Queenstown Skiing in August

Not that long ago but what feels like another lifetime, Justin and I took a long weekend ski trip to Queenstown.  We left very early Saturday morning and rented a car in Queenstown.  We checked into our hotel and then made it to the slopes a little after noon.  We skied the first day at Coronet Peak and bought a twilight pass which was good from 12 until 9 pm.  We had a great afternoon of skiing and enjoyed skiing on a new type of terrain with no trees to mark the trails.  The snow wasn't the best but that didn't stop us!    We took a snack break while the ski area prepared for night skiing by grooming the main trails and turning on the lights.  We were pretty exhausted by this time so we only made a few runs after dark and headed back to the hotel.  

View from the lift at Coronet Peak

Selfie on the lift

The next day we took a guided wine tasting tour with Funny French Cars.  It was a private tour, just Justin, me, and the guide.  We visited about 5 different wineries throughout the Central Otago region just outside of Queenstown.  We had lunch at Wild Earth Wines where we had a tasting plate with 5 items and a matching wine tasting with each.  The food and wine were both delicious!  We had dinner at our favorite pizza place in Queenstown, Winnies.  

J & L on the Funny French Car wine tour

The famous Queenstown shotover jet boat from above

On Sunday, we decided to try out the other ski field near Queenstown, the Remarkables.  We had an interesting drive straight up the mountain on a dirt road with our tiny engined, manual car.  We made it however and enjoyed a wonderful day on the slopes with perfect weather and nice snow!  We headed back to the hotel around 4 and picked up a hitch-hiker in the parking lot.  She was just a harmless ski bum/waitress but entertained us on the way back to town.  We had dinner at Coyote Grill followed by a mulled wine at a local wine bar.  On the way home to satisfy our sweet tooth, we stopped at the famous Fergbaker (part of Fergburger) and had the most amazing Boston Creme donut (seriously, I still dream about it).  

Lindsay at the Remarkables

Lindsay skiing through the snow tunnel

The next morning we had brunch in town, did a little shopping, visited a few lookouts over the lake and then headed to the airport.  It was a great trip to snowy Queenstown!

The Earnslaw from a lookout above Queenstown

Queenstown and the Earnslaw

The next day was a free day in Queenstown and Justin and I choose to take a sledging trip with Frogz.  You might remember we sledged before in Rotorua but this was a very different experience.  The river was a lot calmer and the run was shorter so we took it twice.  It was great to get the feel for the rapids on the first run and then really enjoy it on the second run.  Our guide was great and really made me feel safe (as safe as you can feel rafting over rapids on a small sled).  We even got to jump off a cliff into the river in the middle of our sledge adventure!  Since we paid for our sledge pictures in Rotorua, we opted not to spend the extra money on photos this time.  

While we were sledging, M&D took an off road adventure through the mountains near Queenstown and even panned for gold!

M&D on their own!

Panning for gold...sweet as!

Our dinner for the evening was another highlight of our trip!  We took a cruise on the TSS Earnslaw across the lake to a farm for dinner.  We had a multiple course feast including lamb overlooking the lake.  After dinner, we got to watch some of the sheep dogs in action.  The farmer had two dogs demonstrate herding techniques and explained that each dog has a unique style.  It was so cool to see how quickly the dogs could herd and how silly the sheep looked running in response.  Then we headed to the shearing shed for a sheep shearing demonstration.  The farmer explained that when you tip a sheep over to shear it, the sheep thinks it can't move and it just sticks its legs out and lets you shear it.  It was so funny!  After the demonstration, Mommy finally found the perfect sheep skin souvenir in the shop.  So basically we ate sheep, watched them get sheared, and then bought their skin!  Then we cruised back on the Earnslaw to Queenstown with a full scale sing-a-long! 

The TSS Earnslaw

The farm where we had dinner

After dinner in front of the Earnslaw

Sheep being herded

Silly sheep getting sheared

Haha...she thinks she can't move!

Sing-a-long....Linda, Eric, L&M

Milford Sound

We started out early the next morning for Milford Sound!  The drive in was gorgeous and we even got a mostly sunny day!  We stopped at the Mirror Lakes on the way in and drove Batman style through a rather scary, dark tunnel through the mountain.  We took a 2 hour cruise of the sound and saw some unbelievable sights including numerous waterfalls, New Zealand fur seals, and some rare Fiordland Crested Penguins.  Milford Sound was definitely a highlight of our South Island tour!  After the cruise, we headed back out of Fiordland and ended the day in Queenstown.  We spent the evening exploring the town with dinner at Winnie's Gourmet Pizza on the patio.  Although some of us may have been a little hot in Queenstown, we still managed to have some fun with the local seagulls and artwork!

Mirror Lakes....hard to capture on camera but they were pretty cool.

First view of Milford Sound

View of Milford Sound on the way out

Finally a couple shot with no one else in it!

My parents were not so lucky :)

New Zealand Fur Seal on the tip of the boulder

The captain drove the tip of the boat under this waterfall

Hard to see them but the Fiordland Crested Penguins are in the center of this photo playing

Hanging out in Queenstown

M&D in Queenstown

Sunset in Queenstown