2 days in Queenstown and an ice bar

On Thursday, after 2 nights at the free campground in Lumsden, we arrived in Queenstown, the ultimate tourist town. Here you can spend your money on all kinds of adrenaline activities like bungee jumping, ziplining, and jet boating, or you can spend it in the many shops and restaurants. It's a bit of an adjustment to suddenly be surrounded by so many people and cars after traveling in the middle of nowhere for a while. Queenstown is not really big, with only 4,000 inhabitants, but it attracts a huge number of tourists, which makes the city feel overcrowded. However, it is definitely beautiful with its location on Lake Wakatipu, its lovely park, and its shopping malls.

One of the must-do things in Queenstown is trying the Fergburger that everyone talks about. The line there is always quite long, but luckily we didn't have to wait too long for the burger we tried on Thursday. It definitely tasted good, although I can't say it was the best burger I've ever had, as some claim.

On Friday, after strolling through the city in the morning, we went to the ice bar called 'Below Zero' in the afternoon. The bar was completely made of ice! (Except for the floor, which would be a bit dangerous). Running a bar at a constant temperature of -12 degrees to prevent the ice from melting is quite expensive, which is probably why the prices are so high. Even the glass we drank our cocktail from was made of ice! So, no need for ice cubes ;) It was definitely cool to see something like that, and the visit was worth it.

In the evening, we sat at the harbor promenade until 11 pm when a policewoman politely asked us to pour out our wine (which we had treated ourselves to, as it was the cheapest we could find) in front of her, as there is a liquor ban area from 10 pm onwards. We had already wondered why drinking was allowed there, as in other cities in New Zealand, there are signs everywhere indicating alcohol-free zones. We spent the rest of the evening in a few bars, along with a group of other Germans who approached us on the street.

One of the few downsides of Queenstown is that everything is so expensive here. The cheapest hostel we could find (all the campgrounds were too far outside the city) cost us $26, which would be fine if we got something decent in return. But the hostel was small, unkempt, and the toilets and showers were really gross. It seemed like no one ever really took care of them. It's apparently just a side gig for the owners, as they actually run a motel on the property. Luckily, we only spent one night there, and yesterday we drove further up towards the east coast and stayed at a free campground.

The place itself was nice, located next to an old hotel ruin, but to get there, we had to cross a 6 km gravel road, which took us nearly 20 minutes. Fortunately, the car survived both the journey there and back.