Queenstown

We stayed at the Sherwood Manor Hotel on the highway between Frankton and Queenstown. After checking in we headed into town and found the Skyline gondola and Kiwi Birdlife Park. The gondola was still operating until 9pm, so we went up and also took a ride on the luge at the top. Great fun!

Dinner was left-overs from Wanaka.

The next morning we decided to pass on the jetboats and instead spend a few hours enjoying the excellent Kiwi Birdlife Park. We saw their kiwis (what is the plural, anyway?) which they house in special buildings where they artificially switch day and night (because kiwis are nocturnal). They were cute, surprisingly large and very active, running about scratching and pecking at the ground. The park also has a selection of other native birds and also some tuatara lizards. We enjoyed the Conservation Show which also included some introduced Australian animals (a possum and a rainbow lorikeet) which are pests in New Zealand.

For lunch we got a take-away from Freiya’s Indian Restaurant (delicious food and quite cheap - highly recommended!) in the centre of town, and took it to the beach by the lake in Frankton, which was pleasant and quiet except when planes took off overhead from the airport right behind us! The view was spectacular.

Then we headed south towards Lumsden before turning off west to Te Anau. We stopped briefly in Garston (apparently “New Zealand’s most inland village”, pop. 106) to taste-test and buy some small pots of local honey.