South Island Itinerary: Arrowtown and Queenstown

I only took a few photos in Arrowtown since I've been there before, but it was a little bit different having the snow on the mountain in the background. It's a cute little town, only a short drive from Queenstown, and we went through the museum there again. I was surprised by how much I had remembered from the last time - it's quite a good museum for the region.

Then we drove back to Queenstown and went on the touristy cable cars since we hadn't done them before. Definitely overpriced, but the views from the top overlooking Queenstown were amazing. It's just like the postcards! There's a Jelly Belly store up there and some jelly bean art on the walls which was fun. There was still some snow on the ground up there as well.

Handy guide to what you're looking at. 2,500 feet above sea level
and 1,496 feet above Queenstown

Crazy person bungy-jumping near the top

It's quite a steep ride up and down!

The view from our hotel in Queenstown was also quite beautiful. I definitely recommend getting a place with a view if you can find one. It was lovely in the morning with the sun rising and in the evening with pink skies and at night with the lights from the city.

 

Wellington: Zealandia and Cable Car Museum

The next day we spent hours at Zealandia, a wildlife reserve with an anti-predatory fence around it to enable birds and reptiles to flourish in a managed rainforest just outside of Wellington. We walked some of the trails, surrounded by birdsong and enjoying many sightings of birds, and even a tuatara lizard and some weta bugs. There was also an old mining cave with lots of weta on the walls -- we got out of there pretty fast!

Tui are black with white tufts under their beaks

shags (cormorants) on their nests with babies

Takahe

Takahe

Can you see the tuatara lizard? (hint: right in the center)

Saddlebacks (named for orange feathers on their back)

large eel

ferns are one of the national symbols

There used to be a reservoir until they discovered it was on the fault line.

This robin was hoping to snag some crumbs from our lunch.

weta bug

New Zealand's native pigeon

old mining cave

pine tree that looked really cool

sweet orange mushroom!

Next we went to the Cable Car Museum at the top of a big hill with great views of Wellington. We also rode it down and up, although it is enclosed and not as fun as the cable cars in San Francisco.