So, week 2 of NZ travel:
Day 8: bus transport from Queenstown to Franz Josef
The whole day was devoted to traveling on a Intercity bus from Queenstown all the way to Franz Josef, passing through Arrowtown, Cromwell, Wanaka etc. en route, getting off whenever we could to stretch the legs and use toilets as need be.
We caught the bus from the Athol Street bus stop and we had to lug our two checked in baggage 3 streets over from the hotel. We ended up arriving an hour too early but it wasn’t too bad. There were droves of buses going to Milford Sound and our bus winded up at the end of the queue and I missed it at first expecting an Intercity bus rather than a Greater Sights one (I kinda knew they were the same parent company as well as Ritchies transport). We made a swap of buses at Wanaka and there was a lunch break stop at a Salmon Farm which cafe sold stuff we are not interested in. I think it was selling what looked like a rock-hard banana bread smaller than the length of my palm at $6. But I was prepared for that and we had the sweet pastry from the Asian grocer for lunch instead.
We arrived at around 4:30pm at which point we proceeded to check in at our accommodation.
Accommodation: Bella Vista Motel Franz Josef (2 nights stay)
It is clean albeit still a tiny bit smaller than a hotel but that is what one expects. If it was up to me I wouldn’t pick a motel at all but I scrolled down the list of pickup list for the bus back to Queenstown and all I could see were motels so I just picked the first one I saw on Booking.com that was on the list.
We did have to pay the night before due to early departure before reception opens. And originally I said I would pay by card since they got my card details already but then Mum was worried of too much left over NZ currency and I thought I would save on credit card surcharges. So we ended up paying in cash the night before we left. And in retrospect, that wasn’t smart because going through my bank statement later, booking.com or the motel still accidentally charged my card again afterwards and then transferred me back the equivalent in New Zealand dollars. Thus, they made me incur an overseas processing fee, not to mention loss on currency conversion. Ah well.
We had dinner at Alice May which was essentially two doors over from the motel. We had seafood chowder and the whitebait omelet entree (we didn’t like any of the mains listed). The seafood chowder was accidentally put in at the entree size instead of the main size but it turned out to be fortunate for us. I knew I wouldn’t like it because I’m used to having clear soup with liquid-like textures and even Mum didn’t like the chowder because the seafood inside was all stringy in texture. I think it had mussels, cut up prawn bits, maybe one or two other stuff that I couldn’t remember. The whitebait omelets were great though. This is also the only restaurant where we ended up ordering dessert- an apple & blackberry pie with crumble on top that we shared.
For those less picky about food, Alice May does offer the standard meat main dishes as well as burger & fries type mains. We are just more interested in seafood in general. Back when I perused their menu in March, they had the seafood basket but when I actually went there in April, that was changed to the whitebait omelet. I rate this as an acceptable dining experience overall for a small town.
Day 9: Lake Matheson nature tour
We had a fantastic- in fact, the best breakfast in NZ- breakfast at the Full of Beans cafe in Franz Josef. Mum had the pancakes with berry and cheese whereas I had the Belgian waffles with bacon and banana. They also each came with more fruit including one big orange slice, slices of apples and one kiwi fruit. I almost finished mine except for a tiny piece of waffle, one banana slice and the extra fruits. Mum had more left for pancakes but then she polished off most of the fruit. It was so filling that we skipped lunch for this day.
The Lake Matheson tour was the whole reason why we embarked on the detour to Franz Josef. The picture at the top was one of the photos we took on the day at the lake. And in order to not waste time since the tour was in the afternoon, we went on the Franz Josef Valley walk in the morning after we purchased more supermarket food for our return trip to Queenstown (bought 2 apple sticks for $4)- a 30 minute return trip. We managed to get there after asking directions from a French couple (the map became confusing as the walking trail was suppressed by a highway). To be honest I wasn’t sure whether we actually started on the trail or not. There was no sign advertising we were on the trail unlike another trail through the forest that we went past en route. I’m guessing its official start might be down this decline of gravelly path that we didn’t go down because I don’t walk well on such surfaces. At any rate, we took some pics of the glacial river which was very low in water level and then headed back to the town of Franz Josef. I think it was more like a 5-10 minute walk that we did.
We were picked up from the motel at 2:45pm and then our guide went MIA with the other two members for a bit. Apparently, the small tour company that runs a Lake Matheson tour daily offers a combo deal and the young couple who was in the Lake Matheson tour with us also took the glacial walk tour with the company in the morning so they had the same guide for the whole day (the company actually only has 2 guides, the lady that took us on the tour and the boss who came to pick us up, he kinda doubled as our guide for the interim as we waited for our lady guide and 2 tour mates).
