Roadtrip to Queenstown (round trip in 3 days)

On Thursday morning, we set off early. We had ordered a Jucy rental car at the airport for eight o'clock. We were both looking forward to a great trip and hopefully a successful Campervan deal in Queenstown. We started again in shorts and t-shirts in bright sunshine.

A new experience awaited both of us. Having our first rented car and driving on the left side of the road in New Zealand for the first time. That's why we were both slightly nervous but full of anticipation.

The pick-up of the rental car went smoothly. Due to a slightly longer waiting time and the fact that our booked rental car was not available, we got the pleasure of an upgrade and ended up with a Fiat Pinto instead of a 20-year-old junk car;). With the Fiat and all our luggage (we had checked out of the hostel), we went on a six-hour drive, passing by some great spots. Our route initially led down the coast on State Highway 1 for about an hour until we turned inland, where the nature and surroundings finally became more exciting. At this point, we had already become accustomed to driving on the left side of the road and both of us had become very relaxed. We both quickly adapted to driving on the left and were surprised that it felt almost normal after just half an hour.

Our scenic route took us past Lake Tekapo. There we made our first major stop and enjoyed the view and the fantastic panorama of mountains and nature. We continued on to Lake Pukaki with a wonderful view of the snow-covered peaks of New Zealand's highest mountain, Mount Cook, at a height of 3724m. State Highway 8 then took us further through the fantastic mountains and nature of the Mackenzie District, which also includes the aforementioned Mount Cook. Along the way, the road was sometimes steep and would have been classified as a country road at most in Germany. In New Zealand, however, it was a state highway (the largest type of road here). But thanks to the maximum speed limit of 100km/h in New Zealand, this was not a problem. We finally reached the wonderfully located small but bustling town of Queenstown at around 5 o'clock after a 7 ½ hour drive (including a break).

In Queenstown, we first visited and test drove the campervan. After the initial inspection and test drive, we were both not completely convinced and wanted to have more time and not have to leave again the next morning at eight o'clock. So we extended the rental car for one more day and also rebooked the hostel. In the evening, we enjoyed the best burger in the world at the world-famous Fergburger in New Zealand.

The first night in the hostel was absolutely fine and so on the second day, we took another look at the campervan. In the morning, there was a workshop check. We used this time to visit the old gold mining village of Arrowtown.

In the afternoon, we were ready to buy the campervan. After a few negotiations, we bought the campervan for 4000NZD (equivalent to about 2300€) in the end. Both of us were aware that we would have to make a few repairs to the campervan in the near future, but it was not urgent and was already taken into account during our price negotiations. On the same day, we registered the campervan in our name and the keys passed from the seller to us. We were now the owners of our first car, a 1999 Mitsubishi L300 in burgundy. A strange feeling. To have your first car on the other side of the world. Well, another dream had come true. In the evening, we had some time to walk through the city, but for dinner, we were invited by my former host family from the student exchange program 2 ½ years ago. They happened to be in Queenstown as well, as the Queenstown Marathon was taking place the next day. We had a great evening but went to bed in good time as we had to start early the next day.

After the early start on the third day in Queenstown, we had a six-hour journey back to Christchurch ahead of us. The rental car had to be returned at half past five. The six-hour drive turned out to be quite exhausting as we both had to drive separate cars and didn't really have time for many stops. In any case, we arrived at the rental car station in Christchurch at half past five, thanks to almost empty tanks and completely empty stomachs. After returning the rental car, we did some shopping and then both fell into bed. A long journey with many different new experiences was over, but we were both thrilled with our road trip. A recommendation for anyone coming to New Zealand.

In the next post, I will tell you what happened in Christchurch and the crazy experiences we had with our newly acquired group member in the first few days (and yes, there were some intentional but also unintentional experiences).

Little teaser: There is already another road trip waiting for us/you right after that. We are heading from Christchurch further south to Dunedin. But more on that later.

Until then,

Your Luca