Queenstown where the bear dances and the wonderful Milford Sound

After a delicious scrambled egg breakfast (I love scrambled eggs and fried eggs 😛), we made our way to Queenstown, the next city we want to explore and from where we want to take our trip to Milford Sound.

The road continues through Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea, where the landscape continues to amaze us. We often stopped and got out to take photos and videos. Awesome!

We spent a little coffee break in Wanaka to plan the rest of the journey and book the trip to Milford Sound through Book me (a travel website for New Zealand). It's happening on Saturday 😛

Wanaka and the surrounding area will definitely be on our list if we come here again (and I think we will 😉). Not only is the landscape spectacular, there are also plenty of leisure activities and hiking trails. But for us, we're moving on to Queenstown.

We stopped at Kawarau River because there is the first bungee jumping facility and you can really watch people jump down. Quite amusing to watch, even if it's too expensive for us. If we're going to do it, it should be something that lasts longer than a few seconds falling 😂 for all the excitement and near-death experiences.

Arriving in Queenstown, it quickly became clear to us why everyone says that there's a lot going on here and it's the most action-packed city in New Zealand.

You can do bungee jumping, skydiving, ziplining, helicopter flying, and much more on every corner. So if you can't find anything here!

We took some time to orient ourselves, explore the area, got giant ice cream balls, and since the weather was so nice, we took on Queenstown Hill to stretch our legs a bit after the drive. The path should take 2 hours and you get a good overview of the city and the area. And according to the weather forecast, it should be "blue" - so easy!

If we had read better, we would have known that there was an almost 500m difference in altitude on the hour-long ascent, which can be quite sweaty in the blazing New Zealand sun, and with the parking meter in mind, we walked a bit faster 😂

But well - we like it a bit sweaty and it wasn't bad - just unexpected (I was expecting a kind of hill, a little walk).

Once we reached the top, we had a really awesome view of the city and the surroundings, including the "Remarkables," a gigantic mountain range.

We quickly walked back to secure a camping spot in the city, as we didn't want to drive in again every day and our tour to Milford Sound starts at 8:00 in the morning. It got quite interesting when we arrived 😂 Or chaotic...

When I asked at the check-in, the young guy (German) first told me that they have no idea whether there are any available spots or not.... we should just drive around, check, and if there's a spot available, park there and wait 😂

Well... let's give it a try, we're not really in the mood to search for and find a campsite. The spots are apparently reserved with little cones... well... we just parked and moved the cone somewhere else 😂 and it wasn't even a bad idea after talking to others around us, this is apparently how it works here, you just park and that's it...

For those looking for peace and quiet, luxury camping probably wouldn't be their thing, but we found it quite amusing here. It's a 15-minute walk to the city, and there are toilets, Wi-Fi, and showers included... all for $15 per person (about €9) - perfect! Daytime parking fees in the city would probably be more expensive, and the free campsites around the city have all been closed. And we even had a bit of idyll with a small stream and ducks.

Saturday was the day we were looking forward to with great expectations. The trip to Milford Sound.

After talking to other travelers or reading blogs, we decided to take a day trip from Queenstown. For one, it wasn't more expensive than if we had driven ourselves, and we also save time and can explore other places on the South Island. The drive would have been about 5 hours in normal driving time, and with stops, it would have been about 6-7 hours. The driver's job is supposed to be quite tiring and tedious, especially towards the end, and it's likely to rain.

We set off on Saturday morning in a very comfortable coach with a rather small group.

Our bus driver, a tall, slightly older, gray-haired man, took us to our destination with stops in Te Anau and several photo points, and we were pleasantly surprised by the entertainment 😂

He told us all sorts of stories about the Maoris, kiwis, landscapes, mountains, animal species, and birds, which we didn't expect in such quantity. We definitely feel a lot smarter now 😀 some things, like the thousands of traps for weasels in the national parks and the weasels and possums getting run over, now make sense. Both are considered pests here, and they are doing everything they can to get rid of them. But what remains funny in our heads is the story that possums kick kiwis out of their burrows during the day to sleep in them. Poor kiwi! That's why we saved one with a pink sweater, and it gets to sleep in Jason.

As soon as we reached the fjords, the weather changed abruptly - it was just warm and sunny, but there it was humid and rainy.

But the landscape is already showing itself on the way! Waterfalls are flowing down from all corners - awesome! There were also keas to see before a tunnel, sitting on cars and trying to steal things 😀

So, off we went on the boat that now takes us through the sound with several stops at waterfalls, sea lions, and also a short trip out to the sea.

There are only two permanent waterfalls here, and since it has been raining recently, we can observe and even "experience" many of them 😂

It's amazing what our Earth has to offer, and our thoughts are also with the Norway vacation of Corinna & Thomas and the photo book that will follow 😎😅

In the end, it's even more spectacular here when the weather is like what we experienced. Sunshine certainly makes everything appear even greener and creates picture-perfect photos, but seeing the masses of water here would not be possible and would probably have to be added with Photoshop (including the blue water that actually doesn't exist here but is often seen 😉)

A bit wet and cooled down, we made our way back to Queenstown, where almost everyone on the bus had to recover from all the impressions, and our coach had some cultural treasure for us. The movie about Burt Munro (played by Anthony Hopkins) who set a speed record with his motorcycle.

Ironically, we were on our way to the exact place where Burt Munro comes from 😂

When we arrived in Queenstown, we noticed a restaurant on the way back to Jason where there were already a lot of people queuing yesterday. After looking it up, it turns out to be the best burger place in New Zealand... well - we have to check that out for ourselves! My mom suspects that we will come home fat because we only eat burgers and fries 🍔🍟 it's so easy to cook them in the camper 😂

When we arrived, orders with the number 50x were ready, we ordered with the number 123, and when we were finished, the number was already over 160. It took 30 minutes between ordering and eating, and that was at 10 p.m. - I think the place is doing well.

And what can I say... yes, the burger is definitely very very very good! We're already very sad that we live so far away and there's no Fergburger at home. It will take a few days for us to get over it...

Today allowed us to sleep in, and we wanted to explore the city, stroll around, and relax.

Spontaneously, we booked a jet boat ride at 3 o'clock, which takes an hour on the Shotover River. The boats are supposed to go at 90 km/h, and we have to check if that's true. Since it's quite windy today, it can only be fun.

Equipped with only the essentials and the action cam, we set off in the back row for the ride with the 820 hp engine in the back. Thomas would like to have such an engine for his lawnmower 🤨

And we quickly became a) wet and b) laughing and screaming because it's really fun!

These boats gain quite a bit of speed, and the 360-degree spins are always the highlight of the ride. And all of this with crystal-clear, blue water and a backdrop of mountains! It's worth doing it when you can book it through Book me.

Now we're on our way to the Catlins and Southland (time to write it down) to collect many new impressions in the far south.