New Zealand – Queenstown

Queenstown is one of the most popular tourist destination. There’s alot of things to do here. For the adrenaline junkie, there is – Bunji Jumping, Jetboating, Parasailing, Hydro Attack… etc It is a very scenic place with nice lakes and moutains. I went during the summer, so that I could do hikes and enjoy the sunny weather. I did the Ben Lomond Track which is really nice. In winter time, you can do skiing here. There’s a website for discounted tickets for activities, you can check it out – http://www.bookme.co.nz

I’m more of a nature person, so I didn’t do all the adrenaline activities. I went on their tracks – Ben Lomond, Queenstown Gardens, Frankton and walk along the lakeside. I also took the gondola to a higher viewpoint to see the view and a river cruise. If you want, you can take a side trip to arrowtown, which has some nice old architectural buildings.

If you want to reach queenstown, you can fly in to Christchurch and take the Intercity bus to Queenstown. The intercity bus departs from the christchurch airport and also from the centre of christchurch city. It is a 8hours bus drive and there is a lunch stop at Tekapo. Our bus driver wanted to delight us, so he made a special stop at Lake Pukaki, which was near Tekapo and allow us to take photos of the picturesque scenery.

When I reached Queenstown, I checked into the YHA. I stayed at the YHA by the lakeside, which has views of the lake, as compared to the YHA in the centre of town. After unloading our luggage and stuff, we walked towards the grocery store to buy a week’s worth of food to cook ourselves in the YHA kitchen. Being on a holiday, we bought as many good food as we can find e.g wine, beer, cider, big meat…etc

The next day, we set out to take the Gondola. it is walkable from the hostels. Here’s their website: http://www.skyline.co.nz There’s a really cool restaurant there that has breath-taking views overlooking the moutains and lakes. Here’s the views from the top of the gondola…

After I reached the top of the Gondola, I went on to hike the Ben Lomond Track. If you don’t take the gondola, you can also hike the Ben Lomond Track, but you have to hike all the way up to the gondola first, and then continue on the Ben Lomond Track. The Ben Lomond Track is very quiet and has some nice views of the scenery. I took the whole day, I started at 9am in the morning and reached back my hostel at 6pm in the evening. You can also take a shorter time if you want to do a shorter route. Here’re photos of the Ben Lomond Track

 

that’s all the photos for ben lomond track. before the ben lomond track, the walk i took from my hostel to the gondola was very nice too. the views of the lake and mountains from the road i walked to the gondola was very nice. here’re some photos…

The next day, I went to hike the Queenstown Hill Trail… It is on the other side of queenstown and is walkable from the centre. It is a shorter track, and took me 2.5 to 3 hours. on the top of the hill, i saw some sheeps which was quite a surprising sight.

 

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