Yha Queenstown Lakefront

The wind did not let up all night and I barely slept. We opened our tent to pouring rain, and we had to pack up the tent in it. It was such a dull, wet and miserable morning but I guess I can't complain - we've had good weather most of the time. We drove straight to Queenstown, which was quite a hilly drive through some more mountain ranges. We booked a room at a YHA - we weren't keen to camp in this wet weather! As we had to wait until 14:30 to check into our room, we went into the town cent...

After driving all day in the coach through Lord of the Rings country we finally arrived in Queenstown in the dark. After booking on to the Milford Sound tour for the next day we headed up to our room as we had a 6am start. It was so worth it though. Absolutely stunning!

yesterday was a day spent pretty much on the road between franz josef and queenstown. we arrived about 6.30 i dropped my bag off and went for something to eat and a look round queenstown as well as giving you yesterdays instalment of the blog queenstown is known as party central in south island full of bars and adventure sports opportunities what might not be so well known is that it sits on a lake with hills or mountains as a backdrop - its a great looking place. last night we were in a hurr...

well I did it and i didn't even end up half drowned and having to be fished out !! the rafting was on the shotover river and was graded 3-4 and therefore quite serious but not as made as in taupo where people can raft a grade 5 river with a 7 m drop through rapids - I knew some people who did that and the raft tipped over. anyway after being picked up and changing into wetsuits , lifejackets and booties we started a 40 minutes bus ride down a very narrow old gold miners road in a rickety old ...

Well, well, well, there is a lot of catching up to do!!

Last entry was Nelson. So, from Nelson the bus picked us up and we headed to lake Mahinapua where we had a costume party with the theme "P". The typical costumes ranged from pirates to policeman and the next day our driver Grumpy Pete awarded me first place for my Plato costume... or as he referred to it, that old guy "Pluto".

From Lake Mahinapua we headed to Franz Josef where we did an 8 hour hike up a glacier. This was by...

Got into Queenstown last night. Change of plans, now intend to spend some more time up the north of New Zealand, have booked onto the next bus heading north today at 2.30

Hello from Queenstown! A nice ski/party town on the banks of Lake Wakatipu this is the adrenaline junkie capital of New Zealand. It has it all on offer to those who have the combination of cash and few brain cells. Skiing, bungee jumping, jet boating, white water rafting, sky diving, heli-trekking etc. As the home of the modern day bungee jump, coming to New Zealand, and Queenstown in particular, without doing a jump is like coming to Ireland and not having a Guinness (whoops, apologies. A ba...

Today was a very long day on the bus. That is partly because Franz Josef is far away from Queenstown and partly because the bus made many stops. The stops were mostly for food or a bathroom break for most of the day. It did break up the journey nicely. The beginning of the day was dreary and rainy and cold again. I did not realize just how much of New Zealand has rainforest! It is not something I equate with New Zealand. But rainforest it has, along with millions and millions of ferns! Ferns ...

DAY 3 FRI Manor House didn't provide towels so we couldn't bathe. This didn't bother my companions but I felt most uncomfortable, as I am most fastidious about my personal cleanliness. Fortunately the genes inherited from my royal ancestors minimise perspiration with the result that I don't really need to shower at all. The drive to Te Anau was to be the longest drive of our holiday, two hundred and ninety kilometres. The trip would have taken four hours had we not missed the turnoff and head...

On the 3rd April we made the drive to Te Anua. Not much to say as this was just a stopover on our way to Milford. Unfortunately there is no short way to Milford (about 5 hour drive from Queenstown) unless you fly. Stayed at the Lakefront backpackers, not that great but a nice location by the lake.