Final Hours in Queenstown

In this Series: 

   The Arrowtown Hike 3
   An Unplanned Hike in Arrowtown 2
  A Day in Historic Arrowtown 1

This is also the Christmas week in NZ, but December is also their summer. So summer activities during Christmas is much fun!

This is also our last day in Queenstown, we had a free morning so we will try the Skyline. For the last two days my sister has been asking me to a accompany here. She knows i am afraid of heights, and even just looking at the height of that mountain scares me. She knows i always forego taking the ziplines with my travel friends because of that height phobia. I am also scared of boats because of the feeling that the sea is deep! I am trying to conquer all of these, but it is still lingering in my head.

So i said yes, i will go with the Skyline. I am just envisioning that the views up on the mountain is so wonderful that i  will risk my fear. So we went, no hesitancy anymore. Our bags are already with us because we will go direct to the airport after this skyline ride.

 We passed by this Kiwibird Park, which we didn't enter because we seem
to already know what is inside. A peep and a little watching
the displayed photos suffice for our curiosity.

View from the bottom of the mountain. Are there 3 paragliders? Oh no, the
gliders copy the shape of the moon at the far left

Instead of the Kiwibird park we went direct to this, the object of our coming here today.
These are the Skyline cables to and from the top of the mountain. The incline is steep,
although not very obvious in this photo. At the left top is a mount where bungee
jumping is also done, however nobody is engaged while we are there.

i content myself in watching and taking the paragliders' shots

hu-wa-waw! it looks lovely but i cannot try it...for the life of me, huh!!!

the oldest cable car piece was displayed for photo shots

once-in-a while i also allow a tourist shot for posterity

the views are super beautiful at the top

After a few minutes, we just got our bags and go direct to the airport. The views are still beautiful, i already missed the past days.

We had pasta and coffee at the airport restaurant, delicious, but it ia a bit nostalgic.

I stared long at this capuccino before stirring, i imagined the landscapes, the mountains, the snowcaps, flowers, trees and our tramping. It was one of the best travels i had.

Nature Notes

I Am a Tourist at Queenstown Gardens

My photos in New Zealand last December has been long overdue for posting. However, i can't just sit down and screen all those shots, besides it seems like every photo is important that i can't decide which to choose.

My first weekend in NZ was already scheduled for the Milford Sound Cruise, Queenstown, a domestic plane ride away from Auckland. My sister lives in Auckland, she took 2 days leave so we can have at least 4 days to roam around.  I heard that it is one of the most beautiful tourist spots in the world. I am so excited and maybe my sister too, as she will not have gone there yet if not because of me. We were early that Thursday morning, reached Queenstown before lunch. We brought sandwiches so we can eat whenever we feel like it. The Hostel's check-in time is at 1:30 pm so we sat under the big tree at the opposite park and ate our sandwiches. My unacclimatized body feels the cold, but i love the feeling of being so far from the tropics. It is the welcome feeling of being in a foreign country, and i internalized the feeling of being a real tourist.

This is the view of the most picturesque landscape of Queenstown. It looks so clean, tranquil, peaceful and real beautiful. Located at the foreground (not at the back) peninsula above is the Queenstown Gardens, where we spend the first afternoon of our stay in Queenstown. We just walk through the town center then along the water edge to the gate of the gardens. Only a few people go there that time, so we had lovely moments taking photos.

center of Queenstown and major bus stops 

The town center is actually a small one that can be roamed easily for a half day walk. All the major amenities are there including the i-center (information center) or the tourism office. Most of the people in the shops, restaurants and on the streets are tourists, and we did also what tourists do.

  town center taken at the Queenstown Garden on the opposite side of the bay

At the top of the mountain is the other end of the Skyline cable. We also went there on our last day in Queenstown. There are also other sports activities areas on the other side of that mountain top.

  Some areas of the garden has tall pine trees, and we climbed this hill to the flower gardens.

  I love the color of this tree, with the silvery leaves as if it is really frosted with snow.

At the side of that tree is a big rock where this epitaph for South Pole adventurers was erected, the 5 soldiers who reached the Antarctic in 1912 but all perished on their return voyage. 

 Very few of the trees, bushes and flowers in this garden are known to me. They are all temperate species so i am not obliging myself to know them.

 My sister is not like me, fond of taking photos of all plants and flowers. She always waited for me up front and always has to call me to hurry, because i always forget time whenever i am in landscapes like this. I don't forget however to also take her photos.

  Can you see my sister among the rhododendron flowers?

 

The above pine cones fascinate me, as well as the siquoia tree. It is just my first time to see them.

 These are very lovely but its name also eluded me.

dahlia

The plants above have very interesting hard spiny flowers, i don't know what they are. There are labels somewhere but finding it will slow me more, i need to hurry to navigate more grounds. Remember, we only have a half day here. 

 above and below are some of the individual flowers we saw there

It was my first time to see a lot of peonies, different varieties and colors. Being unfamiliar to me they attracted more of my time. And the hostas, which i included one above in the collage, i also just saw them in temperate country blogs. Oh how i wish we had at least a full day here, i still make a lot of shots. 

Of course we didn't leave this place without a souvenir tourist shot. Other tourists are kind enough to take our photos, and we took theirs in return. It was almost dusk when we returned to our accomodation at the other side of the bay. It was time to look for the restaurant where my sister was gifted with a voucher for 2, turning out to be 2 meals for 2. We claimed 1 of the 2 dinners for 2 at the Irish Restaurant, and then  walked home and sleep. What a lovely hectic first day for me in a foreign land. I am just starting but already telling the Universe that i want to come back!

Our World Tuesday
Mosaic Monday
Nature Notes

Wednesday Waters