For those who like walking and nature, this is definitely the tour for you. We went through a walking trail into the forest (where the guide got us searching for mushrooms with vibrant colours and explained about various trees and birds) that ended up in two or three places to take photos of the amazing Lake Matheson with reflections. The first point, Reflection Island, was hogged by a group of Mandarin speaking tourists with a non-professional guide who had to ask our guide which mountain was which before he could tell his group. But then we had better photos at the Jetty and nearing sunset, they all had a beautiful orange glow. It was certainly the most beautiful set of photos of lakes that we had taken.
We had dinner at the Blue Ice restaurant for pizza. It happened to be Friday night where they had special deals- a small pizza at $19.5 as opposed to the normal $21.5. We ordered a small Hawaiian (our usual) and 2 Coke coming up to $26. The Hawaiian was okay but more cheesy than we- or at least I- were used to.
Day 10: bus transport from Franz Josef back to Queenstown
This is another bus ride the reverse of day 8 but we were running slightly ahead of schedule so there were actually stops for photos. We took photos of Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea both but by this point, Mum had seen too much lakes and waters she could not distinguish between them. She thought Lakes Wakatipu, Wanaka, Hawea and even Milford Sound were the exact same lake!
We consumed the apple sticks for breakfast and lunch, sharing one stick for each meal.
After we got back to Queenstown, we already knew the way a little better. Still, it took asking locals to find the right direction to travel on Shotover Street to get to our accommodation.
Accommodation: JUCY Snooze Queenstown (2 stars hotel, 2 nights stay)
It’s clean but too damn cold with no heating and the constant fan at the bathroom that could not be turned off due to the need to maintain airflow. It didn’t help that much by us closing the bathroom door. I had to wear two turtlenecks to bed instead of one to combat the cold in addition to us throwing our down jackets atop the blanket. I did pick it only because it was close to the meeting point for the tour the next day but in actual fact, Crowne Plaza was not that much further away. It is less than $200- about $190 maybe- a night for a quite convenient location in the CBD. So it just depends on whether you can withstand the cold, pretty cramped spaces, the need to climb atop your bed (or maybe you don’t have to if you are substantially taller than 1.5m) and noise at 3am.
I was eager to try the Mrs Ferg gelato at this stage so we went. Mum got the double expresso and I ordered the New Zealand special hokey pokey. In reality, I couldn’t really taste the toffee bits, I felt mine was mostly plain vanilla but it was pretty good vanilla. The waffle cone was a bit thin but otherwise okay.
We rebooked FINZ to have dinner at. At first, I wanted to rebook Jervoise and try their king crab legs entree instead of the salmon. But then it was fully booked for up to two weeks so I went down the line to FINZ. Mum had our spaghetti dish again that she still thought of and I ordered garlic prawns and of course, we ordered half a dozen oysters to start with.
Day 11: Queenstown to Glenorchy/Paradise tour
I followed Google maps to try to get to the meeting point (this was the only tour without hotel pickup) and it turned out that I had walked too much. The meeting point was actually right across the street from JUCY Snooze. I didn’t realise it at first but I actually booked another tour with Altitude, with which we went to Milford Sound.
In retrospect, there was nothing in this tour for us after Lake Matheson. We took some pictures at a high place looking down but it felt like pictures we had already taken before. The only new additions were really pictures of us at the two signs saying Glenorchy and Paradise respectively. There was some explanation of which part of the LOTR movie was shot where but that’s not where my interest lies since I’ve only ever been a loyal fan of the book as opposed to the movies (I did think Peter Jackson did not degrade the book but I definitely preferred the book). But the tour guide did clear up the confusion I had regarding this historic Buckingham Street that was supposedly in Arrowtown that we missed the first time around.
