Picture of the Day: Danger Chair

We came across some freshly painted tables at St. Omer's Park and I thought they would make a great motivational poster. Earlier, Jasmine had seen two little boys cautiously poking at one of them with sticks.

FERGBURGER

Even before we reached the South Island, Jasmine had been telling me about this famous burger joint in Queenstown that everyone says has some of the best burgers in the world. For me this is a rather incredible claim. Although I love my lamb burger, most of the burgers here in New Zealand don't quite stand up to what can be found in the greasy spoons back home.

So we stopped by the Ferg a couple times and tried a few different burgers. Here is our experience:

On the weekends, the first thing you notice about Fergburger is a little park across the street where you see a ton of people eating BUS's (Burgers of Unusual Size) out of unassuming brown paper bags. The second thing you notice is the crowd of people standing in front of the door.

We brought our camera on a second visit when things were less crowded

During the rush, it can be a little confusing because everyone who is milling about is either still pondering the menu or has already ordered. This can lead to people waiting in line behind people who aren't in line, but the staff does a good job managing the crowd by passing out water, handing out takeaway menus, and shuffling people along.

Once the customers get their orders, they make their way to the grassy patch across the street or wherever they are headed to next. For us, our next stop was St. Omer's Park, not far from where we parked.

 The Big Al

The Big Al is a half pound monstrosity. It contains two quarter pound patties of beef topped off with the standard cheese, lettuce and tomato you would expect; but wait, there's more: a thick side of bacon, two eggs, a few slices of beetroot, red onion, relish and aioli. All for about $15 USD.
 

Left: Yes, it's almost as big as my head. Right: On the last bite I thought to myself: "This must be how the Man vs. Food guy feels after he wins."

Fergburger w/Cheese

Jasmine had the standard house burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and aioli. She reported that it was very tasty and was up to the task of taking it down.

The next time we stopped by Fergburger, I decided I wasn't hungry enough for another Big Al so I went with a double Fergburger with cheese. Jasmine picked up the Cockadoodle Oink (pictured below). There were a few other interesting items such as: Holier than Thou, The Codfather, Chief Wiggum, Little Lambi, Sweet Bambi and a few others featured on the menu here.

On the whole we really enjoyed our fergburgers. As I would with anything else, I hesitate to declare it the best in the world. However, after being without a good burger for some time, I would be willing to agree that Fergburger has the best burgers south of the equator. ^_^

Our week in Queenstown - Part 2

As Queenstown is known for its adventure sports, it only made sense that we partake in some form of adrenaline-inducing activity while we were here. So for my birthday and our dating anniversary, we decided to take the Skyline Gondola up to Bob's Peak:

The steepest cable car lift in the Southern Hemisphere

Recommended by tourists and locals alike, this seemed like an easy choice.

From there, however, the opportunities were endless. They had everything from paragliding and zip-lining to mountain biking and bungy-jumping:

But in the end, we decided to go lugeing!

The Skyline luge is similar to go-karting except that it is gravity-fuelled. It is a lot like sledding (without the snow), but you have more control over your direction and your speed as you go downhill.

Andy getting a feel for the luge beforehand

So after we took the gondola up the hill, we explored the Skyline Complex for a bit before making our way up yet another hill to the start of our luge adventure.

The chairlift to the luge starting point

We had signed up for two rides each and there were two tracks to choose from: the scenic track (required for first-timers) and the advanced track.

About to start our first ride down after a quick lesson from the operator.

First up: The scenic track!

As we made our way down the hill along this track, we picked up speed as we rounded corners and zipped through tunnels.  It was a lot of fun, but scary at times! The only reason I say that is because it is similar to a thrill ride at an amusement park except that your safety is entirely in your own hands. Andy sped down the hill at lightning speed and I almost crashed a couple times trying to keep up with him!

So for our second luge ride, I went with the scenic track again (this time going at my own pace) while Andy took on the advanced track, which is far more challenging with sharper curves and bigger drops.

Check out his video below (warning: it is a bit shaky):

After our luge experience, we enjoyed the view from Bob's Peak one last time before making our way back down the gondola...

Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu

... No celebration in Queenstown would be complete without a trip to Fergburger!  Stay tuned...

Our week in Queenstown - Part 1

All we knew about Queenstown was that it was known as the "Adventure Capital of the World" and was the birthplace of commercial bungy jumping.  That was plenty enough to put this place at the top of our must-see list for this trip!

Bungy jumping, rafting, and skydiving all within one city block of Queenstown's main street (Shotover St.)

The first time Andy and I experienced Queenstown was on the way south from Wanaka to Milford Sound. This was a very brief visit as we had a lot of driving to do that day, but we were able to catch a quick glimpse of the city we had been looking forward to the most. I will share with you my first impression from my personal journal (excuse the bad grammar):

“I like Queenstown! It has a cool vibe. It's a small touristy town but there's a lot of people and a lot of activity going on...”

If you remember, this is a direct contrast to our initial reaction to Wanaka.

