Saturday 21st January 2023
I woke up at 5.30am to Pete ordering room service. We’d been given a $30 per person credit, as a result of our flight being diverted because of a plane fault. However, we were unable to buy anything yesterday as the restaurant was closed and room service was unavailable as they were overwhelmed with people. So rather than waste this, Pete ordered a couple of mini bottles of wine (they didn’t do full size ones) and a few chocolate bars to take to Queenstown with us.
We needed to be at the airport by 7am, but the flight itself was short and uneventful and we arrived in Queenstown around 9.30am. We were picking up our hire car at 12 noon, but as we were already at the airport decided to go and see if we could collect it earlier. The Europcar queue was huge, but we eventually got to the front only to be told we’d need to come back around 11am. We had about an hour to kill and the airports not huge so our only sensible option seemed to be to buy a sausage roll. We didn’t have high expectations so were very pleasantly surprised by how delicious the sausage roll was!
We went back to the Europcar counter, and again the queue was huge. We eventually picked up the car at around 11.30am. We had no idea what car we were getting as we’d booked a relocation deal. Basically we have 48 hours to drive the car from Queenstown to Picton, the rental is just $1 a day, and we get a free tank of fuel. The car companies have a load of cars they want to relocate from Queenstown to Picton (as most people travel North to South), which is why they offer such fantastic deals. We ended up with a huge, practically new, Mitsubishi Outlander. It was a lovely vehicle!
Our first stop was Lake Wanaka, where we had a brief walk along the lakeside and admired the views. I’d have loved to have spent more time here, but unfortunately we’re on a tight schedule – the one disadvantage of the car relocation offer.
We then drove the short distance Lake Hawea, where again we had a brief stop to stretch our legs and admire the beautiful views.
Our final stop off was Fantail falls. It’s quite a short walk from the car park to the waterfall, but definitely worth doing. The water was so lovely and clear, so it was a very attractive waterfall.
By the time we reached Fox Glacier, it was around 5.30pm so we went for an early dinner at Betsey Jane eatery & bar. We ordered garlic bread and chorizo and cheese arancini to start, followed by a burger (with mash…. Pete liked the sound of mash so asked to substitute his chips for it!) and 5 spice pork belly noodles. The food was excellent, and we left feeling very full.
It was then just a short distance to Punga Grove in Franz Josef, where we were staying for the night. It’s been a long day and we’ve got an early start tomorrow, so it was good to get an early night.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 