Queenstown and Milford Sound

We were in Queenstown for 5 nights, so got to see a lot of the place. Here's our highlights to make things easy.

Milford Sound.

Wow, what a place. The ever-changing and varied landscape is unlike anywhere I've visited. The vast snow-capped mountains, the fresh water flowing down the most pristine rivers ever I've seen, the waterfalls cascading from the towering rock, I can understand why people rave about the place. 

We opted for a coach-cruise-coach option because of our lack of car. It costs $109 each to join the Jucy trip, which is the cheapest of those offered in town. A glass topped bus'll cost you $40 more, helicopter and plane options are considerably more again. 

We had an amazing day, but struggled with the length of time spent on the coach. We departed Queenstown at 8.30am and didn't get back until 9pm, with a 2hr cruise in the middle of that, that's about 8hrs on a bus. The guide was great though, offering interesting information and stopping at key sites for photo ops. 

Take snacks, you'll need them (and plenty of charge on the camera.)

Gin.

Drinking in Queenstown gets pretty messy and there is a plethora of bars to choose from. Organised bar crawls run on most nights but, keen to avoid 'organised fun', we met with a friend living out here and followed the locals lead. 

Start in either 1876 or Brazz, both have a good 'pre-drinking' vibe and serve good food too. 1876 does mini bottles of bubbles for $6 so that was an obvious choice. From there, the town is your oyster.

Cowboys was a highlight, with western saddles for bar stalls, a bucking bronco in the corner and huge steins of beer for $13. We went to Searles a couple of times. On a Thursday g&t's are $4 and Fridays the dance floor gets pretty rammed.  Winnies, Buffalos and The Find all have good happy hours, love backpackers and stay busy til the early hours. 

Below zero.

We embraced our tourist status and headed to the ice bar for the mandatory photoshoot. 

On bookme tickets are $15 with a cocktail - bargain. Take advantage of ever layer offered to you, you won't regret it. 

On yer bike.

Cycling around Queenstown is really easy and ridiculously picturesque. We paid $22 for 2 hours from the bike shed by the park and headed to Frankton. For those in it for the long haul there's a vineyard in arrowtown which is cyclable and a waterfall at sunshine beach, which is along the main road towards Glenorchy. 

Luge races.

You've got to ride the skyline while you're in Queenstown because the views of the town are stunning.

The cable car alone coats about $30, so you might as well ride the luge while you're up there. We paid $42 for three runs and laughed the whole way down. 

Video to follow.

Inkin'.

It was inevitable that Lou and I, once we got together, would end up adding to our tattoo collections (I'm surprised it took so long.) I couldn't recommend Scott at a White Tiger tattoo enough. It's the oldest shop in town and has a starting rate of $110, which is average for Queenstown. We went in with pictures which he re-drew. That's 2 very happy customers right there. 

Fergburger.

I've a confession to make: I didn't actually have a Fergburger. The girls did, on two occasions, join the long queue to sample what is widely-regarded as New Zealand's best burger. Both had the kids chicken burger and it was pretty great, but none of us could quite face even attempting to consume the whole, full-sized thing.

We did eat just about everywhere else.

There are so many restaurants in queenstown it's near impossible to choose which to try. Monty's has a nice pub garden and offers $12 lunches so we had chicken and prawns salads there on one day. Directly opposite you've got Johnny Barrs which does amazing wraps, salads and soups if you're keen for something fast and healthy (get the small soup, it's pretty filling). At Thai is widely regarded as the best thai in town, there's take away sushi in the main arcade and if you want to try New Zealand green lipped mussels visit the caravan on the edge of the park. Mr Whippy specialisises in frozen yogurt (go for small, the medium weighs as much as me), and there are free tasers at Cookie Time if you're feeling peckish. We had coffee at Vudu, which happens to have one of the best spoon collections I've come across... 

Lake Tekapo.

We stopped at Tekapo for a lunch break on our drive from Queenstown to Christchurch, so I'm technically cheating by putting it on the list. That said, it was the best bus ride we've had saw far. The views were stunning and the lake, which appears to be a vivid turquoise blue when the sky is clear, is beautiful.