So after we finished exploring Fiordland National Park, we returned to this exciting town with plans to stay for a week and see what this place (and its surrounds) had to offer. We arrived on my birthday (the 8^th), which also happened to be our 7^th dating anniversary! Unfortunately, we were completely exhausted and still sore from the hike we had done just a few days earlier, and the cough I got from Wanaka had then developed into a full-blown cold. As a result, we spent the day at a campground just outside town, resting and taking it easy. Exploring and celebrating would have to wait...

The next day, we ventured into town to wander the streets and take in the sights. Let me just say, Queenstown has a lot going for it. The city itself is very centralized, so everything is walking distance once you hit main street. With that said, there is A LOT to see and do within a very small area. Shopping, restaurants, and bars abound. There is a mall, a few small parks, and a waterfront.

Check out some of our photos below:

St. Omer Park:

There were a few things that made Queenstown stand out amongst all the other towns we'd visited in New Zealand: 1.) there were a lot of people our age here, 2.) the city didn't shut down at 6PM, and 3.) they had mexican food and pho!  #3 alone gives Queenstown major bonus points, in my book.

Check back to see how we celebrated my birthday / our anniversary!

Picture of the Day: The Road to Queenstown

The Kingston Flyer

Back home we have the Kingston Ferry. Here they have the Kingston Flyer:

We were driving down the road headed for Queenstown and saw this steam powered train making ready to disembark. It was cool to see the coal smoke dissipate as the train picked up steam. We were able to watch the train leave the station and then drive past it to the next intersection to take more pictures as it passed by a second time:

Smithy Creek

After the hike, we decided to spend one last night in Fiordland National Park at a DoC campground called Smithy Creek. I took a pot to the river to get some water to boil and this is what I found:

An empty river! Just my luck.

This was strange because as I approached the river from the woods I could hear running water. A little perplexed I followed the riverbed north until I came across the end of the river:

At first I was worried that a flash flood might be on the way but upon further investigation it was clear that the little stream was continuing underground. Upriver there was a proper stream deep enough to fill my pot but at this spot the water slowed to a trickle and stopped. This set the stage for some rather interesting poses:

Fiordland National Park

Andy and I are actually back in Nelson already and back to work, but we are only halfway done reporting on our trip! Lots more to come!

After our Milford Sound cruise, Andy and I took our time driving back to Queenstown and spent several days exploring Fiordland National Park.

Note: There are a number of companies that provide transportation from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back. If you are short on time, this can be a pretty efficient way to see Milford and parts of the national park.

Here are a few pictures we took from several different viewing points on the Milford Road:

However, if you ever plan on visiting Milford Sound and time constraints are not an issue, I highly recommend driving there yourself. The reason for that being you miss a lot by going on a tour, including great walks like the one we did on Andy's birthday!

On the morning of Andy's birthday (March 5^th), we woke up to this amazing view of Lake Gunn, where we had camped the night:

The plan was to go on one of the “Great Walks” in Fiordland; either the Milford or the Routeburn Track. I later learned that the start of the Milford Track was only accessible by boat... so Routeburn it was!

Since the Routeburn Track normally takes 2-4 days to complete, we of course did not walk the entire distance.

The start of the Routeburn Track at the Divide

Instead, we decided to follow the track for about an hour before branching off and hiking the much shorter Alpine Key Summit Walk.

I could break this hike down into four sections:

1.) The first part of the hike was particularly intense. It was a fairly steep climb through a forested area with a lot of weaving back and forth as we made our way up the mountain. If I had to put this section of the hike on a scale from 1 to 10, I would rate it at a “5”.

Don't get me wrong- it was beautiful:

There were a few small waterfalls here and there, but visually, the pay-off was minimal... compared to what was to come.

2.) The second part of the hike was right after we took the turn-off to Key Summit. This was when we started to forget our aches and pains... because once we got above the treeline, this view offered a great distraction:

This part of the hike was still steep, but because of the view, I would rate this section a “7”.

3.) The ground levelled as we reached the third part of our hike: the start of the self-guided alpine nature walk.

It's hard to describe the beauty of this place. With all the places we'd been to, I felt like I'd run out of adjectives to do this place justice. Until Andy took this panoramic shot and proclaimed “glorious!” Thanks, hon!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

This part of the hike was relatively flat and the scenery was spectacular! I give it a solid “9”.

4.) What we didn't realize at the time was that there was a section 4. Most people who reached level 3 ooh'ed and ahh'ed over the scenery, took a dozen pictures, and started the descent back down the mountain. But Andy saw what looked like a path that disappeared into a heavily forested area and decided to venture in and see where it led...

So off we went, fighting our way through dense foliage. Several times, I questioned whether this path was even still in use and whether or not we should turn back. But after awhile, we finally broke out of the trees and found ourselves on top of a mountain!

Just like the hike we did down in the valley by Franz Josef, we had 360 degree panoramic views of breathtaking scenery. However, this time, instead of waterfalls and rock formations, we saw lakes and forested valleys, and rather than looking up at mountains, we were looking down at them.

It was unbelievable.

Yup, this section gets a “10”.

This hike was an unexpected highlight of our entire trip. We had a lot of fun this day!

We were also sore for a good five days afterwards...

Happy birthday, Andy!