Feb 19-20,2023 Queenstown, NZ South Island

We drove 2 hours from TeAnau to Queenstown to get another taste of city life. We passed a lot of deer farms with shrub fences along with fields of cows and sheep. The boys up front even let us stop at a few look-outs. Queenstown is a resort town in the southwest portion of the south island along the shore of Lake Wakatipu. This beautiful azure lake is surrounded by the Remarkable Mountains.(we made Jeri get a shirt with the Remarkables on the front, as a great double entendre.) Our lodging while here was in the Garden Court Suites, nothing fancy but the Martins did have a nice view of the lake & mountains from their balcony. The Wendt's and Jerry O shared a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo. 

Once settled, we all walked around town. We ate at Brazz Steakhouse. C&C found a small sand beach and a guy playing a piano on the sidewalk. We attempted to ride a Gondola up Queenstown Hill to view the city but after getting in line, it shut down for repairs. We detoured to a Bavarian Bar nearby to wait and have some liquid refreshments. When we walked back to the Gondola it still wasn't running so we gave up. (Cheryl & Craig did actually get up in the Gondola two days later, Brave souls.) We shopped for some souvenirs, gifts and groceries.There actually are some souvenir shops here. The waterfront is very impressive and pretty. 

The next day, a shuttle bus picked us up near our hotel and took us to the quaint, gold mining village of Arrowtown. We had booked a self guided biking/winery tour complete with E-bikes. The owner of the tour gave us a very amusing, funny safety talk complete with a bit of dancing. It was C&C's first time on E-bikes and they loved them. We rode 13 miles along the hilly, winding and curvy Arrow and Kawarau Rivers. The river water was a beautiful turquoise blue which blended well with a deep blue sky, sun and a nice temperature of 75 degrees. The views of mountains, valleys and cliffs were stunning. 

We crossed wobbly suspension bridges, fed some Alpacas and rode dangerously close on narrow paths to high cliffs and steep drop-offs. We came across the original, world famous Bungee Jump on the Kawarau Suspension Bridge which was built in 1880 with beautiful stone pillars and railroad ties. Sadly, none of us were brave enough to try it and no one else around was either, so we did not witness a jump. After the scenic & more physical part of the tour, we were rewarded with visiting wineries on the Gibbston River Trail. 

Our first winery was the Gibbston Winery. We had worked up quite a thirst & hunger. We ordered pizzas, bought cheese, crackers, delicious Rhubarb Ginger Chutney and of course wine flights. Next we biked to the farthest winery on the trail, Kinross Winery. Their vineyards were impressive. Jeri & Jerry had a small mishap on their bikes crossing the road. Jerry O was behind Jeri and told her to "Go" but Jeri heard "No", so she stopped and Jerry O ran into her-luckily no harm, no foul. It did make us decide to go easy on the adult beverages while biking, so group decision was made not to hit all the wineries along the trail. After a wine tasting @ Kinross, we headed to the Rockwood Winery & Tavern where the shuttle bus was scheduled to pick us up. After turning in our bikes, instead of wine, some of us had ice cream sundaes but Jeri and Jan, such lushes, shared another wine tasting. That's why Jan took a short nap afterwards, lol! We were tired, dusty and glad we used E-bikes. We don't know if we would have made it without the extra boost. It was an exceptional day with spectacular scenery, good exercise and delicious wine & food. 

Once back at our hotel, we all showered and napped. We walked back into town for dinner. We waited in a line for 35 minutes with about 100 of our closest friends, (not!) for a taste of a Fergburger. This was a Monday. Fergburgers started in 2000, is internationally famous and this is its only location. It's a very small restaurant so of course we couldn't get a seat, all food is take out. We found a park bench in the outdoor shopping area to devour our greasy burgers, while being serenaded by a street performer using a mobile piano on wheels.  Cheryl said that Dale's in Maumee's burgers are better. We walked around the promenade & harbor a bit more, got back to our hotel and everyone hit the sack.