Holiday. Chapter 13. Finishing in style & sky high

This amazing vegan taco salad (with super mega extra guacamole of course!) from Mexicali Fresh down by the harbour, was a great way of being welcomed back  to Auckland after our flight from Queenstown. 

I cannot emphasise enough how grateful I am to have the Marsdens as my second family, I wish there was something I could give in return for all the things I've been treated to during these 2 weeks and not to mention how much Guys parents spoilt us on this last day. 

Because there was certainly a grand final to this holiday when we went up the Skytower for the first time since living in New Zealand. The Skytower is a must-do thing here but we never really thought we would do it, but thanks to Barry and Carole, we did it and it was the most stunning view. The view from Mount Eden got nothing compared to this..

We were also invited to a super fancy dinner up at the Skytower restaurant, which is on one of the top floors in the Skytower; Orbit 360. This is the first time I've been to a restaurant that spins around and that was the highlight for me and a childhood dream becoming reality ;)

Surprisingly enough they had one vegetarian option which was also vegan (!) - a moussaka. It was really nice, but come on the size of this thing for the prize you pay? Not cool. Also seems like you benefit from ordering meat here once those portions looked much bigger.. Hmm. 

But I'm not gonna complaint cause this was truly and amazing evening that I will never ever forget! 

I'm so happy to have been invited to this family holiday. Thank you so so so so much for everything Carole and Barry! You are the best!

Holiday. Chapter 12. Last moments in Queenstown

On one of the last days we had in Queenstown we jumped on a bus that took us around the 13th most dangerous road in the world. It was freaky sitting in this bus at times when it felt like if the driver didn't pay attention for one second, we would go over the cliff and fall down the high mountains we were driving through. 

But the driver kept us calm with a guided tour all through the journey until we arrived to the Shotover river where we would be sat in a shotover jet boat for 30 mins, going through narrow canyons in like 85 km/hour.

It was such a thrill! Almost like the banana boat ride in a way because it felt like we would drive straight in to a rock any second, I felt as if I was gonna fall off if I didn't hold on really tight and water was splashing up in my face during the whole ride. But oh.m.g - it was so much fun! I don't think 30 mins have gone so quickly before.

The driver of the jet boat stopped a few times, one of those times he stopped here and said that this is the location of a Lord of the Ring scene - can you see which one?

Not only was it a super exciting boat ride, but we also got to see such beatiful scenery along the way. And when we came back to the shore, this little cutie came running down the boat ❤️ 

On our last night in Queenstown we watched the sunset from one of the bars by the harbour. It was such a gorgeous moment, with street musicians around, happy people and Josh (Scotts and Guys friend from the UK) also joined us this lovely last night we all had together.

As a perfect ending of our stay here down south, we ended up at the amazing Indian restaurant Bombay Palace. The waitress that helped us with the orders is probably the best waitress I've ever met! She was so friendly and helpful, especially with helping us getting vegan food and making sure that we got exactly what we wanted.

The food was lush. So good that I think we all suffered a bit from food coma afterwards. But sometimes it is just worth it. Right?

Holiday. Chapter 11. The roadtrip to Milford Sound

Don't you just love when this happens in a random tiny town?

This little gem was found in the small town Te Anau where we stopped of on the roadtrip from Queenstown to Milford Sound, before entering the biggest national park in New Zealand; Fiordland National Park. We had a bowl of warm soup that was needed as it was so much colder here and not to mention further in the national park. I did not expect walking in snow when I chose to wear flip flops before we left Queenstown.. 

When we stopped of to take some photos of the beautiful surroundings here, our car got pretty much attacked by these cool Kea birds. Apparently they love rubber for some reason and perhaps thought that our car could meet their rubber needs.

Even though the drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound is long (about 3,5 hours!) it was really the journey that was the highlights of all this. The scenery on this road once you entered the national park is incredible!

We managed to catch the ferry taking us around the famous fiord Milford sound right on time. It was super cold on the boat, so I did find it hard to enjoy the beautiful view at times.. But that's my own fault for not wearing proper clothes!

It was a cool tour; the boat went under waterfalls a couple of times and we saw dolphins and seals playing in the water as well. The scenery here was almost to beatiful to be real.

Much alter when we were finally back in our Queenstown batch, we got spoiled with a home delivery from Hell (pizza with vegan cheese for crying out loud!) What better way to end an amazing day, eh?

