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Queenstown-Lakes District

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1,041 travelers at this place:

  • 9 months Sabbatical
    Day129

    Sawyer burn hut track walk

     February 5 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Got up and out by 9ish to go walk the Sawyer Burn Hut track. About 45min drive from Wanaka. It gives amazing views over lake Hawea and the hills surrounding it. Our way in was completely blocked by cows, so had to slowly creep through them.
    Took about 5 hours to do the full up and down, with a few sketchy bits where you needed to clamber near a shear drop. Forests, great views, wild flower meadows, all round epic.
    Got back home just before 5. We met with Pete and Cathers to headed to KiKa. A very fancy restaurant.
    This is what my sister would have classed as a 'if in doubt splash out'. Included a bottle of wine from Sam Neil's vineyard (from Jurassic Park)
    Came back home and debated the world whilst polishing off another 2 bottles of wine.
    The girls went to bed so Pete and I completed the first 3 levels of Halo 3. Old school play of 5 mins on and 5 mins off. By 1am we were ready for bed!    Read more

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  • KikiandBexNew Zealand
    Day15

    Wanaka

     January 4 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Arrived in Wanaka, have a really nice b&b here, with our own washing machine so we’ve had a chance to get a bit organised! Had a walk into town to get some dinner and ice cream 🍦🤤

    We walked 14km today! 💪🏻 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♂️

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  • KikiandBexNew Zealand
    Day18

    Queenstown

     January 7 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    We’ve had a very chilled day today, after our long few weeks we thought we’d take a day off from planning and just walked around Queenstown, going from different coffee shops and doing a little bit of shopping. Tomorrow we have the morning in Queenstown and then we have a 4 hour journey to our next stop (Timaru), so we’re enjoying some downtime!

    Wir hatten heute einen recht entspannten Tag in Queenstown. Nach den vielen Touren/Fahrten dachten wir, dass wir uns heute einfach einen Tag frei nehmen. Wir sind lediglich ein wenig durch den Ort geschlendert und haben einige Male in verschieden Cafés eine Pause eingelegt. Morgen Vormittag sind wir noch in Queenstown und dann gehts in einer 4-stündigen Fahrt zu unserer nächsten Station (in der nahe von Timaru).    Read more

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  • Izzi and TomTravels
    Day60

    Day 60/72: Boxing Day Bungee

     December 26, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We woke up early and drove back to Queenstown, and passed Queenstown heading out towards Kawarea Bridge: the home of bungee jumping. This is where the first ever bungee jump was created, off a bridge 43m above a stunning blue river. The wait for the bungee jump was good fun, chatting to people and watching Tom jump first (I've never seen him look that scared...). You are attached by a harness to a loop, and when it's your time next they strap your feet together with a towel, thick pieces of velcro, and attach you to a huge elastic cord hanging off the edge (by both your feet and the harness around your waist).

    I was slightly nervous but okay until stepping out on the platform, and that's when I completely freaked out. It looks insanely high from up there, so when the guy was getting me to look at cameras and wave at things, I was busy freaking out and backing out of the jump. He took me back inside to calm down, and I was absolutely certain that I was not going to bungee jump that day. Once I had calmed down, however, I had another go, this time forgetting the cameras and just falling straight off the edge. Much much better. The rush is great, and we both finished it wanting to have another go. Once you're done jumping they let you down into a raft a couple of guys are in down on the river and untie you there.

    We watched a few more people do it, and a few more people back out, and then headed back to Queenstown. We spent the afternoon playing frisbee golf (safe to say neither of us are getting any better), and watched a part of a film.    Read more

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  • 9 months Sabbatical
    Day87

    It's Christmaaaaassssssss

     December 25, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Got up and found that he'd been! Stockings were full above the fire.
    Slapped on the Christmas songs and had some croissants and bucks fizz. Lovely way to start the day.

    Started off for a bike ride around the lake. Beautiful views over the mountains and with the clear blue lake. We took some shot glasses with us, so stopped every so often to have a little bit of wine.
    Stopped in at MJ and Tristans house. Initial plan was to go down to the lake, but the weather was forecast to be cloudy and rainy, so we nipped back to the house and got everything to set up camp at their house for the rest of the day. Ended up playing balls, eating cheese, guzzling wine, bbqing rump steak and soaking in their hot tub.
    Once we were all thoroughly boozed (mainly me) we cycled back home.
    Called the family and had a chat with them whilst they opened their stockings.
    All fell asleep whilst watching Abominable. 2nd time of trying to get through it. Maybe boxing day we will finish it off.    Read more

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  • 9 months Sabbatical
    Day131

    Bye New Zealand (with airline annoyance)

     February 7 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Spent the morning packing up and cleaning.
    Just before we were due to set off to meet Pete and Cathers for lunch, Hannah said best to check to see if we need to do anything for check in.
    I went onto the Jet Star website and.... strange our flight was still down as the one on the 22nd of Jan.
    We changed this flight on the 20th to leave on the 7th of Feb. Called them up, obviously no record of us changing the flight 😤So £280 quid later we were booked back on the flight we should have been on. (Losing the 60 quid extra we paid from the first flight for changeable tickets).
    Only took me 2 hours! of online chat to finally get a case number raised to complain. This has raised Jet Star to join Virgin and Flybe for my worst customer experience ever.

