Remarkable Queenstown

Queenstown was the highlight of our trip thus far-- and definitely the winning city for New Zealand! Our 3 nights in Queenstown were a blast. Our hotel sat on the banks of Lake Wakatipu overlooking the Remarkables mountains and was a 5* place in our minds. Our balcony was the size of my college dorm room, the bathroom was very modern with floor to ceiling glass, heated towel racks, & jacuzzi. Furniture was just our style and the bed was almost as good as back home!
We dined at Winnie's our first night and also discovered the best ice cream yet at Patagonia's. We just LOVED the banana split gelato there. I think we went back 2 or 3 times!

Queenstown, the Remarkables, and Lake Wakatipu

We really loved the downtown area. A bit more touristy than the other cities, but a really fun atmosphere. We spent a lot of time on The Mall, the waterfront, and on Beach St. It seems like this city could be the type that never sleeps albeit on a much smaller scale than New York or Vegas though! We ate dinner at a popular locals place called Pub on the Wharf; the food wasn't spectacular, but the location was pretty nice! Our favorite Queenstown dinner was on our last night at Captains- a steak and seafood restaurant on The Mall recommended to us by our hotel. I had a bacon-wrapped filet mignon and Dave had a sirloin both topped with really good garlic butter. Hmm, my mouth waters just remembering how juicy they were!

Skyline Luge!

Eating wasn't all we did in Queenstown, though. We took in the 360 degree views of the city, lake, and mountains from the top of Bob's Peak. We took the Skyline Gondola to the top and had fantastic weather for clear panoramic shots. My cousin, Abby, had recommended we take some luge rides at the top and this was one of our favorite activities in Queenstown! We did both tracks and had a blast with the sharp banked curves and dippers. Plus, the view was amazing! We could've done the luge all day!

Taking the chair lift up for another luge ride

While at the top, we saw tons of bungy-jumpers and paragliders. We were seriously tempted to try it, but we just couldn't stomach the $400 price tag. We did one other adrenaline rush activity though-- the Shotover Jet. I'll do a separate post on this one because it was just so fun!

We're a remarkable couple, huh?

Towards the end of our time in Queenstown, our credit card starting getting denied. We were a bit worried why this would happen when we had pre-warned the company we'd be overseas. Our hotel found us the number for calling collect and we were able to resolve it with Chase with only a $4 charge. With only $20 in cash left and no functioning credit/ATM card, we could've been in a world of hurt had we not got that fixed!