Holiday. Chapter 10. Old school Arrowtown & great Queenstown heights

I feel spoilt waking up with this view every morning here in Q-town and I feel even more spoilt with all the nice food we've had during this holiday. The other day we made this vegan brunch with cheese toasts, warm lentil salad, oven baked potatoes, grilled tomatoes, cacon (carrot bacon), spinach & tomato salad and some strawberries. 

With a nice hearty brunch like that we decided to take a getaway from buzzing Queenstown, to one of the oldest towns in nz: Arrowtown. It's such a cute little town that reminded me of like Cockington village in Torquay, or a smal Gamla Stan in Stockholm. I love tjust walking around in small old school town like this! There were so many nice little cafes and pubs around and we strolled around for a bit before having some coffee and then with that little break we headed back to Queenstown again.

Back in busy Queeni, we had a second round of Fergburger. Still cannot belive how darned good these burgers are! I just have to go for a third round before leaving this town!

Thanks to our lovely house mate Tony (his b-day present for me!), we were able to a go up the Gondola (that goes up like 430 meters!) and also ride on the luge. 

The luge rides goes from the top of the mountain and it's almost like riding a real life Mario kart! Sooo much fun! People all ages did it as well which is cool. Such a thrill!

Queenstown sure has a lot to offer, there is definitely something you can do every day (at least if you feel like you can pay for it!), but it is a bit too busy for my liking. It's a small town with a big reputation, so no wonder there are so many people here. I'm happy to have seen it and we've had a great time so far, but I do prefer places like Wanaka. There are so many nice, similar towns, that you'll miss out on if you only go to Queenstown when in NZ (and I have loads of them left to explore!)

Holiday. Chapter 9. Bye camper life, helloooo Queenstown

The end of our happy camper life came pretty quick, even though I felt as if I hadn't slept in a proper bed for ages at the same time. Before reaching Queenstown we also went to Lake Tekapu - the most gorgeous lake I've ever seen, just next to New Zealand's highest mountain, Mount Cook (we actually we there before Wanaka but for some strange reason I forgot to mention or freedom camping night here!)

And then, finally, we made it to the adventure town and oh-so-well-known Queenstown. It felt like seeing a celebrity or something when we walked into the town center after all we've heard about this place long before living in New Zealand. 

I headed straight to the see the second celebrity of the day; Fergburger. This is said to be THE best burger place in the world. My hopes were pretty low though, rumours like these tend to build it up so much and then it's not a big deal. Like Burger Burger in Auckland which is meant to have the best burgers in the city, and it was not top notch at all - they don't even have vegan buns so you have to have a stupid lettuce wrap. And that falafel place in Paris which is known for the best falafel in the world and it wasn't exactly better than the amazing falafel you get from Jalla Jalla in Malmö.  

ANYWAY. My hopes were low, but ooooh dear did this super burger blow my mind. We went there at like 3:30pm which I think was a good time to go. The que wasn't too long and we "only" have to wait for 20 mins to get out burger (I've heard some people that have to wait for like 1-2 hours in total!). We shared a Holier than thou (tempured tofu with a satay, coconut and coriander sauce, lettuce, cucumber, tomato red onion and snowpea shots. Just had to ask them to remove the aioli to make it vegan!), half a burger was enough for me cause the burgers are massive! Apart from this one they have a falafel burger (Guy said it was the best burger he's ever had). 

So yes. Fergburger definitely deserves the title best burger place in the world.

Other than having the best burger in the world Queenstown has been very, very exciting so far. Because as I mentioned proudly in my last blog post; I crossed of the number 1 thing on my bucket list: Byngy jumping.

Me and Danni decided to do it spontaneously. One minute we where in the food shop talking about what to have for dinner, and the next thing I knew we were sitting on the bus, taking us to the Nevis Bungy Jump. 

I do think that was the best way to do it because I was absolutely terrified as I mentioned, but GOSH I'm so happy I actually managed to do this. 

The happiness afterwards is hard to put down in words. I'm also so happy that I could share it with Guy who had to pay 50 dollars just to come and watch me do it close up even though he is very scared of heights, so I know it was a big deal to come up in the cable car to the dangly platform. Thank you love!!!

After a 45 min bus ride back to Queenstown we went to the cool bar/restaurant World Bar to celebrate. They have so many good vegan options on their menu! Both startes and main courses. We cauliflower buffalo wings, polenta strips and fries and the polenta strips were my favourite - soooo good!

Queenstown has so far been so eventful that I feel exhausted every evening. So with that I say: GOOD NIGHT!