Advertisement
Published: March 7th 2009
Edit Blog Post
I got on the coach at 7:45am and got myself comfy as i knew this was going to be a long journey, to get to Queenstown takes just over 8 hours but it wasn't a bad journey because our driver was giving commentary along the way like we were on a tour bus and would tell us everything including a count on the road kill he could see!!! He also stopped at various locations and let us off to take photos which was really good because most of the time you just drive by things and don't get a chance to look at anything. We went to Fox glacier first to pick up some passengers, Fox Glacier is only a short distance from Franz but the glacier there isn't as big or as impressive. We drove through the Maitai River Valley and past Lake Moeraki which appeared in the recent Narnia film, we stopped at a place called Knights Lookout from which you can see the Tasman sea towards Sydney. We then drove past a place called ship creek which was suitably named after parts of a large wooden ship built in England that sunk on the way to Oz though
Haast Bridge
Thats a Jet boat in the picture that does tours around Haast all the crew survived and the ship was thought lost parts of the ship were found years later in this creek. We then crossed the Haast river bridge which is the longest bridge in Nz being 760 meters long, we stopped at Haast visitors centre to look around but the most interesting thing i found was a sign outside (See Pictures) but it was nice to stretch my legs.
We then drove through the Landsbourough Valley and stopped at Thunder Creek Falls to swap drivers, the falls were spectacular and the water was an amazing turquoise colour which our new driver said was from where the Glaciers grind away at rocks creating a fine powder that is carried in the rivers. Our New Driver carried on giving us a lot of commentary about the area but didn't mention the road kill which suited me fine. We carried on driving past beautiful scenery and many lakes until stopping at one called Lake Wakatipu which is the 3rd largest lake in New Zealand, we drove for another hour or so before stopping to pick up passengers at Wanaka which was our last stop before Queenstown. I finally arrived in Queenstown at
Bicycle Sign
The sign outside the Haast Visitor Center half 4 but instead of being dropped off outside the Lakeside YHA like i had booked i was dropped in the centre which was a good 15 minute walk from the hostel, 15 minutes doesn't sound much but when your carrying a heavy backpack, a laptop and two bags of food it seems very far and if I'd known it was as long as it was i would have got a taxi. The Hostel was really nice and as you'd expect had very good views of the huge lake Wakatipu that Queenstown is situated around, you also get great views of The "Remarkables" which is the name given to the group of mountains nearby.
Although the scenary is breath taking the majority of people come to Queenstown to indulge in the mammoth amount of Adrenaline sports there are on offer particularly Bungee jumping or the Canyon swing which is a variation of the Bungee. As much as I'd love to throw myself off a platform with nothing more then a thick bit of elastic strapped to my feet (I'm not being sarcastic I really would) i can't afford to do everything and i have already planned the trips I'm
doing so instead i thought I'd go with the scenic option.
The day after i arrived i was speaking to a German guy in my room who said that you could take a leisurely 25 minute stroll up to the top of Bob's Peak where you could get fantastic views of Queenstown, so i decided to take his advice and go for a "Leisurely stroll" little did i know that it was actually more like a 3 hour hike up hill, usually i don't think it would take so long but i took a wrong turn and almost plummeted to my death after slipping on a rock and sliding several feet down a slope towards a shear drop to the river below! Luckily i didn't hurt myself and other then being a bit shook up i was ok and after finding it again i continued along the path to the top. The German guy was right about one thing though, the views really were spectacular and he told me you could hitch a ride back down on the Skyline Gondola for free as they didn't check tickets going down. When i got to the bottom i thought I'd have
Thunder Creek Falls
You can see what i was on about with the blue/turquoise colour to the water a walk around the town, just around the corner from the Gondola there was a crowd around a rugby field full of fireman, i asked one of the spectators who happened to be a fireman as well what was happening and he told me it was the annual fireman's competition where fireman from all over New Zealand compete in 10 events including a relay and a barrel fill race.
I was told before i got here that i couldn't leave Queenstown without trying a Fergburger as it was meant to be one of the nicest burgers i'd ever try so i walked around & soon enough i found it. Someone who i met in Franz Joseph recommended the " Big AL " burger but after seeing how big it was and how much stuff was in it i decided to settle for a Hawaiian burger that had the usual stuff plus bacon, cheese, pineapple and their special tomato relish. It was beautiful! And filled me up for the rest of the day which is probably part of the reason its so famous among backpackers. It was still raining when i finished so i headed back to the hostel and
spent the rest of the evening watching another film on my laptop (Chris's brothers put a few films on my laptop for me).
The next day i got up to find that it was still raining so i waited until it eased a little and walked around the Queenstown Gardens and noticed these odd looking baskets i later found out they were for a game known as frisbee golf, which is basically the same concept as golf i.e. 18 baskets (Equivalent of holes) and there is par for each basket. The baskets were dotted around the park in various places from open grass areas through to woodland, it looked really good fun but i didn't have a frisbee or anyone to play with so i didn't do it. After walking around the gardens i walked around the town again and had another Fergburger for lunch which was delicious. Although it was raining there were still a lot of people around and i saw some people on a Segway tour (If you don't know what one of those is then look at my photos) and apparently they do ones where you play golf and get around the course on one,
Lake Wakatipu
The third largest lake in New Zealand but it wasn't really my sort of thing. There was also an outdoor market on selling lots of Jade & Bone carvings and general arts and craft nic naks but it started to rain a lot heavier again and they packed up so i thought I'd call it a day as well and went back to my hostel to watch another film and get an early night as i had to catch my coach early in the morning to Dunedin.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.149s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0768s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Rich
non-member comment
Yo ^.^
Hey bro, I'm just Reading up on your adventure, looks like you're having an amazing time; which is excellent. You'll have to share some stories when you get back, not long til that happens so make the most of your time left. Can't wait to see you again dude, I'm just on the bus on my way home from the Cinema, my friend wanted to watch, wait for it...Bolt! Haha it was pretty funny but the 3D glasses were annoying; I personally wanted to see "Watchmen" but ah well. Just getting home now so Ill catch you later, Peace Bro ^ x