    Moral of this story, dont book with Jet Star! Always check you get an email confirming what you have done and take a screenshot of confirmation pages.

    Anyway...... rant done. Had a nice lunch of frozen margaritas and tacos. Then set off with team hall to get to the airport in Queenstown. Checked in early, so we could go have some food and a last beer.
    Got on the plane and we were off to Melbourne. Landed safe, and got a bus and Uber to our hotel.

    Bye bye New Zealand, you were great fun. I'm sure we will be back at some point.    Read more

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  • 9 months Sabbatical
    Day103

    Back to Wanaka with a few fun stops.

     January 10 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We got up and left the campsite. We headed to Lake Matherson with the aim of getting a photo of the mountain reflected in the water. No such luck today. Too windy and too many ripples on the water. Still a nice walk though.

    We started the route back to Wanaka heading South East. We stopped at one spot which Pete and Cathers knew about with a waterfall you can go under. Got into the wetsuits and walked up.
    Absolutely bloody freezing water. We scrambled along up the rocks to the falls. I climbed over and went behind them. A huge mass of water thundering through. Instant brain freeze. Great fun.

    After thawing out and being eaten alive again by sandflies we moved onto the blue pools. Amazing blue water and great for skimming. Which Pete and I spent about 20 mins doing.

    From there we drove back to Wanaka, unloaded the truck and zonked out. Made some homemade pizzas. Looking forward to a proper bed again.    Read more

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  • 9 months Sabbatical
    Day112

    Down river paddleboard. Epic views.

     January 19 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Chilled out till about midday doing some video editing and watching Jurassic Park.
    Cathers then finished work so we decided to head off paddle boarding.
    Went up to a gorge on the west side of Lake Wanaka. Dropped one car off at the bottom and then drove only 15 mins to the start. I thought it was going to only take about 30 mins to get down. But ended up being an amazing 3 hours.
    Areas were a bit shallow so we had to sit on the fronts of our boards to stop dinging the fins. Saw some deers along the way washing in the river.
    Cathers and Hannah both had an accidental dip. I did as well whilst trying a jump onto the board from the river edge. Refreshingly cool.
    Turned a corner and saw a wide valley with mountains at the back. Amazing views with not another person in site anywhere.
    Got down the the lower car. Then drove up to a gorge for a bit of swimming. Powerful river which we tried to swim against. No chance! Went up a bit along the side and floated down.
    Finished fairly late so picked up the cars and headed back to Wanaka.
    Had a bbq of fish and white wine. Great way to finish the day.    Read more

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  • Izzi and TomTravels
    Day58

    Day 58/72: A Glenorchy Christmas Eve

     December 24, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We woke up to a beautiful view of the mountains, and decided to go for a walk in the morning. The sun was shining and birds were singing and the morning heated up incredibly quickly. We walked around the lakes, incredibly smooth with incredible reflections of the mountains, with plenty of stops to take thousands of photos. Both of us were wearing our Christmas eve socks, and humming Christmas songs along the way. We stopped for a paddle in the glacier river, which was unsurprisingly freezing cold, but ice blue and surrounded by fields of lupins. The walk finished by our campsite shop so we got pies for lunch and icecream sundaes (free thanks to our Christmas hamper!) and ate them in the sun.

    Izzi wrapped Christmas presents in the afternoon while Tom went for a hot run (he wasn't too happy afte starting out along a private road and having the turn around when reaching a sign). I then sunbathed while Tom wrapped my presents. Our Christmas afternoon passed in a blur of reading, eating and sunbathing.

    In the evening we were down to the lake, and took loads of photos jumping off the dock into the lake. Feeling very refreshed and cold, we had environmentally friendly showers at the campsite, and hung our stockings by the exhaust pipe with care.    Read more

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  • 9 months Sabbatical
    Day124

    Millennium track bike ride

     January 31 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Cathers joined us to play today. We started off by stacking wood to get Pete and Cathers ready for winter. It was a very windy day, so wanted to wait for it to calm down a bit before doing any other activity. Then we set off on a bike ride along the West side of the Wanaka lake along the Millennium track ride. One of her favourite rides in the area. It was a great track with a few fun bits which you could go pretty fast. We stopped for lunch and a sheltered spot. Then went along to the headland for a cheeky cider.
    Late in the afternoon we made our way back to Wanaka for a shower with the hose back at the house. Baking!
    Had an icecream then went up for happy hour overlooking the lake to wait for Pete to finish work. We joined and we had deep fried Oysters and fish and chips.    Read more

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Queenstown-Lakes District

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