Stop No. 8: Queenstown

'All roads lead to Queenstown' our bus driver kept saying on the South Island tour. The town of about 12,000 inhabitants is the southernmost point of our trip in New Zealand and also the most beautiful city in this country for me. Queenstown is located on Lake Wakatipu and the New Zealand Alps, which gives the city a beautiful panorama. We stayed here for three nights to relax a bit, reorganize our luggage, and especially do some laundry ;) Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very nice when we arrived in the afternoon, so we had to bundle up. Nevertheless, we had a relaxed day and afterwards we all went out for pizza together, because you can find all kinds of restaurants and cafes in Queenstown - there is something for everyone!

The blue sky is starting to come out :)

On the first day, Miral went bungee jumping and I decided to go on a hike with Benita, a friend from the bus, to Queenstown Hill in the good weather. This hike was one of the most strenuous of my time in New Zealand, but after a good hour and a half and over 1.5 km of steep ascent through the forest, we were rewarded with a breathtaking view of Lake Wakatipu and the Alps!

On the second day, Benita and I went to Milford Sound, a fjord that is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site and was formed by glacier movement in the last "Ice Age". It is about 2-3 hours away from Queenstown, so we had to leave very early with the bus. Unfortunately, the weather got much worse again and we had rain showers and cold wind all day, so the visibility was also extremely limited. Even when we arrived by bus and boarded the ship that took us across the 14 km long body of water, it was almost raining exclusively and we could only see the glaciers and waterfalls from very close up. I was a little disappointed with the tour due to the weather conditions, which of course we couldn't predict exactly when we booked it, as I knew the beautiful pictures from the other backpackers who visited the fjord in sunny weather. Nevertheless, it was also impressive to see so much snow since I missed winter in Germany ;)

Well bundled up ;)