Queenstown

Last weekend we packed up the van and headed off to Queenstown, which is about an hour's drive away. Queenstown is the nearest “big town” and there were some amazing views as we drove along the lake. It looked very like Austria or Switzerland and I could have sworn I saw a family dressed in old curtains singing as they skipped through the alpine meadows.

We got the van parked up at Lakeview Campsite which was five minutes walk from the town center, although the location was excellent the name of the site was slightly misleading, “Slight-glimpse-of-the-lake-if-you-are-standing-on-tiptoes-behind-the-shower-block Campsite” would have been more accurate. It was a “battery” campsite, with rows and rows of vans and minimal space per site, but luckily it was not too busy and we didn't intend spending much time there anyway.

We headed out to explore and firstly had a good look around the shops, which were mainly selling tourist tat (which is fine...we are tourists after all), extreme bungy/jet boat/sky dive/paraglide experiences or Lord of the Rings tours. David is debating the extreme sport options and will probably do something before we leave...I will be saving my money for shopping I think! Peter, Joe and Luke were less interested in bungy jumps and managed to spot the Golden Arches of McDonald's and so they had a junk food fix and were happy!

On Friday we headed up the Gondola to the top of the mountain. The Gondolas were quite small so we all got in one, while Luke's buggy followed in the one behind (much to his delight). At the top we took in the fantastic views over Queenstown and the lake and did a walk around the top. There is a Luge at the top, but we are saving going on that for when we visit with Dean and Diana (although David was itching to get some practice runs in so that he can beat Dean!).

On Saturday the boys played mini-golf while I hit the shops for some Christmas shopping, which did not feel right as it was too sunny! Then on Sunday we headed back to base, but came back the long way over the mountains and had some more amazing views and amazing roads up the mountains, before getting back to see what had been done on the restaurant while we were away!

Link to photos.

Nic