19/08/25 Snow and buffets

This morning stated off a lot colder and with strange white stuff all over the hills. This is what we've been waiting for. Of course this is also the morning the hot water ran out and cuased me to scream and weep like a small child. 

First stop was a ride up the Gondola to the Skyline. We had 3 luge rides and a lunch booked with a set timetable so of course the first thing we did was have breakfast. 

After One World Trade Centre this is probably the second best breakfast view so far.

There's a big construction project going on here and getting to the luges involved going up and down some suspiciously loose scaffolding and walkways. We are definitely hitting our steps this week.

I have never felt so hot and cold at the same time. Stupid exercise. Doing it while it's snowing is a bit of a novelty which I doubt could ever wear thin.

Nob. But very warm. Absolutely no dignity was left after getting into and out of the luge. I managed to get out without having to roll about on all fours or collapse a knee, but I imagine it was a absurd spectacle.

The luge was fun, the first run was quite slow and hesitant. The brakes weren't very brakey, more of a vague suggestion. Using people in front of me was far more effective, for me at least. Them, they got to go faster again. Despite the wet and slippery track, the things grip well. In reality I was probably going about walking pace but when you're 2cm off the ground it seems a lot faster.

Also snow hurts when you're racing bare faced into it. About 10 seconds is how long for the novelty to wear off.

All the fart-arseing about meant we only had time for one ride before our lunch slot so we hiked all the way back up and over to the main building. It pains me to look at this again, knowing the effort it took, nearly going arse over tit up some stairs because we realised later that there was a much easier and obvious way to get back. I've also just noticed Louie in the distance leaving me far behind. I'll tuck that one away in the revenge bank...

Lunch was accompanied by an amazing view over Queenstown and the Remarkable range. No need for conversation, just loads of looking out the window between gorging ourselves on plate after plate of food.

I kind of forgot to take photos of everything but dessert. The mini pavlova was amazing.

After lunch we relaxed for an hour next to a huge window looking over Lake Wakatipu and listening to the Australian group behind us (where I learned a new twist on an old phrase "you can't polish a turd, but you can throw glitter on it". That's going to get used)

We had two more luge rides so back we went. This time the pace was a hell of a lot faster, much less braking and a lot more fun. Once was kind of enough for me, three times wasn't enough. Should have bought the 9 ride ticket.

It was here we realised our mistake earlier and instead of walking from the end of the rise up to the building, just take the chair lift thing to the top and walk down. Our genius knows no bounds.

Pretty much straight from the return Gondola ride we headed to the boat for the cruise over to Walter Peak farm. The Earnslaw is usually used but it's a bit rooted at the moment so we took a detour to see it. This had a plesant personal touch to it, seeing it up on sticks and broken. This damn boat's whistle scared the piss out of me when I was 3 so justice has been served. 

The trip over Lake Wakatipu at sunset was so beautiful, made all the more so with the snow covering the peaks. The Walter Peak farm seems to be a fine tuned tourist outlet, we were hearded off the boat into the dining room, fed and watered, mustered to the pens for a dog show (no theme music dammit), through the gift store and back onto the boat in a tidy 2 hour operation. The gift store was an unexpected comedy routine, mostly at our expense because they were having a laugh at the prices. 

Second buffet of the day, euphemistically titled "Real NZ". I'm pretty sure real New Zealanders aren't having high country lamb cooked by a chef over open coals to a perfect temperature. It were right tasty though.

Most of our fellow diners. Mercifully free of the French, but there were some Australians. They'll let anyone on these days. 

Queenstown by night.

The arena of sheep and dogs. A great setup and the Welsh boyo Owain doing the show had the banter going. Too many kids present for there to be any sheep shagging jokes, but with the Australian, NZ and Welsh contingents it was like a standoff waiting for the first one to flinch. 

Gareth admitted he is a dairy farmer so his shearing skills are limited but he did an alright job. I remember the demonstrations I saw as a child usually resulted in a good cut or two the the poor beast, but the model tonight came away intact.

Finally Rhys turned on the back paddock lights and let loose the sheepdog Echo (because you have to call her twice).

It took a minute for her to round up the four sheep, but everyone was suitably impressed with her skill at getting the sheep back and forth, down the hill and into the pen. It wasn't always what Gwyn was directing but probably what needed to be done.

And that ended a bloody fantastic day, loads of amazing food, sights and experiences. Finished off with a cruise back to Queenstown with the unexplained presence of a glittery stage, disconnected dance lights and two drag queens sitting off to the side watching Family Feud on a phone with the volume turned up. This was the same boat we came across on and none of it was there when we left! One of life's unexplained mysteries.

