How to get there from Australia ?
Day One: We flew Air New Zealand from Sydney, very good airline and great hospitable crew, really the most polite I have ever seen. As we approached Queenstown, the pilot made an announcement he said “be prepared to enjoy the great views from air”, and my God they were unbelievable. As you stepped out of the airplane, the surrounding beauty amazed us, it has been the most beautiful airport I have ever seen so far.
The people of New Zealand …. New Zealanders are so sweet, friendly, helpful, and always smiling.It must be the atmosphere, clean air, and surrounding astonishing nature. It’s quite catchy as we kept smiling throughout the trip “El 7emdellah”.
Where did we stay ? We stayed at Hilton Queenstown, the town is small so its about 5 minutes from the airport, offers great views, and very nice rooms. However, didn’t like theour stay experience , it was poorly staffed.
If we get to visit again I would stay in the city centre, also about 10 minutes from the airport. Most of the activities are within the city so that would save the cost of car rental.
Queenstown it filled with thrilling activities, bungee jumping was actually invented by two Queenstown boys, and the first location they launched still operates.
We have stayed six days, the first day we arrived in the afternoon so we went to the city centre. Luckily for us it was the last day of their winter festival, so stalls of food and crafts were everywhere, it was really lovely.
Day Three : In the morning we took a jet boat in the river, really thrilling. In the afternoon, we took the Gondola a chairlift to the top of the mountain were the host a Hakka show “the aboriginal people”, they also offer a great dinner, and there is a cafe which has magnificent views of the town and Lake Wakitipu.
The fun part is the Lodge rides; you get into a small cart and ride down the mountain, super fun ;D
Day four: we went to the Remarkable to ski, had a wonderful time.
Day five: we loved the Gondola and Luge so we went again.
We have tried a couple of restaurants that were really delicious, “Fregburger” and”Pj’s” fish and chips are a must try. We also loved Cookie Time shop, they offer fresh hot cookies with a glass of milk, a nice yummy treat.
Unfortunately, the week we were there had bad weather it kept raining most of the time, and a lot of the tours need clear weather like helicopter rides, air balloon ride , and flight tour above the milford sounds that I really wanted to go to but unfortunately couldn’t due to the rain.
Queenstown has great to offer, for fans of nature, thrilling activities they can never get bored.
I would have loved to do as the travel guide suggested, taking a trip through the towns of New Zealand south island, but the time frame we had was tight with Ramadan approaching and kids school holidays.
We went in July which is the snow season, although I would highly recommend a visit in a suitable weather, from February to April and from October-December. Try to avoid Australian school holidays to get better rates and it becomes less crowded.
I wish I could visit NZ again,it is a very peaceful, friendly and beautiful country.
