Queenstown

Day 167 (December 12, 2018) – Queenstown, New Zealand

We were told by two separate New Zealanders that they never go to Queenstown because it’s become a playground for rich Americans and no longer feels like New Zealand any more. We were ready to listen to them and change our plans, but by the time we had a chance to do so it was too late to cancel our hostel reservation, so we went anyway. Queenstown is for sure a bit more fun if you have money to spend and we met our fare share of Americans, but I’m still glad we went.

Lake Wakatipu. Even on this highly utilized lake, the water is crystal clear, seemingly like everywhere in New Zealand.

Most people to go Queenstown to seek activity. It’s New Zealand’s tourist hub for all outdoor activities. Queenstown is located on the stunning Lake Wakatipu and jam packed with fancy restaurants, raucous bars, and overpriced outdoor retailers. It’s a year-round destination. In winter it’s close to the ski slopes and in the summer it’s the landing point for countless hikes around the area and the starting point for high adrenaline activities like skydiving and bungee jumping.

Mountains, lakes, nature, and million dollar houses.

For us, however, it was our place to relax. The camping was so expensive in the area that we could stay in a hostel for the same price, so we opted for the indoor accommodation. The hostel, Adventure Queenstown Hostel, turned out to be the nicest hostels we’d stayed in yet, but it still came with all the usual annoyances associated with a six-bedroom dorm. Still, it was better than camping and the bathrooms were even nicer than most of the Airbnb accommodations we’ve stayed at. We were impressed.

Speedboat rides around the lake were a popular activity. 

We chose to relax.

While everyone else in the hostel was out jumping off bridges and planes, we took our four days to relax and eat some good food. Everything was expensive, but we looked the other way on our budget because it was one of the few places in New Zealand that we weren’t camping. The worst part was having to deal with a parked car. We had to wake up every morning and make it back to the car park by 8 AM to buy a new parking ticket for the day. So much for sleeping in. 8 AM may not seem that early, but Queenstown was very far south and we were there on some of the longest days of the year so it would stay bright out past 10 PM, so we never got to bed very early.

Sunset, at 10 PM.

Queenstown reminded me of a posh ski village that might be found up in the mountains of Colorado. Every street corner had an outdoor retailer and there were countless restaurants, coffee shops, and bars, most of which are a little on the fancy side. Most of the bars are designed with winter in mind, having big fireplaces and lots of alpine décor. Even in summer they felt cozy. This was our escape from camping, so we found some of the more inexpensive restaurants to eat at, cooked some meals for ourselves in a proper kitchen, and went on a pub crawl with a bunch of the hostel goers. 

On the Queenstown Hill hike.

We were ambitious on only one of our days and made the hike up to Queenstown Hill.  It was a short hike, but the views were awesome. We lucked out again and had a great day with clear skies. We’ve learned those are few and far between in New Zealand, at least on our trip. At the end of our time in Queenstown we were as well rested as we were going to be from sleeping in a dorm room and ready to hit the road again.

The view from the top of Queenstown Hill. Downtown Queenstown is at the bottom right.