18/08/25 Bloody cold

The rain and cold finally hit today, most of the mountains hidden behind snow clouds. None of that snow made it down to where we are, just teasing us.

A semi planned trip to a ski field was postponed due to, ironically, the snow. Mostly the fact that we wouldn't see much because it was so cloudy and bleak.

Queenstown is insanely busy, but with limited infrastructure. It's such a pain to find a car park without throwing silly money at Wilson's, the roads are full of choke points and every cafe seems to be crammed into impossibility small vintage buildings with twice the number of people wanting to eat than there are seats.

After a very slow drive due to ??? (I'm definitely missing Auckland's relatively flowing traffic) and a 30 minute wait we got a table at The Boat Shed. Louie was definitely happy with his French Toast. I'm pretty sure any French person would be aghast at this version but they're French. Who cares.

My bacon and egg "buttie" was less than impressive. It was also less than warm. It could be the literally frigid temperatures but when the cheese doesn't even melt - that's a bad sign.

The Boat Shed. Known for a small waiting area and cold eggs.

Tomorrow is Louie's birthday so we are going up the Gondola for lunch and luging before a boat ride to Walter Peak farm for a buffet all you can eat BBQ dinner and Dog Show. If they don't play Flowers on the Wall I'm going to be devastated. Anyway, we grabbed the tickets for the Gondola etc and realised it's a buffet all you can eat lunch. Tomorrow's blog may be as food heavy as our bellies. 

Next stop was Ayrburn, a collection of wanky restaurants and wine guzzling rooms. It looks like it would be fantastic during summer for things but today it was mostly sleet, coned off muddy paths and loud Australian Millennials guzzling bad craft beer and ignoring their demon spawn running amok.

Lunch was a pulled chicken BLT (nope, no idea why they thought that BLT was the best name they could use. Once again it was barely warm. Do they not like hot food here?

Louie had a pizza that was okay, but the base was undercooked. Add in a lychee lemonade and this little lot cost just over $100. We found the silly money Queenstown food. 

The highlight of this trip was it finally started snowing on the way back into Queenstown. It was mostly sleeting but we did get a couple of minutes of proper snow. 

It is as cold as this photo looks. Such a difference from when we arrived. There's even snow at the top of the gondolas. Can't wait for tomorrow!

We felt it was time for some sport so glow in the dark mini golf was on! It was great fun, especially since you could change parts of each hole and there were mini games between the holes that you could display your complete lack of physical coordination.

As a bonus I now have my new profile photo for work. 

Weirdly quickly the weather decided it had mostly finished being cloudy and we got a look at all the fresh snow on the surrounding mountains. Just like a postcard. One thing about Queenstown is that the central area is so small it's quite quick to walk around. We've done the lap a few times now.

Vile. Chilli does not belong in a drink.

One of the YouTube recommended places was Devil Burgers. After waiting half an hour for a burger and then being told it would be a other 20 minutes we got our money back and ended up in a pub called The World Bar.

It was after we had ordered some food and drinks we realised the big sign on the screen. After a very small amount of coaxing from the drag quiz master we got our answer sheet and chose our team name " Two Boys One Quiz"

It was bloody great fun, with challenges between each round. We were the oldest ones there by a good 20 years I'd say, and definitely passed on a couple of the games. One where one person had to kneel down and blow up a balloon between the other's legs was definitely off the cards. Mostly because I probably couldn't get back up again and keep what little dignity I had left.

After the "name that song" round, we had no dignity left. 7 of the 10 songs were absolutely unknown, and absolute garbage. The other three we kind of got right but I forgot Alison Moyet was in Yazoo when she sung Only You, not a solo artist. I was probably the only one in the room who knew that! 

Our knowledge of pride related trivia was sorely lacking, but I did get to announce "I've been there" when they mentioned the Stonewall Riots. I meant to the memorial in NY but everyone probably thought I was so old I was actually there at the time.

And that's a wrap on the coldest day I've had since tramping around Kuripapango in my teens during Winter. I'm definitely more suited to the climate of Auckland.

17/08/25 Straight to Arrowtown

Dinner last night involved doing some driving into Point Arthur along pitch black streets with only the feeble headlights of the Corolla to help. Needless to say we missed the place we were aiming for and ended up having dinner at the place we parked at, The General Kitchen and Bar. They do love their pizza around here, everyone sells some version with the genuine gourmet wood fired pizza oven©. And as usual, it was fine. Definitely needed a lot more seasoning and livelier cheese. As is customary in NZ we had to eat with our hands like beasts.

Afterwards we saw some pretty impressive skies, which I haven't seen for years. Definitely appreciated the lack of streetlights for this. 

