For the fourth and fifth day of the tour, we get our two free-and-easy days, where we get to do as much or as little as we like. Since Queenstown is the ‘Adventure-Adrenalin capital of the world’, several options on offer includes bungy jumping, sky diving, jet boating, river boarding, white water rafting, helicopter rising, luging, canyon swinging, four wheel driving, hiking and lots lots more!!!
Since its our first time in Queenstown, obviously the first thing to do is to explore the central business district ...
… and the waterfront.
We also tried the Fergburger, one of the largest burger I ever had.
The other great thing about this place is you can have it anytime you like, whether for breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner, or supper. Its open 22 hours a day!!!
Since Queenstown and the surrounding areas are home to many of the stunning locations used in the filming of the Lord of The Rings trilogy, I joined the Paradise Found Safari tour after lunch to get a glimpse of those locations.
We were driven to several places that highlights the incredible locations used for filming the LOTR trilogy in Glenorchy, Routeburn Valley and Mt Aspiring National Park. We first started off at the edge of Lake Wakatipu looking back at Queenstown.
We then move on to Twelve Mile Delta for a short walk. The delta used to be famous for gold mining activities. The mountain ranges in the background was used as a backdrop for most of the scenes in LOTR.
After the short walk, we drove to a lookout by the name, Head of Lake Wakatipu.
Next stop, Paradise.
Paradise is a rural locality in the Otago region where sheep and cattle farming is carried out in the surrounding areas. There are not many tarred road and along our journey, there were only two houses. The area was renamed Paradise from Paradise Flat because of its beauty. I guess the best part of it was probably their addresses. Number 1, Paradise, New Zealand.
If you are a hardcore fan of LOTR, you may or may not be able to figure out the scenes filmed at the above locations. This is because most of the filming was done in national parks or private property and they were asked to removed all props and restored all the locations back to the original state after the filming.
As for me, a person who haven’t watched any of the LOTR movies, the short walks, snow-capped mountains, lakes, entertaining commentary and a free drink at the iconic Glenorchy pub was really great way to spend an evening.
After being blown away by all the awesome sceneries, I guess there’s nothing more relaxing than sitting in the spa for 15 minutes overlooking Lake Wakatipu!!
Later that night, all of us departed for Minus 5° bar, an ice bar with a totally unique experience.
Minus 5 Ice Bar
A total of 18 tonnes of ice have gone into the creation of this sub-zero vodka bar. Everything within the ice lounge is made entirely from ice; the walls that enclose you and the bar that served you the drinks, the seats that you sit on, …
… the amazing sculptures that surround you …
… and even the glasses that you sip their famous vodka-based cocktails from.
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