Home»Photo Galleries»New Zealand»New Zealand 2013»Queenstown / Routeburn Track

Queenstown is located in one of the most stunning settings in New Zealand, surrounded by majestic mountains and nestled on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. Yet it is one of the busiest places in the country, hosting the equivalent of half the population of New Zealand in tourists every year, most of whom come to experience what is often billed as the "Adventure Capital of the World" (which means speedboats, bungee-jumping, water-skiing and other adrenalin-pumping activities). Needless to say, we didn’t find the crowds or the fast-paced activities to our liking, but fortunately it is easy to escape from the suffocating strangle of tourist-hype and experience the beauty of the surrounding countryside in relative peace.

To escape the crowds, we drove one-and-a-half hours along the shore of Lake Wakatipu past Glenorchy, a small village that is far removed from cosmopolitan Queenstown, to the start of the Routeburn track. The Routeburn is one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, 32 kilometers of trail through ice-carved valleys and beech forest, passing waterfalls and alpine lakes, with views of rugged mountains capped with snow. We weren’t equipped for overnight tramps, so we will have to wait until next time to walk the entire track. On this trip, we spent a gorgeous day meandering through beautiful beech forest and alongside the open grassed flats by the Route Burn stream. Our intention was to hike to Routeburn Falls, but the day was so beautiful and the flats were so inviting, that we made numerous side trips to the stream, meaning we only reached the Routeburn Flats hut. But the slow pace allowed us to more deeply experience the valley and take in the views of the surrounding mountains on an amazing day that was meant to be treasured rather than rushed.

While in Queenstown we also visited Arrowtown, a charming and quirky gold rush village nestled below the beautiful peaks that surround the sparkling Arrow River. The tree-lined avenue of former miner’s cottages now house shops, galleries, bars, and restaurants. There is also a very interesting Chinese miners’ settlement that has been preserved as an outdoor museum that tells the story of these brave and resilient men who journeyed so far from home in search of work. We hiked a loop trail consisting of Bush Creek Trail, Sawpit Gully, and Arrow River Trail, with a side climb to the top of German Hill, which offered sweeping vistas toward Queenstown and the Remarkables mountain range.