Queenstown, New Zealand. One of my all time favourite travel destinations. Breath-taking beauty. Endless adventure. Beautiful in every season. The words “bored” and “Queenstown” never go in the same sentence. To celebrate our first wedding anniversary and to celebrate Chris’ birthday, we flew across the ditch to New Zealand and enjoyed the beauty, thrills and adventures of this unbelievably beautiful part of the world. If you’re planning your first trip to Queenstown or are returning to enjoy another round, I hope this gives some great tips and ideas of what to see and do.

Flights and Transport: Queenstown has its very own airport located conveniently close to the main centre of town. The descent into Queenstown is absolutely beautiful in itself, with the mountains and lakes whetting your appetite for what’s to come. On this recent trip to Queenstown, we were fortunate enough to borrow a car from a friend, however, if you’re wanting to hire a car, these are available. I do recommend booking them well in advance as Queenstown is a busy place. A lot of people also hire vans and campers to travel around in, so that is an option as well if you so desire.

Accommodation: Queenstown has a wide variety of accommodation options, from backpackers to exclusive resorts, there’s an abundance of places to stay. For our trip we stayed for 6 nights in an AirBnb called the Four Peaks Guest House that had an amazing view of The Remarkables mountains, and it was just so was lovely and cosy for the two of us. For the last 3 nights we stayed at the stunning Stoneridge Estate, which is located about 15 minutes outside of the main CBD of Queenstown next to Lake Hayes, and is much more quiet and private.

Places to Eat

Queenstown is home to some of the yummiest foods I’ve ever eaten, so your tastebuds will certainly not be disappointed by all the wonderful flavours on offer here. Here are some of my favourite places to eat & drink:

The Boatshed Café: Oh my goodness, talk about the best breakfast menu ever! The Boatshed Café is a must for visits to Queenstown. Not only is the food delicious and the staff super friendly, the view over Lake Wakatipu and towards The Remarkables mountains is just the cherry on top of this delightful little café.

Odelay Café: Conveniently located near the airport so straight after you’ve landed, you can enjoy a drink and some yummy food, Odelay is the perfect place to relax and unwind. I keep my loyalty card for Odelay in my purse in the expectation that I will return to Queenstown again – just for fun, right?

Flame: Located in the dock area of Queenstown, Flame Bar & Grill is a barbecue paradise. Inspired by South African recipes, we enjoyed our anniversary dinner here and it was amazing. Can recommend!

Blue Kanu: A delicious and delightful Asian fusion menu, this great restaurant is located near the Queenstown Beach. We chose the “Trust the Wok” selection specifically for two people to enjoy four courses of Blue Kanu‘s favourite dishes.

Fergburger & Fergbaker: Of course, no trip to Queenstown is complete without a trip to the Ferg stores. The only thing I love more about these shops than the food is that they haven’t franchised (they easily could expand and go global) and are true to only staying in Queenstown. Expect a long line of hungry customers waiting in front of you to order theirs, but the wait is worth it. Fergbaker, located next door to Fergburger, has the best almond croissants I’ve ever eaten and the most delicious baked goods. I love enjoying Ferg goods down near the Queenstown Beach along Marine Parade. Do yourself a favour and go and enjoy some Ferg goods!

Activities and Adventures

Goodness me, where do I even start? One of the greatest things about Queenstown is that you can go as fast or as slow as you desire. For our holiday, we spent the first week adventuring, and then slowed down and relaxed for the last 4 days. Before arriving, the weather was predicted to rain the entire week, but we were determined the make the most of it whatever the weather. Thankfully, we had beautiful weather the whole week minus one afternoon where it rained, so don’t be disheartened because no matter the weather, there’s always things to do in Queenstown.

Bungy Jumping: If you’re feeling up to it (actually, even if you don’t feel like it but WANT to go bungy jumping), Queenstown is the perfect and OG place for it! There are a few places to bungy jump (Nevis Bungy and The Ledge Bungy), but we settled for the 43 metre Kawarau Bridge Bungy through AJ Hackett, positioned perfectly above the Kawarau River. This is where in 1988, the very first commercial bungy occurred, and now, more than 30 years later, every year thousands of people enjoy the thrill. Chris and I decided to jump together, which was such a great experience to share together. Chris enjoyed it so much that he decided to go again! Yes, it’s intimidating and you have moments of feeling scared, but I don’t regret it at all.

Onsen Hot Pools: One of my favourite activities we partook in was a perfectly relaxing afternoon at the Onsen Hot Pools, located about 10 minutes drive from the centre of Queenstown CBD. We booked ours for the late afternoon after a busy day, and we had such a lovely time. We enjoyed one hour in the spa, and our booking including a beverage and snack each, with most of the wines and snacks being made locally or elsewhere in New Zealand. This is one of those places I certainly recommend to really “drink it all in”, as my darling Mum says. Yes, take photos and the staff are more than happy to help you out with this, but take time to put your phone aside, to stop, breathe and enjoy. Chris and I spent a large portion of our time here admiring the surrounds and praying over our marriage (usually we pray with our eyes closed, but this time we prayed with our eyes open, and I’m sure you can understand why).

Milford Sound: English author Rudyard Kipling called Milford Sound “the eighth wonder of the world”, and I can see why he said that. This was my fourth time to Milford Sound, and I could easily come again another 10 times and not grow tired of it. Everyone says “the wetter the better” at Milford Sound, as rainfall creates these gorgeous little waterfalls all throughout the fjord. You certainly have a feeling of being at the end of the world here, and it’s a great feeling to have!

Bike riding: Chris and I love a good mountain bike, and we enjoyed some gorgeous trails during our time in Queenstown. There were so many trails we didn’t complete, but I guess we need to save some for our next trip, right? Our first bike ride was around Queenstown, to Frankton and looping around the Queenstown Golf Course, and we hired our bikes from Vertigo Bikes who were so kind to us and provided us with some great bikes. Our second bike ride was from Arrowtown to the Gibbston Valley Winery, where we hired bikes from Arrowtown Bike Hire who were so generous with their suggestions and top tips on how to make the most of the afternoon.

Lord of the Rings at Deer Park Heights: If you’re a super-nerd-obsessed-with-anything-Lord-of-the-Rings-fan like me, New Zealand is our ultimate playground! It is all around this beautiful country that Peter Jackson filmed the best trilogy of movies ever made, and it is also here where us super-nerd-fans can relive the films through our own eyes. I’ll do another post at some point on the filming locations I’ve hunted down, but for now I will suggest a visit to Deer Park Heights to enjoy 7 different hotspots where Lord of the Rings was filmed. Being there certainly had me appreciating the efforts of what filming here with hundreds of people would have been like. Even if you’re not a fan of the films (hurts my heart, but anyway), this is still a beautiful place to visit with panoramic views of mountains and lakes, and there are some gorgeous furry little friends to say hello to – goats, donkeys, ducks, and of course, deer.

I hope this provides some further insights into planning a trip to Queenstown, New Zealand. We love NZ and I’m sure we’ll be returning again in the hopefully not-too-distant-future. These ideas just scratch the surface of all there is to see and do in Queenstown, so enjoy, explore, relax, and drink it all in.

Psalm 121:1-2 – I lift my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Love, Gracie