Highlights of My Adventurous 3 Days Trip in Queenstown, New Zealand

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Queenstown, known as the ‘Adventure Capital of the World’, is a popular tourist destination in the South Island of New Zealand. There are many amazing things to do here from adventure travel, food and wine, and seeing one of the great natural wonders of the world. I really like this country a lot and also from the fact that their prime minister is one of the women I highly look up to in the political world. They have almost all adventure activities you can think of to do. Water, land, and sky. You name it they have it. Choosing the one to do for the three days I was there was tough. My tip is to make sure to go with what is exciting for you so you can have the trip of a lifetime!

This is the first destination of the 3 weeks trip to explore the world down under with my Dutch/Taiwanese best friend who I met while I studied abroad in Leeds. Once in a while we would talk about this travel in our chat and we cannot believe we did all sort of things together. Our bond was stronger but this trip made it stronger. Hearts hearts. We talked about the activities that we wanted to do in Queenstown, New Zealand things to do, and how to see New Zealand’s beauty. I honestly think it’s a very good itinerary because I got to experience Queenstown and New Zealand have to offer in this trip!

Day 1 – Milford Sound Tour

Milford Sound is a very famous fjord and home of the finest natural peaks, glaciers, lakes, marine life and waterfalls in New Zealand. It is one of the most popular tourist destination in the country. The sound is located inside the Fiordland National Park which is the largest national park in the country. Fiords (or fjords if you prefer) are deep, narrow sea inlet formed by glaciers when water goes below sea level. Definitely tour a fjord. I highly recommend you take a trip here. Milford Sound is one of many fiords you can visit in the park. Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound are the other two but we chose Milford Sound because the internet said it’s the prettiest of the three.

There are many tours from Queenstown and they leave very early because it takes 3.5 hours to get here. We booked a Coach > Cruise > Coach day tour leaving from Queenstown with Jucy Cruise. Be prepared to wake up at the crack of dawn. We got picked up at 7 am in the morning and got back at 7 pm at night. The 12 hours were spent half on the boat and half on the bus.

I cannot express in words how beautiful this place is My eyes were glued to the snow capped mountains on the way to the sound and the cruise. The tour stopped at picturesque locations like the Mirror Lakes and Te Anau. You would not want to put down your camera because you want photos of everything! Definitely one of my favourite natural scenery I’ve visited so far. You will see a lot of marine life too. Dolphins, seals and penguins either swimming or lazily napping on the rocks and sea birds like shags, sooty shearwater, and gulls. We were fortunate with great weather though it was cold from what I remember as I was coming from the Northern Hemisphere Western Summer.

Day 2 – Wine Bike Tour + City Things

When in wine country, drink wine. Even better is to do a wine tour and explore the wineries by bike. My friend and I spent half a day exploring the Gibbston Valley for the wineries and vineyards booked via Viator. You’ll be picked up at a location in Queenstown to go to Arrowtown, a quaint cute little historic gold mining town known. This is where the tour starts and you’ll be provided with a bike and helmet as well as a trail map that includes the wineries you can stop by to get your wine sampling. Also, lunch is included and guess what? It’s wine and cheese!

It was not the casual bike stroll in flat wineries through vineyards. Some parts were but not all. We went biking through gorgeous scenic trails Arrow River Trail, Miners Trail, and Gibbston River Trail. There were part of trails where I felt like I’m in some off-road obstacle course. Hilly with steep trails and multiple tight switchbacks. There was one suspension bridge to go through and oh boy I felt like the ropes were gonna break on me. My hands and legs were sore in the aftermath but that’s okay. It’s all about the adventure travel experience in Queenstown. Also, since it’s a self-guided tour, we took our time admiring the sceneries going through the vineyards once we reached Gibbston Valley.

On a side note, I will always remember this trip and the face my friend made when she drank Shiraz lol. She does not like sweet drinks so she made weird faces sip after sip.

After the tour we explored downtown Queenstown for the rest of the day. They have a park in the city overlooking Lake Wakatipu which is part of the Queenstown trail. The downtown core is very walkable so it’s good to digest that New Zealand beef after (I tell you where to go read below this post).

Day 3 – Skyline Gondola + Zipline + Explore More

Queenstown lives up to its reputation because almost all the adventure activities are in the downtown area. I rode a the Sykyline Gondola up, did a zipline tour whilst high up then descended by luge.

The zip-line tour is within the Queenstown forest in the mountains beside the gondola at the top at Bob’s Peak. The trees here were actually super tall and high up and the zip-line distance were quite far. It was a really good experience and my second time going on zip-line tour. The guide also showed us multiple zip-line postures like upside down. I tried it but I think my body weight and centre of gravity whatever it is would not stay upside down so I ended up rotating to superman pose as I zip-line.

The other activity we booked was the Skyline Gondola with Luge Ride: Gondola Ticket with 2 Luge Rides. One luge ridge for me and one for my friend. We knew the zip-line location was at Bob’s Peak which is the final destination of the gondola so we used the skyline ticket to reach the top then did the zip-line activity. After zip-lining, we walked around Bob’s Peak and took a lot of amazing scenic photos! You get to see a really good panoramic view of Queenstown lakes and mountain ranges of the New Zealand Southern Alps!

Last day in Queenstown and I wanted to imprint the scenic views in my eyes. My friend and I explored the city even more, walked the Queenstown Trail, entered souvenir shops, and ate at a signature New Zealand restaurant.

Where I Ate

I made sure to taste New Zealand local food so I researched the best places to eat at on this trip. They got good lamb and beef here on top of their wine so I definitely had to get my fix on those in this trip.

Rata

Rata is one of Josh Emmett’s Queenstown restaurant (I don’t think he owns it anymore now but I may be wrong). He’s a Michelin starred chef who established restaurants in his home country New Zealand. The other one that I know of is Madam Woo. Sadly his restaurants back home are not on the list but that did not stop us from trying out his restaurant. Rata offers exceptional dishes using locally sourced ingredients If you’re into fine dining culinary experience, I recommend you book a reservation here or any of Josh Emmett’s restaurant in Queenstown and go during lunch time for their set menus.

Fergburger

Experience New Zealand prime beef in this Queenstown burger joint. I know it’s hamburger but where else would you be able to eat a burger made of premium quality New Zealand beef and you are eating it in New Zealand! You’ll devour their super tasty juicy burgers that melts in your mouth. Fergburger is an absolute must to eat both popular to locals and tourists that visit the city. It is even listed as a ‘MUST DO’ while in Queenstown in multiple travel websites. It gets extremely busy with long line-ups so I recommend you go after lunch rush or before dinner rush.

Where I Stayed

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Queenstown

My friend and I stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Queenstown, New Zealand located at Kawarau Village across downtown Queenstown. The hotel offers complimentary ferry to and from downtown so you don’t have to worry about transportation. This was the choice for accommodation because it was free! I had a lot of points I saved up so I can use for this trip. Plus, I get amazing deals from this hotel chain because of my family rate and my AmEx which multiplies my points. Like my stay at a 5 star resort in Phuket, Thailand for $80.00 CAD/night and also my All-Inclusive Adult-Only Resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico stay for only $165 USD/night. It was 30,000 points per night here which was a really good deal for this hotel category. Amazing location with breathtaking mountains and lakeside views.