A day around Queenstown, NZ
And with an early morning flight on Air New Zealand from Auckland to Queenstown, our trip really got started. Flying domestic in New Zealand was like the old pre-9/11 days of flying in the US. Security was fast and easy, although there is a pretty strict limitation on cabin baggage, which cannot exceed 7kg, which required us to check our backpacks that we would normally carry on, but that makes security and boarding quicker.
The Queenstown airport was pretty small and it was easy to find the shuttle to pick up our Jucy Campervan. Jucy has a Queenstown location, which not all campervan rental companies have and the office was pretty small compared to the Auckland location where we dropped off two weeks later. Jucy vans are bright green and purple and impossible to miss.
Queenstown was bustling and crowded since it was not far off from New Year’s and many people were still on summer vacation, so we opted to head away from Queenstown for a bit to get used to driving the van ON THE LEFT.
Driving to the east, along the pretty Kawarau River, we arrived in Cromwell and found some very big fruit. If you didn’t already guess, it’s a fruit growing region.
We didn’t want to drive too far that first day in the van, so after Cromwell we turned around and headed back towards Queenstown. There were many wineries along the way in the Gibbston Valley, and we found the perfect spot to stop that met all our needs (wine and beer and open tables). Cargo Cellar Door is a brewery that also features tasting flights from several nearby wineries.
The wine was very nice and the scenery fabulous.
Our last activity for the day was a soak at Onsen Hot Pools, which was highly recommended and I agree, it’s a great way to end the day. I did book this way in advance. You get a private hot pool with a great view and a snack and a drink.
And with that, the day was nearly over, and we still hadn’t been to downtown Queenstown, so we braved the crowds and found a place to park and ate some take-away Indian Food while sitting along the lakeshore.
After we ate, we headed to our Holiday Park. Driftaway Queenstown was brand new in spring 2022, and it really was the creme de la creme of campgrounds in New Zealand. Perhaps we got a bit spoiled with our first experience, but there were multitudes of free showers and a huge kitchen with cooking tools available to use.
There was a great view over the lake and we watched the sunset. At 11pm, there was still light in the sky and we finally just had to go to sleep.
