Queenstown Part 2 – Final day – Two Minds Travel Alike

Hi Everyone,

Ronnie was up early again this morning and went for a walk down to Fergbaker for the last time. As he walked down the street he took in the views over Queenstown as the sun rose for the final time. Aimee had a massive cheese and bacon roll that she said was great and Ronnie had a sausage roll which was definitely enjoyable. Sausage rolls are usually our go-to at bakeries. Fergbaker has definitely served us well since we have been here. Would recommend nearly everything we had. The pies are at the top of the list though as well as the Boston cream rolls.

We packed all of our stuff up into the car and said goodbye to the accommodation. We rented an Airbnb at the top of Shotover street. The location was excellent. About as good as you can get without being right on the lake. It did have some downsides though. It was upstairs which meant we couldn’t rally take the pram in. Some of the stairs were in the apartment and they weren’t safeguarded so we had to build our own barrier to ensure Julian couldn’t get to them as he would almost certainly hurt himself. Our guaranteed parking spot was great, but occasionally the cleaning staff would park there meaning we had to go and ask them to move which was a bit of a pain. The other point is that next time we will make sure Julian has his own room. He shared with Nan the whole time but we think that disrupted his sleep. It is all a learning process!

Today we were driving to Glenorchy again. We were supposed to do this a few days ago but it was raining heavily and Glenorchy is all about the views so we figured we’d push it back to today. It is about a 50 minute drive alongside Lake Wakatipu and it is beautiful. The views on this drive are absolutely lovely.

We eventually arrived in Glenorchy. Glenorchy is a tiny little town that contains a few shops and not much else. You might recall we visited a few days ago for the funyaks. Check that blog for more Glenorchy details. We pulled up and decided to go for a little walk to the lake’s edge. At the lake they have a very famous boatshed. You’ve never been to Glenorchy if you haven’t gotten a picture in front of the boat shed.

Behind the boat shed there is a long jetty that reaches out into the lake. We walked up that and took in the views for a little while as well as grabbed some pictures.

Then we walked around by the lake for a while staring in awe at mountains with the clouds covering the top and taking in the serenity.

After we finished our quiet stroll we walked over to a little dumpling house nearby the lake called Queenies Dumplings and ordered some fresh handmade dumplings for an early lunch. We ordered a serve of chicken & corn as well as a serve of the pork & cabbage dumplings. The pork and cabbage were definitely better. It was a bit strange, they kind of just bring the dumplings out on a plate and put then in front of you. You’ve got to go up to a station to collect the sauces and the cutlery as well as napkins and individual plates. The dumplings were nice, but the hospitality was strange. Also they only had organic soft drinks, gross.

On our way out of town we stopped in at a very popular general store/gift shop/cafe. There was a sign out the front that said they sold gelato in a waffle cone bowl. This excited us as our last experience with waffle cone bowls in Dunedin was excellent. However, this time it was not as great. It was organic soft serve ice cream with organic chocolate and raspberry coulis on it. It was okay, but certainly nothing to go out of your way for.

We drove back on the beautiful drive seeing the stunning lake and mountains for the final time. We arrived at the airport and dropped our car back. It was a bit of a hassle checking in as the scanner wouldn’t read our passports and the airport was incredibly busy. We eventually made our way through check-in and security where we had to wait in the packed terminal for about an hour. While we were doing this we saw people lining up for a Qantas flight which was cancelled. Everybody had to return their duty-free purchases and exit back through security and customs. This scared us, but thankfully our flight departed on time. Julian had a much better flight this time. He got some sleep in, he watched some Ms Rachel and he played with his toys which made life a lot easier.

Eventually we made it back to Sydney. We stood at the luggage carousel for a very long time waiting for our bags. Eventually we got through but not before Aimee’s luggage broke which was also annoying. Oh well, it is time for some new luggage’s anyway before our next trip we think. We drove the 5 minutes back to the Meriton on Coward street. This is easily the best airport hotel to stay at. We have stayed here numerous times now and would highly recommend. We were very hungry by this point so we immediately ordered some Uber Eats from a place called Chok Chok Burger.

Ronnie ordered a yangnyeom burger which is hand battered Korean Fried Chicken with sweet and spicy gochujang sauce and coleslaw. It was delicious and went down a treat. Aimee ordered a bulgogi burger which had their signature smash beef patty, Korean bulgogi sauce and classic burger ingredients. It was pretty much just like a normal burger but with sweeter sauce, it was not bad though. We also got some honey butter cheesy fries and loaded fries with Korean fried chicken drizzled with ranch and spicy mayo with red onion and capsicum. All of the fries were delicious. They would probably be better eaten in at the restaurant though as they were a bit cold by the time we got them.

After a big day of travelling we went down to bed for a sleep. Unfortunately Julian had developed a cough which was not pleasant for him and made his sleep very difficult. We woke up bright and early the next day ready to head home. We were getting very cold mornings in Queenstown and mild days. It is 40 degrees in Sydney today. Welcome home, we suppose. We made a quick stop in at Penshurst to visit our favourite board game shop. We ended up with a massive haul of 14 board game (some expansions included in there).

It was a very quick stop as we had pre-ordered these games until we hit the road to Penrith where we were stopping in at a food chain that has gone viral recently which we were intrigued about. It is called Flappy’s Fried Chicken which is an Australian version of the viral sensation in the US Raising Cane’s. We ordered the family deal which included fried chicken tenders, coleslaw, potato & gravy, fries with signature sauce, potato toast and 2 litres of the homemade lemonade.

All of this food was absolutely wonderful. It all tasted freshly cooked, it was fresh ingredients, steaming hot and oh so good. The potato bread was soft, buttery and melted in the mouth. Just an absolutely quality meal. It almost certainly won’t be the late time we will set foot in the doors of this delicious establishment.

What an adventure we have had. We will end the blog with a few quick thoughts on Queenstown with some of our favourite pictures below.

The 3 best things about Queenstown

Queenstown is a stunning destination. There are incredible views in every direction. The mountains and the lakes of Queenstown are on another level of natural beauty.
There are plenty of adventure activities if you are looking for a bit of adrenaline. The best of these for us were the Lugeing at Skyline Queenstown and Downhill Mountain Karting at Cardrona.
The vibe in Queenstown is great. Everybody here is on holiday and enjoying themselves. It is infectious.

The three worst things about Queenstown

It’s expensive. Queenstown is a resort town and an tourist hub. Prices are inflated massively. Be prepared to pay the Queenstown tax when you arrive.
There isn’t much for little kids to do. Queenstown would be amazing for older kids, but little kids, not so much.
The food is not great. It’s okay and there are certainly some gems in there (Fergburger, obviously), but on the whole the food is overpriced and average.