Queenstown (Day 2)
20 November 2018
I'd initially booked us an 8AM flight to Milford Sound for the morning of our second day (20 Nov) in Queenstown. The weather situation looked pretty doubtful, so I pushed back our flight to 21 Nov at 10AM. As such, we had the whole day free on the 20th. After waking up insanely early (5AM), we eventually decided to go into town for breakfast and to take a walk around to familiarize ourselves.
Given the early hour (8AM) and the dreary weather (rainy and cold), town was pretty empty. I assume the tourist hordes were holed up in their rooms trying to stay warm and dry. Our first stop was at Halo Forbidden Bite for breakfast. The food was pretty good. No photos, sorry. We then took a walk around town.
Queenstown
Queenstown
Queenstown
Neither of us was in the mood for a jet boat ride and going up the gondola didn't seem worth doing on a cloudy day. So we decided to take a drive to Glenorchy and look around a bit. Our first stop was at a lookout in Closeburn. Not pictured: a Chinese tourbus to the left.
Closeburn
Closeburn
We made several more stops along the way to get some photos. Plus the winding road was making my companion a bit queasy. Despite the winding roads, it was a beautiful drive. Tons of great scenery, despite the gray day.
Glenorchy-Queenstown Road
Glenorchy-Queenstown Road
Glenorchy-Queenstown Road
Glenorchy-Queenstown Road
Glenorchy-Queenstown Road
Glenorchy-Queenstown Road
Glenorchy-Queenstown Road
Yes, the bokeh is fake. Blame Apple.
Went through Glenorchy and kept driving. Ended up at a walking track near the Rees River.
Rees River
Rees River
Rees River
Unfortunately, the track was largely bogs and we were wearing sneakers, so we didn't make it very far. Instead, we decided to drive up to the Routeburn Track to see the sights. We passed through many sheep farms on route to the track and the roads steadily got a bit bumpier the farther along we went. But we eventually made it to the Routeburn trail head.
Road to Routeburn
Routeburn Trail Head Parking Lot
Parking Lot View
We did a short one hour walk of the first part of the Routeburn Track and it was quite nice. It was cool walking through a temperate rainforest. It's quite a bit different from the forests we have back home.
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
Routeburn Track
On the way back, we stopped at the Dart River to take a few photos and then stopped at the Glenorchy General Store for espressos.
Sheep
More Sheep
Dart River
Dart River
It was getting late in the day and we hadn't had lunch, so we decided to grab an early dinner in Queenstown. We settled on Speights Ale House. The food was fine, but nothing special. After a quick dinner, we went back to the apartment and had another early night. We had our flight to Milford planned for the following morning, so I was keen to be up early to check the weather reports as those flights operated on VFR only.