New Zealand - Queenstown
- Mar 18
- 6 min read
Hello Family and Friends.
In classic New Zealand fashion, the journey is just as beautiful if not more so than the destination.
Even stopping to see the views we made good time to Queensland. We only had our rental car for one more day and there's a popular drive to a town called "Paradise".
Picture: "TAKE THE DRIVE TO GLENORCHY. GATEWAY TO PARADISE"
We stopped in Glenorchy to enjoy a nature walk.
Paradise is farm land. I think some guy found land away from everybody and called it "Paradise." However, it was after the Paradise sign that the adventure really started. When we were taking our picture of the Paradise sign, some stranger told us there was a valley a little further down. So we drove past Paradise to see the valley.
Of course, we then had to see what else was along this road past Paradise. Our Google map actually lost recognition that we were on a road at all. Now it became an adventure of where does this road end, because not even Google knows. On our way to the end of the road we forded rivers.
We have seen a lot of cars in New Zealand with snorkels and now we know why they may need them. If it was springtime, we would not have been crossing these river beds as many of them were taller than the car. After about a thirty minute drive past where Google lost the road and fording eight or so river beds, we did reach the end of the road.
The end of the road had more going on than Paradise. There were some hiking trails and even a flushable toilet! The hiking trails were closed due to a part of the path "slipping away". Even though they were closed, I do believe someone was crazy enough to take the hike anyway as there was one other lone car at the end of this road and no one was in it.
On our way back to Queenstown from Paradise, we caught site of a wild peacock. At first I thought it was a piece of lawn furniture, but earlier in our drive we had seen a sign for a peacock crossing. Honestly, I thought peacocks were only kept in the zoos. Didn't know you could see one in the wild. But leave it to New Zealand to have a wild peacock. They are fierce protectors of their birds, which are some of the only native animals to New Zealand. The moment we pulled up close to get a picture of this peacock he started strutting right towards our car. I rolled up the window because I was afraid of such a bold bird. The tourist must feed this peacock because he was not afraid of us at all.
We later learned that peacocks will eat the bumper of your car. So either way, this peacock was trying to get a meal. And just like that, day one in Queenstown was complete.
Day two included a wine tour. Atlas stayed with a babysitter, while Brett and I had some adult time visiting four different wineries.
This winery is cool because the first half of the wine cave was chiseled out by hand by the owner, Gibbston. For the second half of the cave Gibbston used dynamite to blast out the mountain. This was during the time when the railway was being constructed. Gibbston took some of his wine and traded it for dynamite. This type of storage facility would be impossible these days as dynamite is not allowed to be used to blast through mountains anymore. Within the wine cellar they have a bottle of each of their wines from every year since the first crop.
The second winery was my favorite as far as scenery and vibe. The current owners of this winery found out on a Saturday that the winery was going to be sold and the land divided. By Wednesday they had bought the winery. They were sheep farmers, but this was their favorite winery and they didn't want it to be divided so they bought it. I completely understand why it is their favorite. It was a perfect place to take in the scenery and just relax.
Of course our winery tour included gourmet food (and more wine) which was smoked in wine barrels.
After lunch we visited two more wineries. By the end of our tour I was done trying to figure out what I thought about the various wines we were tasting. They just became wine. This area is known for its Pinot Grigio and we tried a lot. Some I liked and some I did not. What's crazy is that the same type of wine can taste very different depending on the year and where it was grown. Even after tasting at least twelve different wines, I am still no closer to finding out what type of wine that I enjoy.
The following day we took a steamship, The TSS Earnslaw, across Lake Wakatipu to see sheepshearing and a dog hearding sheep. We were told that this is considered a very typical New Zealand form of entertainment.
The steamboat is considered a living museum as you can go into the engine room and observe how the steam boat works. This steam boat has been operating since 1912.
We crossed Lake Wakatipu to get to Walter Peak High Country Farm.
We were treated to a live sheering demonstration of a lamb and a working dog herding a small flock of sheep.
That completes our time in Queenstown and New Zealand. New Zealand wasn't a place we are considering for living, It is a little too small and remote, but it is a beautiful country. I would consider the entire country the national park of the southern hemisphere. And I am going to put the debate to rest of which island is more scenic, north vs south, It's without a doubt north island. Don't get me wrong, south island has beautiful places, but north island as a whole is more scenic. Also, if you want to experience more Māori culture, you go to the north island. The king of the Māori people was in the north island and that may be why it has retained more Māori influence. Face tattoos, which is a part of the Māori culture, are common place on the north island, in the south island we didn't see not one face tattoo.
We were in New Zealand for a little over three weeks and something I never got used to was seeing deer being farm raised instead of in the wild. It was one of the strangest sites to me. Also, I can put to bed the idea that New Zealanders speak English, they don't. On one of our tours I think I understood every third word our tour guide said when I was staring at her mouth. And when you hear New Zealanders talk to each other, I only understood the first and last word of each sentence.
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