We had breakfast at the Ferbaker because nothing else was open so early- two cold croissants which were not so tasty compared to when we had them at Mrs Ferg (but they are exactly the same except that a bakery obviously doesn’t offer reheating). The tour came with free morning tea (it was less sparse compared to the other morning teas which only included chocolate cookies- Mum had half a cheese stick that she shared with me and some sour kiwi but she liked kiwi. I had about the partial cheese stick and a whole ginger square which turned out to be too gingery; half would be just right- so we skipped lunch again. After the tour, we took a second trip to Arrowtown to use up the surplus we knew we still had in the Beecard. We had much better luck with photos this time and we walked further in. There was also less of a crowd going to Arrowtown in the afternoon as opposed to early morning. Then again, by fluke we visited Arrowtown on a Sunday on both occasions and we were at first expecting crowded streets again due to the Arrowtown Sunday market. But nope, not that many people. Besides more autumn photos, we also went further along Buckingham street to take pictures of historic buildings and signs that we missed on the first go- we just stopped at the entrance with the Lakes District Museum and a couple of restaurants the first time and I was personally thinking that they looked nothing like what I had seen on Google images. In actual fact, I described them as a cluttered jumble.
We visited Chocolate Patagonia a second time. Mum stuck to her coffee and I tried the dark chocolate and macadamia. Mine turned out to be just a bit too sweet for my taste but still yummy.
We had dinner at Public Kitchens and Bar along Steamer Wharf with no bookings. They had a sharing plate culture so we ordered oysters, squid and fries to share, all small plates. They were all quite good, especially the fries and a reasonable size- I was initially afraid that it would come as a massive pile. And the meal cost less than $90. Then again, the recommended number of small plates for 2 was 4 and we only ordered 3 which suited our smaller appetite better.
Day 12: Detour to Wellington instead of Christchurch
Today we were supposed to land in Christchurch at 8am. Instead, we got detoured to Wellington due to fog so the whole day was spent in Wellington airport instead. That meant I missed out on the tram ride + punt combo I paid for via GetYourGuide. I didn’t purchase any travel insurance after seeing that successful settlements on average took 3 months and I tend to avoid inconvenience. That said, I only lost out on less than $140 AUD due to the flight detour.
We had an airport lunch of two almond croissants and a latte at $13.5. We had to wait until almost 3:30pm to board our plane. We caught a Super Shuttle ride straight from the airport to our accommodation and checked in just after 5pm and that was pretty much the end to our long day except for dinner.
Accommodation: Hotel Carlton Mill (3 stars hotel, 3 nights stay)
The room is actually quite spacious and in truth, I prefer it to Crowne Plaza Queenstown. It has the standard hotel sound-proofing and you only ever hear people from corridors and they have a house rule against noise. The only catch is that it is slightly further from CBD than other motels on Bealy Avenue but I think it’s the only hotel on that stretch of road. We walked past heaps while on that road and heading towards CBD. That said, it has some nice restaurants around for you to choose from. The only catch is if you might not get hotel pickup for selected tours.
We had dinner at the Spagalimis Pizzeria Restaurant in the CBD but less than 10 minutes away from our hotel- Google maps said 9 minutes but it felt like 6-7 minutes, basically a turn after the traffic lights and then 2 more blocks and then across the road. We ordered a small seafood pizza and 2 coke. The pizza was smaller than we were used to in Melbourne because it was overall thicker. But it was very tasty and had plenty of seafood atop- mussels, shrimps, squids and clams. And the seafood sauce was excellent. Mum actually got interested in a similar seafood pizza at our local pizza place now- it’s also genuinely Italian but instead of woodfired we only have a traditional oven there. Their Hawaiian has always been very tasty and juicy as long as it’s their long time staff cooking it- at one point they had some new staff in and the pizza quality went way down. The cost of the meal was only $27.
Day 13: Christchurch Akaroa tour
Another full day today. We had cookies that we got from the airlines for breakfast and then got picked up from the hotel to drive to Akaroa. The itinerary changed a little en route- we were supposed to board a 1pm cruise but instead got shifted to the 10:45am one. So first it was just a drive straight to Akaroa harbour to board the 2 hour cruise for spotting dolphins etc. We actually spotted a penguin, dolphins and seals all on this trip. Despite not being animal lovers, we snapped photos of all three. The penguin was quite hard but I managed to get it via zoom. As for the photo I actually snapped, the zooming needed to be just right, else it looked like I was snapping a photo of some obscure flotsam that happened to be black and white. But the best I could do under the circumstances.
We had lunch at the Bully Hayes that was inclusive of the tour. We had 5 or 6 mains to choose from and the choices included salmon and blue cod so it was sumptuous for an included lunch. We got 2 hours to explore Akaroa itself and we were done with photos way ahead.
