Jess Wanders Off

 

 

 Queenstown flowers

Happy New Year’s Eve!  Today was a beautiful day, bright and sunny and warm enough for a T-shirt, which was a nice change.  Today I was going to go to Glenorchy and do a horseback-riding trip, but everybody was booked solid.  Oops.  Guess I waited too long to make a reservation.  So instead I spent all day on my feet, hiking all the trails that loop behind Queenstown.  Okay, maybe not ALL of them, but a lot of them.

I started off doing the walk on the footpath on the lakefront between my hotel in Frankton and Queenstown’s city center, which took about 30-40 minutes.  I strolled once or twice around Queenstown, doing some window-shopping and grabbing a quick lunch at one of the cafes.  Then I headed back behind Queenstown on the Ben Lomond trail, which was HARD hard hard.  Steep and uphill most of the way.  Good exercise though right?  Now I know why it was labeled “High Fitness” on the DOC trail map.  Maybe it’ll burn off the calories I plan to drink tonight in celebration of New Year’s Eve.

Then again, maybe not.

 

View from the Fernhill Track

After I killed my muscles on the Ben Lomond I headed over to the Fernhill side of town and did the Fernhill track, which was a walk in the park compared to Ben Lomond and really quite scenic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Queenstown

 I didn’t do much today, mostly just lazed around my hotel room and then went for a walk around Queenstown.  This city is GORGEOUS.  The natural setting is spectacular; hopefully the pictures speak for themselves.  Queenstown’s situated on Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by mountain ranges including the Remarkables (an apt name).  Queenstown itself was so named because it’s “fit for a Queen” and I couldn’t agree more.  Really a majestic, incredibly beautiful place.

I did take the gondola ride up to the top of one local hill, and got beautiful bird’s-eye views of Queenstown, Frankton, and Fernhill.

Aerial view of Queenstown

 

Looking toward Fernhill

 

Another aerial shot

 

After wandering around the summit and having dinner up at the skyline cafe, I took the gondola back down and wandered around the town center some more.  I headed over to the Queenstown gardens, got some more pictures, and that was pretty much my day!

I hope you enjoy the photos of this incredible city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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