Day 21.
In my drive towards Glenorchy I stop by the trek Bobs Cove, where there is a viewpoint 30min from the car park. It’s a fine short walk, but I don’t think the view is so special. I continue along the road to Glenorchy which is very hilly with great views – really recommendable to make this tour. In Glenorchy I park near the shore and go for short walk which was established in 2012 in celebration of 150 years from Europeans settlement at the Head of the Lake.
I drive back to Queenstown and go around the city center and harbor from where several tourist boats are leaving, either speed boats or for scenic cruises. There are many restaurants and places where one can buy all tickets for all the different action activities Queenstown and Milford Sounds can offer e.g. skydive, tours with airplanes or helicopters, bungy jumps in all kind of ways, zip lining, speed boats, river rafting etc. It’s for sure a very touristic place, but it’s nice for a few days. Especially the harbor area is nice with restaurants and green areas. I get a beer at the Sunroof pub while I plan the next days. Thinking about speed boat tomorrow followed by a trek up Ben Lomond (mountain close to the center of Queenstown). For the following day it could be fun to try white water rafting, since I have never tried such, and there should be a good river for such – the Shutover. There is rather good discounts on such tours on bookme.co.nz.
A young Danish couple parks next to me at the camping spot, and I meet a pair of Danish girls over dinner. The girls started their trip from Christchurch and are touring New Zealand clockwise, so we can exchange ideas for what to see. Today, they were out in Luge carts (no motor, but from the end station of the cable car and down). They also did a tandem (the two of them) in a bungy swing – heads down. Tomorrow, they have booked a skydive from the morning. I have a glass of red wine with the Danish guy and we end up discussing educations – he is about to pick which direction to study at the university next year. He’s thinking about Engineer (and I explain all the good things about such), but he seems very keen on theoretical physics and fusion energy – we can both agree that this also would be very cool.