We almost got mixed up with the meeting place- I only heard post office and the current post office for Akaroa was actually I-SITE and for a while Mum and I were sitting outside I-SITE. Luckily, I’ve had this niggly sensation at the back of my mind that the meeting place was supposed to be a landmark building of some sort so I raced back into I-SITE and asked about the other post office. That turned out to be the old post office building and was further ahead hugging the lake and about 5 minutes away. We got there without mishap ahead of time. And then we found we were missing 5 members out of a group of 11 in total including us. So we just drove around town and found all 5 outside the restaurant. Phew.
On the way back, we were able to snap the Akaroa photo. The only unhappy thing about today was that a lot of tiny insects were buzzing around and I ended up with 3 insect bites on each hand (not all acquired on this day, but before that, I think I had only 1 or 2).
We had dinner at the Athens Yacht club with a sharing culture for food. I was originally only going to order the tuna and fried calamari tentacles only. But then I saw the prawn cutlets and asked Mum whether she wanted the tuna or prawns. Mum decided she had a bigger appetite than usual and ordered all three. My fried calamari tentacles turned out to be too salty or perhaps it was because I ate about half in one go- I was less proficient with the knife and fork so Mum moved a large portion of the calamari onto my plate so that’s why I had to get rid of some to leave space for other food. Mum really liked the tuna dish, especially the pickled cucumber and the red fruit/seed things that she didn’t recognise that I now realised must have been tomatoes after Googling their menu again.
We became divided in our opinion on this meal. Mum thought it was good and I thought it was too salty.
Day 14: DIY Christchurch walk-around
On Day 12, I received an email from the activity provider of a Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo tour that I had booked in about pick up only from CBD locations and requiring me to walk to Crowne Plaza Christchurch on Columbo Street before the sun even rises. I was like, not doing that, so I canceled at Wellington airport and decided that we would do a DIY Christchurch walk around instead.
Upon consultation with the reception the day before, we went out of the hotel in the morning and walked along Park Terrace alongside the Avon River (that our forced cancelled punt ride goes along). It was a total leisurely mother-daughter stroll and we had heaps of opportunities to snap photos even amidst pedestrian and bike traffic. We turned into Worcestor Boulevard to snap pictures of old buildings (mostly Art Centres it seems) before we turned for pizza once again at Spagalimis’. I was going to order half-half but apparently that only came with a large pizza so we had the same order as our dinner before.
After lunch, we set out from the hotel once again for a trip to Rollinckin Gelato and even armed with a map, I missed 2 turnings. Mum almost gave up on going ahead multiple times because it was a cloudy day and she always got scared when it gets dark. But finally, we arrived at New Regent Street and had our single scoop cone. Mum couldn’t find a coffee flavour or a substitute so she ordered the one with colour mostly similar which contained cookies. My eyes latched onto the mango straight away. Mum didn’t like the gelato because it wasn’t creamy enough for her taste. I felt my mango was all right and the cone has a unique flavour of its own, not as thick and crunchy as Chocolate Patagonia but with a special sweet waffley taste.
For dinner, I reserved a table at the Gatherings but because it was a quite late booking, the earliest spot available was 7:45pm. We went a bit early but were ushered to a table straight away. The restaurant was very small and understaffed with only a single waitress so I think 3 out of 6 dishes were unavailable on the day. I had originally wanted to try the butterfish for the main which was apparently only found on NZ coast but it was unavailable so I ordered the flounder. We ordered oysters for starters, of course. The waitress almost gave us the wrong main- a dish that had an underlayer of cabbage that came with oysters. But she must have seen my blank confused face and realised she had brought the wrong order to the wrong table.
The flounder was okay but in texture it felt very similar to a pan fried fish we had in Hong Kong and China with the slightly hard texture. It was actually roasted with the bone inside but looked like a steamed fish when it was brought up. The bones presented no difficulty for us given our norm of consuming steamed fish with the bone intact. It was mostly prepared okay except that the chef must have broken the bitter bladder a little in preparation because part of the fish tasted bitter.
And that concluded our two weeks of travel in NZ. We had a great time and it was a semi-luxurious as opposed to budget trip actually. We essentially flew with Qantas and New Zealand Airways as opposed to any budget airlines. I did look into Jetstar at one stage but got fed up with how fast their tickets sold and how you cannot pick seats. It would have been about $100 AUD cheaper per person for a single flight. But we are not really going with a tight budget. For those curious, we still came out cheaper than if we were to join a 13 days tour group from Australia amounting to only 11 days of travel within NZ, 3 stars hotel accommodation and possibly budget food throughout. The difference would be about $600-700 AUD.
Moonlake's Fiction Space 