Queenstown is a stunning city, and we were lucky enough to have an Airbnb that had incredible views of Lake Wakatipu!
With views like that we hardly wanted to leave! So our first night in town we picked up delicious meat pies from FergBaker and played games while watching the colors change at sunset.
The next day was New Year's Eve and we had a full day and night of fun planned! After brunch we drove about 3 miles outside of town to the Shotover Jet base to do a jet boat ride in a river gorge. I am not a big adrenaline rush person so this was not my choice, but everyone else was excited so I was along for the (very fast) ride!
The setting is absolutely gorgeous, the jet boats are crazy fast, it was fun but I was also terrified!
Back out our house we got cleaned up and pre-funked with the delicious bubbles we bought at Nautilus back in Blenheim. Then we were off to Eichardt's Private Hotel for a very early dinner reservation.
Our 2-course dinner was completely average but it allowed us to get a table at the connected bar right after dinner.
It was quite cold outside but we had a great time playing cards and drinking wine inside at the bar. We also got treated to another lovely sunset. At midnight we were able to just walk outside and watch the excellent fireworks show!
The next day was all about wine tasting in the Central Otago region, this is New Zealand's Pinot Noir growing area. Rolling green hills, big blue skies, puffy clouds... it's extremely pretty! Our first stop was at Kinross which was both super fun and delicious.
At Gibbston Valley we decided to drink their wine while enjoying lunch in their restaurant. This was one of our best meals in New Zealand! And the wine was exceptional as well. Gibbston is the oldest winery in the region and there is also a hotel and spa on the property.
Chard Farm Winery is on a huge estate and offers a big selection of whites and reds, all which are 100% estate grown. Their cellar door (what kiwis call tasting rooms) sits next to some gorgeous flower gardens all at the base of the foothills.
On our way to our final tasting of the day we stopped to watch the crazies at the AJ Hackett Kawarau Bungy This is the first commercial bungy bridge in the world so it is quite famous. And people pay good money to jump 141 feet towards the river below. I could barely watch; I can't believe people do this!
Amisfield also does some lovely whites and Pinot Noir in a very cool modern architecture cellar door. It was a nice way to finish out our winery day and only 20 minutes back to town!
It was our last night in Queenstown and we decided to get burgers from the popular Fergburger and enjoy them with the fab views from the house while packing and playing some games. The lines at Fergburger are as well known as the burger so we implemented a strategy of ordering online from the Ferg's Bar next door while enjoying a couple of delicious cocktails.
When we got notice our burgers were ready Thibault went to grab them while we paid the tab.
Queenstown is absolutely lovely and it was a fantastic spot to spend a New Year's Eve. And we still had our final destination of Milford Sound to look forward to.
