Like most people who travel in New Zealand, we also had plans in Queenstown, New Zealand’s adventure capital. As none of us were particularly interested in near-death experiences aka bungy jumping or skydiving, we had a booking for a jet boat ride in the afternoon. Before we left Wanaka, we had breakfast at Cherry May near the lakeside – great place, and delicious breakfast!
The drive from Wanaka to Queenstown was amazing, and once again we needed several stops to take it all in. So much so, that when we reached Queenstown, we didn’t have too much timeto spare before our jet boat ride from the harbour. When we finally found a place to park, we were quite a bit away from the centre, but luckily we just made it in time.
The Kjet ride was a total blast for all of us – sailing on Lake Wakatipu, Kawarau River, and Shotover River at extremely high speed with plenty of fun spins and water splashing. Several times we were sailing on such shallow waters it looked impossible, but the captain knew what he was doing. Sitting at the side of the boat, I was soaking wet when we landed back at Queenstown – good thing the weather was nice and warm.
We walked around the very busy town for a while – we wanted to try one of the famous Fergburgers, but with a line outside the building of around 50 m, we went for another local offer instead. After lunch, Mads got spontaneous, and we went to see a tattoo-shop nearby. Or actually, he has been talking about for quite a while that he would like to get a tattoo while we were travelling, but it was not something we planned for that day. Shortly after, he had a freehand drawing on his arm, and decided to go ahead with it.
While Mads was getting his tattoo, the girls and I went for a walk in the town centre. Ronja outgrew all of her summer dresses, and we have been looking for new ones, but so far it has been impossible to find regular basis wear for a girl her size. Queenstown was no different (every single shop that sells clothing is an outdoor sports shop – go figure). When we returned to the tattoo shop, the tattoo was all done – and really cool.
We had a free camp picked out for that evening, so we headed out of town to the West in the direction of Glenorchy. I know I can’t stop saying how beautiful our drives are, but this one was epic. Lake Wakatipu with glorious mountain scenery in the background – road trip views don’t get much better than that.
Luckily that same view was ours for the evening, parked in a nice freecamp right at the edge of Lake Wakatipu with gorgeous views of the mountains. It was really windy, and the two inventive girls had flip flop races on a puddle near the edge of the water.
Sadly, Ronja was held up by a bully at sunset…
Buuut, the two of them worked it out, and the day ended in peace.
