Southern Traverse Tour Day 3: Heading to Queenstown
Wednesday 1/9: Franz Joseph > Queenstown
We grabbed some food to go from the breakfast buffet before our 7:35am coach pick-up in preparation for a rather long day of travel south along Route 6 and east along Route 84. Luckily, we had several restroom stops along the way as well as two longer refreshment stops, the first at the Salmon Farm Tearooms near Paringa. We stopped briefly before crossing Haast Pass to switch drivers and had time for a stroll to the impressive Thunder Creek Falls for a photo op before continuing the journey. Our afternoon break was at Makaroa Country Cafe for lunch, and we had another pause a bit later at Jones Fruit Stand, where we purchased some fresh cherries, apricots, and yogurt cranberries to take with us for the next few days.
We arrived in Queenstown just past 5pm, which was a bit later than scheduled, but our [crabby] cabbie was still waiting for the short transfer from the coach stop up the hill to our hotel. We were a bit disappointed by the initial welcome, which was quite lacking in warmth and friendliness, so our first impressions of Queenstown weren't terribly positive. At least our room provided a lovely view of the harbour area and Lake Wakatipu. We unpacked and set off to find the guest laundry facilities. Once our first load was in the wash, we walked down the hill back to the city centre to get some wine and sparkling water and scout out some potential dinner spots. My stomach had been a bit upset all day, so I really wasn't in the mood to go out. Instead, I opted to stay in the room, finish the final load of laundry, go some blog updates, and order the side of seasonal veggies from room service. No extra charge for delivery! And quite a large portion of simple steamed broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Mr. E wandered back down the hill to find his dinner and then finished up the rest of the veggies once he got back to the hotel.
We grabbed some food to go from the breakfast buffet before our 7:35am coach pick-up in preparation for a rather long day of travel south along Route 6 and east along Route 84. Luckily, we had several restroom stops along the way as well as two longer refreshment stops, the first at the Salmon Farm Tearooms near Paringa. We stopped briefly before crossing Haast Pass to switch drivers and had time for a stroll to the impressive Thunder Creek Falls for a photo op before continuing the journey. Our afternoon break was at Makaroa Country Cafe for lunch, and we had another pause a bit later at Jones Fruit Stand, where we purchased some fresh cherries, apricots, and yogurt cranberries to take with us for the next few days.
We arrived in Queenstown just past 5pm, which was a bit later than scheduled, but our [crabby] cabbie was still waiting for the short transfer from the coach stop up the hill to our hotel. We were a bit disappointed by the initial welcome, which was quite lacking in warmth and friendliness, so our first impressions of Queenstown weren't terribly positive. At least our room provided a lovely view of the harbour area and Lake Wakatipu. We unpacked and set off to find the guest laundry facilities. Once our first load was in the wash, we walked down the hill back to the city centre to get some wine and sparkling water and scout out some potential dinner spots. My stomach had been a bit upset all day, so I really wasn't in the mood to go out. Instead, I opted to stay in the room, finish the final load of laundry, go some blog updates, and order the side of seasonal veggies from room service. No extra charge for delivery! And quite a large portion of simple steamed broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Mr. E wandered back down the hill to find his dinner and then finished up the rest of the veggies once he got back to the hotel.
posted by jms | 10:26 PM
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