Hello readers,

Today was our final day in Queenstown after being here for the past week or so. It has been a nice time in QT. You wouldn’t think so if you haven’t been here but Queenstown isn’t actually a city. It is really quite small. It has a population of like 15,000 people. It is a real tourist destination. It has numerous ski fields which are the main draw (other than the spectacular views) and most of the other attractions there seem designed to attract tourists which makes it quite a fun place to be. There are all sorts of fun activities happening constantly. I can imagine that during peak season this would be amplified, but currently it has such a good vibe. It certainly isn’t a destination if you want to experience culture or authenticity, but it certainly is fun.

With that said, this morning we drove about 45 minutes along the lake to a town called Glenorchy, it was quite a scenic drive. Glenorchy is a beautiful, tiny village that sits at the northeast end of Lake Wakatipu. The views on the lake here are spectacular. We spent some time walking around and taking photos. It was quite nice.

We sat down at the only cafe in town and had a coffee and shared a slice of banana bread for breakfast which was really quite yum.

We drove back to Queenstown and found a parking a spot near our hotel and then walked into town for our next activity which was a cruise across Lake Wakatipu on an old steam coal-fired ship; The TSS Earnslaw. When we got down to the boat it was pissing down rain. We have been really lucky with weather as this is the first rain we have had since being here. This meant we had to sit inside the boat. The boat was vintage and had an old-timey vibe.

As part of the cruise package we got dropped off at a farm called Walter Peak on the other side of the lake for our BBQ lunch. It was a buffet lunch which we often tend to avoid as it is almost always quantity over quality and this one was no different. They had a variety of meats, salads, sides and desserts. We would say that this would be on the upper-end of buffet lunches, but still a buffet lunch.

After lunch we had the opportunity to walk around the farm and look at the baby cows and lambs which we did. This was tough though because it was raining so heavily and the wind was extremely cold. We were informed that there was a dog show happening so we went over to the amphitheatre to see this (yes, the farm literally has a professional quality amphitheatre). The dog show was also super cool to see. The host introduced his two short-haired border collies and then sent one of them up the hill in front of us to start herding sheep. It was actually incredible how well trained this dog was. He used different commands and whistles to send the dog after the sheep. The dog uses staring to control the sheep and it works incredibly well. This show was short but really quite impressive.

We were glad to get back onto the warmth and dryness of the boat to get back to QT. This activity was a bit too expensive for what it was we thought. We would put it down as a skip if you’re in QT. We went up to our room and changed into warmer clothes and made the walk back down to the town centre. We had a bit of time before dinner so we decided to do another escape room with a different company to hopefully make up for the very poor escape room we did earlier in the week.

We did the Murder in the Old Man Range escape room with Escape Quest. They said that this was their hardest room. Thankfully, this room was far better. The story, the theming, the mechanics and the technology utilised were all far better. There were a few frustrating puzzles that could have been designed a little better but overall it was a good experience, Unfortunately for us we escaped about 3 minutes too late. We were very close. It was a fun experience though and if you enjoy escape rooms, we would recommend.

We still had a little bit of time before dinner so we walked along the boardwalk and took a few last pics of QT and stopped by Patagonia to get a few more chocolates that we would eat on our road trips and over the next week or so. We got a milk chocolate and hazelnuts, milk chocolate and rice bubbles, an Alfajor biscuit another chocolate but we can’t remember what it is. We also had a bit of time to go for a drink at this cool Irish pub right next door to Patagonia called Pog Mahones. We had a quick drink in there and watched the musician play who was good. It would have been nice to spend more time here but we had a dinner reservation.

We went to our dinner at a place called Blue Kanu. Blue Kanu is a fusion of Polynesian and Asian cuisine that they called “Polynasian”. We ordered a few drinks and a few small plates. First we had the prawn and ginger dumplings which came with chilli oil and Unagi sauce.

They were pretty decent. They were steamed with a nice and soft interior with that nice ginger hit. Then we had the steamed charcoal goat rendang bao bun with hoisin, pickled cucumber and fermented chilli.

We didn’t know what to expect with this one. It actually turned out to be delicious though. The bao bun was soft and tasty, the meat wasn’t too strong of a flavour and was actually quite light and there was plenty of sauce. It was quite good. For the main we shared a Mi Goreng noodles, tofu, shiitake mushrooms with a tomato and coconut sambal and wonton crisps.

The noodles were nice and spicy. We didn’t expect thick noodles which Ronnie doesn’t like a whole lot. It had all the flavours and had the right amount of spice. The tofu was cooked well and the wonton crisps were great. Overall we thought it was just okay.

It was a nice last night in QT. We will be back here at the end of the trip for one night and we will probably revisit a few of the things we loved but we are unsure yet. Tomorrow we hit the road again!

Spending:
Coffee & Banana Bread – $13
Drinks at Walter peak – $13
Patagnoia Chocolates – $16
Drinks at Pogs – $8
Escape Room – $77
Dinner – $76
Total – $203

Much love,
Ronnie & Aimee