We wanted to stay in Queenstown a relatively long time as there are many trails nearby. Places were booking up, and the place we really wanted to stay wasn’t available the full time. We stayed a couple of days in Arrowtown, about half an hour away, and then moved to Arthurs Point, closer to Queenstown.
We tried the Queenstown hill, which is an easier trail that overlooks the town. About 420 meters elevation gain.
One day we headed back to Arrowtown to try the Sawpit Gully loop. It had been raining during the time we were in Arrowtown, so we didn’t hike it then. It was a nice mixture of river, stream, and scrub, with a climb to the top of the hill in the middle of the loop.
Deb took one day for an easier walk along the river South of Arthurs point, while I worked on taxes. Even in paradise certain things need to get done!
Ben Lomond
Tim took a day to try the Ben Lomond trail, starting from the Fernhill area. The trail goes through forests, and has parallel trails for bikers that can take the chairlift up, then bike back down to town. They looked like challenging trails for the casual biker. The trail eventually clears the forest, then goes through tussock grass until you eventually get to the rocky peak. The view is impressive, as one would expect from 1300 meters elevation gain. Lunch always tastes so good with such a view!
Tahr on the Moonlight Track
The Moonlight Track is another of our excursions. It more or less follows the river, but still has quite a bit of elevation gain with the ups and downs. We ran into our first Himalayan Tahr, a type of wild goat that was introduced into New Zealand for sport hunting, but is now considered a nuisance species. Still, was fun to watch them navigate the rock slopes, and call back and forth.
At the far end of the Moonlight Trail. It does continue, but this is as far as we went.
Queenstown is known for all sorts of interesting entertainment – skydiving, bungee jumping, Zorbing (sport of rolling downhill inside an orb, generally made of transparent plastic) and more. Across the river from us was one of these establishments, where you could take zip lines across the river canyon, bungee jump, or do a pendulum drop, where you drop straight down then swing out like a pendulum as you drop.
Mt Dewar
Twelve mile trail wasn’t as interesting as ones listed above. Or maybe we’re just getting spoiled! The view from mount Dewar trail was nice, although it was feeling like a long trek as the day got hotter.
