondola start point. It involved some steep hills and about 5 flights of stairs but we finally got there and jumped on the gondola to make our way up to the top.

After threatening to never speak to him again if he kept jostling the gondola, Roy settled down in his seat and other than a worrying moment when we came to a stop two thirds of the way up, it was a pleasant ride with lovely views.

Seeing the luge, Roy wanted to give it a try, not really my thing, so I decided to be photographer and catch him as he came down. While I waited, I saw people whizzing by, then a lady came round the corner almost at a standstill, I thought there must be something wrong with her luge but she seemed to just want to go as slowly as possible all the way down! Two men had already overtaken her – not that she was trying to keep out of the way, she insisted on taking the racing line even though I could’ve walked the track faster than she was travelling.

Fortunately, there was a bit of a hold up at the top due to people making it that far without purchasing a ticket, so there was quite a gap before Roy came hurtling around the corner. Even so, he managed to catch up to the slow lady at the end, having to do an emergency brake maneuver as he came round one of the last corners to find her trickling down the centre of the narrow run in front of him, and still managing to overtake her before she got to the end.

We went in to sit at the bar for a pre dinner drink, watching the gondola’s going up and down with passengers ranging from mountain bikers going up to do the bike run, to people dressed in bow ties and evening dresses.

Unfortunately the dinner part of the evening was a bit of a let down. We believed it was a proper dinner, but it was a buffet. We’d booked this months ago and paid extra for a window seat but were sat tucked in a corner with a view of the building works they are doing near the gondola’s, not the Queenstown views we’d expected! After another couple who were sat even further into the corner complained, we did too, and they moved us both to more central seats.

It then took 30mins to get the drink we’d also paid for as part of the premium package. They are under staffed, as are a lot of pubs/restaurants over here it seems thanks to Covid, but it was a little disappointing to say the least.

Dinner done, we headed back down on the gondola, with Roy waving at the people still in the bar/restaurant hoping to get a wave back (he did eventually!). Then took the scenic route through town which was now quite lively in the bars, back to our hotel.

We have a long day of driving tomorrow so not a good idea to get carried away in the bars tonight!

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