This past January, after visiting
Auckland,
Napier, and
Wellington on New Zealand’s North Island, I flew down to Queenstown on the South Island.
I sat on the right side of the plane, which gave me a wonderful view of the Southern Alps as we made our way towards Queenstown.
Landing in Queenstown
After checking into my Airbnb, I made my way to the gondola to head up above Queenstown
Now a few scenes from the centre of Queenstown
Wandering along the lakefront
The appropriately named The Remarkables across Lake Wakatipu
The view from my bedroom in my Airbnb one morning as a shower passed by. Quite lovely!
I headed downtown to get some coffee from a pretty good little coffee shop
After coffee, I took the bus about 25-30 minutes away to Arrowtown, which is an old historic gold mining town founded in the 1860s. I spent the morning checking out the cute main street
The Arrowtown Chinese Settlement
I stopped here for lunch before catching the bus back to Queenstown
On my third day in Queenstown I opted to take a bus tour to Milford Sound, which included a gorgeous drive through the Fiordland National Park to reach the coast. After leaving Queenstown and driving several hours, we stopped for about 30 minutes in Te Anau, the final town before entering the national park
Views from along the waterfront of Lake Te Anau
Now heading into Fiordland National Park
Arriving at Milford Sound
Heading out into Milford Sound
Back on land after a great time out on the water
After the day trip to Milford Sound, I woke up to these lovely views from my Airbnb bedroom
I spent my final morning in Queenstown just wandering around and enjoying the remaining time I had left
I headed to the Queenstown Botanic Gardens
Walking back towards the centre of Queenstown
And that’s it from Queenstown. I headed off to the airport and departed for Sydney.