Queenstown was my next destination in New Zealand after Dunedin. I spent a day in Dunedin and took 5 pm bus from Dunedin to Queenstown. The duration of the bus ride was 4 hours and i reached Queenstown at 9 pm. It was raining a lot and the weather was very cold in Queenstown. Queenstown is a small town in New Zealand but it is the most important tourism hub in New Zealand. Queenstown is situated near a small inlet of Lake Wakatipu. Cecil Peak, Walter Peak, Ben Lombard are some of the hills situated around Queenstown. Queenstown is famous around the world for Ski and Adventure tourism .
Lake Hayes – Lake Hayes is a small lake and it is located close to Queenstown. Southern and Northern end of the lake are the most common access points. I took bus no 2 from Queenstown and after 40 minutes bus ride i got down at Amisfield Winery. Lake Hayes is regarded as the most photographed lake in New Zealand. Lake Hayes circuit is a famous trail around the lake and it is part of Queenstown’s 100 km trail. I was really disappointed by the weather because it was raining a lot and the visibility was very poor.I had whole day to explore the lake that”s why i decided to wait for a while for good weather. The circuit is located by just 5 minutes walk from the bus stop. The total length of the Lake Hayes loop is 7 km and it takes about 3 hours to complete the trail. It is a popular trail for cycling and running. Due to bad weather the entire trail was empty and i didn’t see anyone in the trail. I started walking towards the north side of the lake and the weather started to become better. Eventually the clouds started to recede and i was able to see snow capped mountains situated around the lake. The lake is heaven for photographers because there are so many good spots to take beautiful pictures.
I did the trail around the lake and came back to the northern most part of the lake. I had to walk for about 1 hour towards Arrowtown in order to take the bus back to Queenstown. Lake Hayes is a great place to spend a day during your visit to Queenstown.
Lake Wakatipu – Lake Wakatipu is a Z shaped lake located near Queenstown. It is the longest lake in New Zealand and also the deepest. Lake Wakatipu is a beautiful lake and it is surrounded by mountains. You get the best views of the Lake from the Queenstown hills.
Fergburger – Your journey to Queenstown is incomplete if you don”t try a hamburger at the world famous Fergburger restaurant. The restaurant started in THE year 2001 and it gained popularity because of the strong word of mouth. The restaurant doesn’t have any chains in New Zealand and it is located at only one location. The restaurant is located at the center of Queenstown on the Shotover street. The restaurant serves beef, lamb, blue cod, venison, pork and chicken hamburger. The cost of the typical hamburger ranges from NZD 12 to 19 NZD. I stayed in Queenstown for 3 days and i trued lamb, venison and blue cod hamburger. The waiting time is around 1 hour but you might have to wait 1.5 hours if you are visiting during evening time. It was undoubtedly the best hamburger i ever had and the waiting was completely worth it. The seating area inside the restaurant usually stay very crowded throughout the day. During my visit to Queenstown i felt Fergburger restaurant was the center of Queenstown because it attracted lot of crowds especially during evening time.
Skyline Gondola– Skyline Gondola is a must visit tourist destination in Queenstown. The views from the top of the Queenstown Gondola is incredible and it shouldn’t be missed during your trip to Queenstown. Skyline Gondola features Luge track, Bungee jumping, Restaurants and Souvenir shops. You can also do downhill mountain biking from at the top but the tracks are usually closed during the winter season. One can easily spend a day at Skyline Gondola and at night time also they have incredible star gazing shows. New Zealand is located and southern hemisphere and clear sky for most parts of the year provides incredible opportunity for star gazing.
There are number of small trails located at the top of the skyline. The smaller trail takes about 1 hour to 2 hour to complete. If you have more time then you can continue up to Ben Lomond peak which is situated at the height of 1746 m. Ben Lomond is the tallest mountain in the region and the views from the top are incredible. The hike is a moderate level hike but the trail is usually closed during the winter season because of heavy snow. I visited the Queenstown during August so couldn’t hike up to Ben Lomond.
I returned from Lake Hayes at around 3 pm and I decided to visit Skyline Gondola. I wanted to do the famous Tiki trail up to the Skyline Gondola. The Tiki trail starts near the Gondola ticket counter office. I saw couple of more hikers doing the trail at the time so i decided to join them. It takes about 1 hour to reach the top.Initial part of the trail was moderately steep and the trail passes through dense vegetation. The views are not that great from the trail because the entire trail is covered by tall trees. After 20 minutes into the trail it became very muddy and slippery. I was wearing normal sports shoes and i slipped couple of times and i was really struggling to climb at that point.
I didn’t see any hikers behind me in the trail and i was almost alone in the trail. The other two hikers whom i followed at the start of the trail already went ahead of me. The path was well laid out with proper direction and i decided to continue on the trail. The last half of the trail was completely covered in snow and it became more difficult for me to walk. It was very slippery to walk without proper shoes and i didn’t want to backtrack the whole trail. I continued on the trail and finally i met someone coming down the trail. The top was just 20 minutes hike from that point and i told him to be careful while going down because the it was very slippery. The trail was flat towards the end of trail and i finally show the last sign pointing towards the Skyline Gondola compound. I was probably the last person who was hiking on this trail because there was no one following me. I was very relieved after reaching the Skyline Gondola compound. I will strongly recommend to skip the hike if you are visiting Queenstown during winter season. Please wear proper snow shoes if you intend to do the hike during the winter season.
The luge ride was closed because the track was covered with snow. There are number of gift shops and restaurants situated inside the Skyline Gondola complex. The view from the top was incredible and this was the most photographed spot in Queenstown. After taking some nice photos of the beautiful Wakatipu lake and the adjacent mountain i went inside the complex because it was too cold outside. The weather was cloudy and there was little rain. I waited at the main deck for the cloud to recede. After a long wait the weather became better and i took some nice pictures from the main observation deck. The deck was not at all crowded because most people were reluctant to come to the observation deck because of cold weather.I took the Gondola ride for my return journey and the ticket price for the one way gondola ride was $ 14. The Gondola ride was great fund and the duration of the ride was only 10 minutes.
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