We decided the luge will wait until Tuesday for a bunch of reasons so we were headed for Arrowtown instead. Stopped off at Gantley's Tavern for breakfast, and was directed to the far end of the place away from the noisy throng watching some sort of sports on TV. Maybe rugby, given the sounds on whistles and shouting. I really couldn't care less, but it did mean we got to meet Tui.

Breakfast was standard, pretty great hollandaise and the usual greenery that was flicked off. 

Some sports watchers brought dogs along, and Tui here decided we seemed to be easy marks for treats. Well, I was but Louie wouldn't let me.

I know her name was Tui because her owners kept on calling her. She doesn't know that's her name because she took zero notice of them. Good girl.

The site of my shame. I got a parking ticket here, not because I didn't pay. It's because in my pre-breakfast brain autopilot mode I entered my car's licence plate, not the rental car. Bugger. Anyway, this is Arthur's Point where we are staying.

A short 15 minute drive away is Arrowtown, mostly a street of shops that cater to the tourists who come for the shops. Gold, greenstone and tat for the most part. And Remuera tractors that have a chance of actually being used as a 4WD. Or at least getting slightly muddy. 

The two main historical parts of Arrowtown includes an old Chinese "township" that had about 20 buildings. All are long gone but they have built replicas. For a place that could have been quite rubbish, they did a good job of presenting the history and the people.

Weirdly, the entire reason they were here - the gold panning seems to have been forgotten. There wasn't anywhere along the stream that talked about what or where they did it. Bits of rusty ancient gear were half buried but not even a sign.

There was one X marks the spot where some Māori chap found the first nugget, but even that is a bit sketchy since the local tribes knew about the gold for centuries but had no use for it.

After a fair stack of walking it was time for some sitting. We tried a couple of places & ended up at Provisions of Arrowtown. Bloody Rip-off would be a more accurate name. Nice view of Coronet Peak though. The black bits on the left hand side of the snow is the top of the ski lifts.

18 bastard dollars for this (plus one more that I ate before I remembered to take a pic). Not shown is the pie Louie had that had been reheated to a dark char. One to avoid. 

Last stop was the museum and art gallery. They had the design, painting and photography portfolios of the local High School on display which was really cool, and you got to vote for your favourites. The woman behind the main desk couldn't tell us what happened to the winners, and didn't seem to understand there was voting.

Confusing art displays and an ice tunnel entrance for no adequately explained reason aside, the museum was pretty damn good. It mostly focussed on the settlers, gold and the removal of frost bitten fingers. Spread over two levels, they had a bunch of activity for kids, loads of diaramas and mock ups of scenes. And at least three pianos with their lids open and "do not play" signs on. Which is three signs too many. 

The Bank stables. Nope, no idea why the bank had stables. Fairly impressive setup though. 

This bloke got around a bit. From giving everyone a surprise when the poked their head into the bar, to the printing press, bakery, blacksmiths and stables he was a busy chap. Or maybe they got a bulk discount on the same mannequin.

I know I'm no longer a spring chicken but it's a bit on the nose to include a type of phone I used to own in a vintage printing press mock-up.

Top marks for the comedy genius, and yes it was a mine of information. Looking at the poster I have no idea why there was a diving suit on display. 

We got some hefty priced fudge at the Arrowtown candy store, this is the Jelly Tip version. Kind of tasted like the real thing too. At $9 for a 80g square, you'd hope so!

After getting home and putting our feet up (hitting double at least half the steps and calories burned each day so far) we headed into Queenstown for dinner.

Here is the kitchen for the place we didn't have dinner at, Flame. Loads of ribs and steaks being cooked, but sadly it was all booked out and we had to wait 90 minutes for a table.

Instead we wandered and ended up at a Latin American place, and they had proper Gurana as well!

Various meaty pastry things. 

After our Brazilian snacks we headed over to tick Ferg Burgers off our to-do list. It was a 20 minute wait until we ended up eating so it wasn't that bad. 

The burger was okay. For a flame griloed burger with pickles and mayo, a Burger King Whopper is better. Quite dry and low quality beef, plenty of fatty / gristly bits but nothing as bad as what I spotted while we were eating. 

For a place that is so busy and popular, you'd think they would be a lot more onto it with their hygiene and quality. All these dusty areas were over the food preparation areas. That's going to be fun putting into a Google Review!

One final stop before heading back, we stopped into the Captains Bar for some very un-blokey drinks. After two meals and heavy drinks it was an uncomfortable drive home.

Tomorrow it's supposed to snow so it's up to the ski fields for some ill-advised shenanigans!