Ok, so well, as I am an incredibly regular blogger, I'm gonna write an article today the 21st of August, about this trip to Queenstown that I made in February. I think I'm good now, 6 months after is the perfect time isn't it?
Just to get you in the context a little bit before starting (yup because the last article I wrote here was only about my first month here in NZ so you might be lost) The basic idea that I had after my parents went back to France was to travel a bit around NZ, and then come back to Auckland, find a flat, find a job and start my new life here.
At first, I thought that I would go travel across the North Island by train. I even planned all the stops, the budget and everything... But I randomly changed my mind, bought a plane ticket for Queenstown, reserved a couchsurfing for the two first nights (which is totally reckless knowing that all the accomodations are packed in this season...) and I took off to the adventure.
The first thing that got my attention, even before landing there, are the amazing landscapes and mountains that I could see through the plane window. I was not even arrived in Queenstown yet that I was already in love with this place.
The first afternoon was very nice and simple : I had a nice walk in the city, went in the park and sat to admire the lake, had some fish & chips and took a nice cup of tea while waiting for Kate, my host, to call me. We met around 8pm, Kate was hosting another girl from couchsurfing too, Nicole, which came from Italy. After a nice shower and a super tasty vegan dinner, we were about to go to sleep but Kate's landlord called her. He wasn't aware that she was hosting some couchsurfers and told her he didn't want us to stay. Ugh...Kate was super embarrased and Nicole and I started to freak out a little bit as it was 10pm past and all the backpackers were full. The only rooms available were the ones in the very fancy hotels, around $250 / night... (Thank you but no thank you)
We spent close to one hour listing all the possibilities, checking each and every backpack or hotel, even sending some last minute couchsurfing request, without any success. So Kate eventually decided to call one of her friends, Quintin, who lives in the center, to ask him if he could lend us one couch corner to spend the night. Not only he said yes, but he litteraly hosted me for the whole 10 days! So I basically had my own double bed (the couch turned into a queen sized bed) in the very center of Queenstown, in this flat full of very cool people! And trust me, this is being freaking lucky! I am so grateful for what Kate did for us, and for Quintin's generosity.
 |
| Kate's view |
During my stay, I:
• Have hiked up to the top of Queenstown hill (4 hours long) and the view was litteraly breathtaking! I was so exhausted but it was totally worth the effort!
• Visited the Kiwi Birdslife park, where I got to see those cute little (well... pretty big actually) famous New Zealand's mascot bird, among a lot of other beautiful species. What I particularly liked about this park is that every single bird there hasn't been captured in the wild, but has been brought there because they were sick, wounded or orphans, which is really really cool.
• Hich hiked to Wanaka, where I have been able to go visit the famous "That Wanaka Tree", pretty much the only tree that has its own google maps directions. Of course I took my own picture of it, like everyone does there! And we got super lucky to meet two photographers on the way back to Queenstown, that stopped in evey nice spot to take pictures and admire the scenery!
 |
| That Wanaka Tree |
 |
| The two photographers that gave us a lift back to Queenstown |
 |
Random bra wall on the way back
|
→ Little history fact about this bra wall : "The Cardrona Bra Fence was a controversial tourist attraction in Central Otago, in New Zealand. At some point between 1998 and 1999, passers-by began to attach bras to a rural fence. The fence gradually became a well known site as the number of bras grew to hundreds. The fence is located on a public road reserve, adjacent to farm property in the Cardrona Valley area southwest of Wanaka, near to Cardrona.Despite its popularity, there was disagreement over the value of the attraction. The bra fence stands today next to the Cardrona Distillery."(Source : KiwipicsNZ)
• Been to the Milford Sounds. I must say that was pretty much the most random day of my stay. I recieved a call from a friend around noon telling me that she was free and keen to do something, so was I. After a little chat, we decided around 2pm to go to the Milford Sounds, which is a 4 hours drive, and we left with my friend's sports car, that burns shit loads of gas... We arrived there at around 7pm (too late for the cruise sadly...), and the road was pretty hectic, yet amazing. We basically almost ran out of gas because the car burns incredibly quickly, and because we didn't pay attention that no map shows a pump in the Milford Sounds. Thankfully there is actually a little emergency pump for the brainless people like us hehe! But honestly, don't rely on it, I got charged $75 for $50 of gas... But anyways, this place, and the road to get there are so magical and out of time that you forget all of your worries. You are surrounded by huge mountains, and waterfalls, lost in the middle of nowhere with no signal, this is an incredible sensation.
• Cruised around the Queenstown lake, surrounded by all the gorgeous mountains.
And all sorts of other cool stuff like taking the skyline and lugeing down the hill, enjoying the $5 beer and the nice night life, tasting the fergburger that everyone talks about... I regret only one thing : not having been brave enough to do a skydive. And trust me, I thought about it every single day, as the huge windows of the living room were litteraly in front of a skydive shop that kept me reminded every morning.
To resume : I just loved Queenstown and I had 10 amazing days down there! I hope I'll come back one day, and do a skydive this time!
I promess the next post won't be in 6 months!
Eloïse ♡
les photos <3 ...
RépondreSupprimerC'etait tellement beau ! ♥
Supprimer