A short hike around the Kelvin Peninsula near the city of Queenstown produced views like pictured above.
Our drive into Queenstown each day from our Airbnb in Cardrona was spectacular. Not often in life one gets to enjoy the drive to a destination about as much as the destination itself.
The last portion of the drive involved a series of ludicrous switchbacks. While I was driving I did not have the ability to properly enjoy the scenery so the pictures Laurie took helped me get a greater appreciation for the area.
Our walk around the peninsula started out just like many other walks with a nicely maintained trail through a picturesque and lush landscape.
The meandering path was also home to a number of sculptures installed within the last decade. The one above blends in with the forest nicely.
The path also crossed an open golf course. As we avoided getting beaned by a stray ball we ran into this nice sculpture that reminded us so much of all the windswept trees on the island.
Another sculpture doubled as a nice bench to relax on and one to use as a focal point for some nice pictures.
NICE VIEW!!!
Our last set of sculptures were these 3 mountain goats. As we rounded the corner and got our first view, we thought they were real for a second.
Although the hiking loop was near a large city, there were no other folks around leaving us to enjoy the peace and serenity of the lakeshore.
The crystal clear water allowed us to see some really neat striations on the rocks. The constant erosion caused by the waves over the years created this beautiful scene.
We only wondered for a wee moment about why they would have a used RV for the purpose of “race control”. The trailer was parked on the property of the Wakatipu Yacht Club so they must be referring to sailboat races?
After a nice hike it is always good to “get a feed on” as they say in New Zealand. The famous hamburger joint in Queenstown is a place called Fergburger. We had been hearing about it since our arrival in Auckland.
It was what Kiwis call “takeaway only” meaning they had no seats inside to eat at. We asked for take out at a number of places in NZ and got the craziest looks from folks until we remembered it was takeaway. The line was about 30 deep outside the shop when we got there and an employee told us that was not very busy and it should only be about 15 minutes for our order to be taken.
I had the Ferg Deluxe and Laurie had the Fergburger. When in New Zealand you go for a Fergburger and when in California you go for an In-N-Out Burger.
Not a chain restaurant as this location was all they have in New Zealand. There are no plastic straws or utensils at any restaurant locations in NZ as they evidently do not want to contribute to the problems of plastic and microplastics in the oceans.
This huge pine tree was planted here back in the 1800s in front of the then newly constructed courthouse. Its original purpose was to give some shade to the folks waiting for their cases to be heard in front of a judge.
On our drive back to Cardrona and our Airbnb we did what we have done many days while in New Zealand. We parked the car and walked to a secluded beach to do some reading. Cannot get any more peaceful than that eh?
This little gem of a distillery was located right across the street from our condo. They offered tours at $25 with the ability to put that $25 toward a purchase at the end of the tour if you liked the product.
The barrels they age their Scotch in come from all over the world and made with many different types of wood. During their opening back in 2016 they ran a promotion where you, or a group, could purchase an entire barrel of spirits. Sounded great until we learned the price started at $20,000 NZ! Hope it turned out good.
Boy did I like the product. All their spirits, from vodka and gin to single malt Scotch, were brewed from the same mash coming from barley. Never heard of barley being used in distilling. It was absolutely fabulous though. Note the percent alcohol is 47%. Gin that is sold commercially in NZ is 37% by law so this was a bit different. Some of the single malts I tried were upwards of 65% or 130 proof.