An early wake up (although not too difficult with the time change), check out of the Jucy Snooze and walk to the Sky Bus pick location was the morning plan. I must say the downhill with my luggage was much easier :-). From the domestic terminal at the airport, check in was a breeze and we boarded our 2 hour flight to Queenstown on South Island. We selected our seats while in Canada and knew that we wanted a window seat on a particular side of the plane, for the best mountain views. The weather and skies cooperated, thankfully!
Once we descended through the clouds, it was a pretty epic landing into the valley (video on request). Our friends Will and Michelle arrived from Wellington about 20 minutes after our flight landed. It was a pretty special reunion to meet Will in his home country! Yay! We picked out our rental Toyota Highlander, left hand drive SUV and we are thankful to have Will at the wheel! Yikes, I keep forgetting to look right!
A quick drive to downtown Queenstown offered us a cool vibe in the central village with lots of outdoor adventure options. Hungry from our travels, we decided drinks and burgers were in order at the Courthouse, and I sampled my first Kiwi burger…beef patty, egg and beetroot! Quite delicious!
A ride up the gondola offered epic views of Lake Wakatipu and the river valleys, along with the Remarkables (mountain peaks). Adventure surrounded us…paragliders, jet boats, bungee jumping, bungee swings, luge track, mountain biking trails, steamship boats rides, and parasailing!
We then set out on a twisty drive to Cromwell, the Fruit Basket of Central Otago, along the river valley which bought us to our lovely home for the next 2 nights, Heritage Cromwell Lake Resort. We checked in and chatted with some guys who owned a Chev truck with Ontario liscence plates…apparently it is cheaper to ship a vehicle to NZ rather than rent one while they are here working for 5 months!! A quick drive back to Cromwell centre for a visit to the grocery store for some provisions for supper – wine, cheese, bread and chocolate; those are the 4 major food groups on vacation, right??!
After a deep sleep we woke in our lovely abode and Jody captured this awesome picture of our morning view. We are staying in these lovely lakeside cottages, with breathtaking mountain views.
We met at the Highlander for a quick drive to hike the Bannockburn Sluicing – a self guided trail of dramatic rock bluffs and historic leavings of sluicing for gold mining.
A great way to start the day (we met 3 other people on the trail…props to travel in the shoulder season! Second breakfast at a local Cromwell cafe allowed me to try some NZ standards – sausage roll and a ginger crunch dessert (not pictured).
A stop at a roadside fruit stand ensued to stock up on apricots, peaches, plums, as it is early fall here so they are at peak ripeness! So tasty! Will says this is the reason we are here this time of the year, for the fruit bounty! “Is 6 apricots a day too many…asking for a friend??”
After freshening up back at the resort, we headed back into town to tackle the 4 Barrels Walking Wine Trail, which Michelle had researched on a snow day back in Canada!! We grabbed a map at the visitor centre and parked the car at Scott Base Winery prior to setting out on the trail.
Some obligatory selfies at the “fruit” in Cromwell along the way were in order. #peach
From there we walked to Misha’s Winery and started with a lovely tasting; they are known for their Pinot Noirs in this region and they all tasted great. As I tried to distinguish the wines and the tasting notes, I thought of my dad saying “I’ll drink anything I can’t chew!” Pretty much!
From there we happily walked to the Wooing Tree Winery. It was apparently made famous when Reese Witherspoon “liked” their Blondie Wine on Instagram. She wasn’t wrong! Note the “wooing tree” amongst the vines below which is legendary here to “woo” your love interest!
We didn’t make it to all of the 4 Barrels due to time constraints (3/4 ain’t bad!), however we ended our walk back at Scott Base where we toasted with a bubbly wine and shared a charcuterie platter and edamame beans, while Jody did some mobility stretching on the lawn and we shared some laughs! Overall a great “rest day” in Central Otago!
