Queenstown, Known as the Adventure Capital of the World

 The views from the plane set our sights high for what we were to experience, and we weren’t let down. After renting the smallest Prius I’ve ever seen, an on-the-spot upgrade when the agent realized we were driving all the way through the country from south to north, we started getting familiar with driving on the left side of the road, constantly turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals. Good thing the accelerator and breaks aren’t switched. 

On this our first day, Amy and I did our first touristy thing—had lunch at the popular Fernburger. Good thing we split the burger. They are huge. We walked around town amidst all the other tourists. New Zealand’s borders are definitely open post COVID. Having regretted purging my luggage of my down jacket given the colder temps than expected, it was a good thing Macpac, the local version of REI, had the perfect jacket. We could have spent all day shopping, but we were here to see New Zealand. We walked  along the waterfront peninsula, the Queenstown Gardens, and then up Time Walk.  

 

A local we talked with had recommended we have Fae at I-Site schedule our upcoming adventures in the south land.  I-Site had been the country-wide government-run tourism office pre-COVID, but has since gone commercial. We didn’t know that when we booked our next few days to Milford Sound and Stewart Island, but wouldn’t have changed a thing. Now that we had tickets to Milford Sound and Stewart Island, Amy and I set off for the Gondola for lunch and the luge.Three trips down were fun, faster each time.

Even though we’re on holiday, errands are still a necessity.  We returned to Snap Rentals, the car rental agency to exchange our car for one with better tires. Having passed a K-Mart, yes one of the many American brands here, along with McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and Domino’s, we stopped in to get some essentials—a knife and cutting board for all the apples and cheese we’d have to snack on along the way. A quick trip to the grocery store and we were set for our trip to Fjordland National Park. You never know what you’ll find.