This is the second day we stayed in Queenstown, in the morning we went to Gondola Skyline. We went up to the hill by cable car to view the beautiful Queenstown on top of the hill. The ticket price for the Gondola is NZD 25.
After done visiting the Gondola Skyline, we reach the entrance of the Kiwi Birdlife Park (located just next to the Gondola Skyline). My friend wanted to see the Kiwi bird as after she spent so many days in New Zealand for working holiday, she still haven't got the chance to see a real Kiwi bird. However, after we checked the ticket price from the ticket booth, we gave up, it's kinda expensive for us!
In the afternoon time, we just spent our time have a leisure walking around the shops in Queenstown. We went to Cookie Time shop, according to my friend, this cookie shop is very famous in New Zealand. And this is the first time I tasted the hot baked cookie in a cookie shop, it's very delicious!
We spent our evening time mostly shopping at the souvenirs shops. I bought a lot Paua Shell jewellery, such as pendant, earrings, bangles and bracelet. I really love the pattern of the Paua Shell, I even bought a pair of fully polished real Paua Shell! Before going for dinner, we took the opportunity to capture some photos around the Lake Wakatipu area. Then, we have our dinner at Fat Badgers Pizza restaurant. The first time ever I ate such a giant size of pizza. Haha. It is very delicious too!
Skyline Queenstown - Finally we have reached the Skyline Gondola! Can't wait to 'climb up' to the hill and enjoy the extraordinary view of Queenstown.
Skyline Queenstown - Queuing up to enter into the cable car!
Skyline Queenstown - Finally we reached the top of the hill and spotted the bungee jump activity. I'm not brave enough to play this extreme game :P
Skyline Queenstown - Nice Lake Wakatipu view! A bit cold standing on top of the hill! Can you see the rainbow from the far?
Skyline Queenstown - Many cable cars coming up and goin down!
Skyline Queenstown - Spotted another rainbow from the restaurant area!
Cookie Time, Queenstown - Delicious hot cookie!
Queenstown - Relaxing photo taking experience around the Lake Wakatipu!
Fat Badgers Pizza restaurant, Queenstown - Very huge pizza and it is delicious too! Can mix with different topping flavours!
After reached the beautiful Queenstown, we have spent 3 days in this city. Finally, we can rest a while and don't need to pack and unpack our luggage everyday! After checked in to our backpacker - The Black Sheep, we started to feel hungry and need to look for food.
After settled our luggages in the backpacker, time for us to explore Queenstown and of course need to hunt for our lunch! We found the famous burger restaurant in Queenstown - FergBurger. When we reached there, it is quite lucky that the queue is not too long and the restaurant is not too crowded and we able to find a place to sit and eat comfortably. We finally had a delicious FergBurger as our lunch! I've ordered "The Sweet Julie" burger (NZD 12.50), it's a very big burger for one person!
After eating our lunch, we decided to walk around as Queenstown has many souvenirs shops! We feel very excited as we found more choices for souvenirs in this city and cheaper price compare to the other cities we have travelled in New Zealand!
Besides, there is a beautiful lake in Queenstown too - Lake Wakatipu. Some parasailing activities can be found in this lake. In fact, there are many exciting activities can be done in Queenstown, such as bungee jumping, sky diving, ice skating, Gondola ridding, luge and many many more.
Time to say goodbye to Te Anau! Beautiful lake front view in our backpacker, need to capture more photos before we departing to Queenstown!
On the way to Queenstown - nice weather, nice view and good mood!
On the way to Queenstown - hello, cows!
On the way to Queenstown - nearer to see the cows!
On the way to Queenstown - sheeps again! They are eating grass happily, hehe... And birds flied by and say hi to the sheeps!
On the way to Queenstown - Beautiful mountain view! Looks like the scene from postcard!
On the way to Queenstown - passby a beautiful lake!
On the way to Queenstown - Very beautiful Lake Wakatipu! Again we need to stop by and capture more pictures!
On the way to Queenstown - Another view of beautiful Lake Wakatipu!
On the way to Queenstown - Another view of beautiful Lake Wakatipu! The sky becomes brighter and the scene is more clearer!
On the way to Queenstown - Another beautiful picture of Lake Wakatipu!
On the way to Queenstown - I like the silver grass 芒花草 on the roadside during winter time!
Queenstown - Yeah! Finally we've reached this beautiful and full of excitement city!
Queenstown - Another nice view!
Queenstown - You can try this Shootover Jet, if you dare!
FergBurger, Queenstown - Must try burger in Queenstown! My lunch - Sweet Julie! Like the grilled chicken a lot! Yum yum...
FergBurger, Queenstown - Nice wall picture!
Souvenir shop, Queenstown - Funny decoration! At night after our dinner, we walk around some souvenir shops!
Day 5 - Dunedin -> Fiordland Milford Sound -> Te Anau
After spending a relaxing night in Dunedin - On Top backpacker, we have to wake up very early in the morning and started heading to another fantastic destination - Fiordland Milford Sound at 5am. After 6 hours driving on the road, finally we have reached our destination! The most memorable moment is passing by the tunnel that crossing over the hill! First time in my life seeing this stunning type of tunnel! After passing by this tunnel, we luckily able to buy the river cruise ticket - Southern Discoveries Encounter Cruise (NZD 79) for 12:45 pm, else we might need to wait some time for next round.
If you are interested to visit Fiordland Milford Sound, before departure, it is recommended that you check the schedule of the cruise departure time. In addition, it is also recommended that to check the weather forecast before visiting Fiordland Milford Sound, this is due to cruise tour will be cancelled if bad weather happened. Be prepared with the raincoat as well, as you will get wet inside the rainforest!
Our coach tour started at 12:45 pm and it takes for 2 hours and 15 mins. During this tour, we had a great experience to see the waterfalls, rainforest and sea lions! In this short period, I feel surprised to see rainbows a few times - another amazing first time experience in my life! My friends and I feel very excited too and we non-stop snapping pictures for this wonderful moment!
After the river cruise tour ended, we reluctantly say goodbye to Fiordland Milford Sound and find a backpacker to have a rest. We didn't booked any backpacker before we reach Te Anau city, but luckily we still able to find a decent backpacker - Te Anau Lakefront Backpacker. It is located in front of the lake and the scenery there also very beautiful!
On the way to Fiordland Milford Sound - We stopped by at the roadside to capture the photo of the snow mountain at the far end!
Fiordland Milford Sound - A few waterfalls so near to each other!
Fiordland Milford Sound - Another beautiful rainbow!
Fiordland Milford Sound - Cute floating cloud!
Fiordland Milford Sound - Another coach cruise is following behind us..
Fiordland Milford Sound - Love this picture so much! The rainbow is extremely beautiful!
Fiordland Milford Sound - Video captured to record the gorgeous rainbow. (Sorry, you gotta tilt your head a bit to view it :P)
Fiordland Milford Sound - Waterfall again...
Fiordland Milford Sound - Video recorded for the long waterfalls
Fiordland Milford Sound - Waterfall again...
Fiordland Milford Sound - The captain drive the ship very near to the waterfall to let us to feel the fresh waterfall splashes. My face felt smooth and refreshed, haha :P (Sorry, you gotta tilt your head again to view it)
Fiordland Milford Sound - Another beautiful and bigger rainbow again!!
Fiordland Milford Sound - The scene become clearer when sunshine finally appear for a while...
Fiordland Milford Sound - Finally our 2 hours and 15 mins river cruise come to an end...
Fiordland Milford Sound - According to my friend, this is 3D view of the mountain! Haha :P
