# A man, his wife and their toddler go to NZ...



## Fraser's BRB (8/9/16)

As per the topic, me, SWMBO and the threenager are going to the South Island of NZ for a few weeks. 

We're hiring a campervan and keeping plans relatively loose with the goal of seeing as much as possible in the time allotted. We have 3 days in Queenstown for a wedding and three days in Christchurch before we leave, other than that, cover territory, see the sights, consume the local produce.

To that end, brewery recommendations? 

I've been looking at this website http://www.beertourist.co.nz/index.html and it has heaps of options, but that's part of the problem, too many options not enough time. In and around Nelson alone there's about 10 different breweries, the mouth waters but the mind boggles at how we fit it all in.

So, if anyone has any personal experience at a brewery or craft pub of note it would be great to hear.


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## peteru (8/9/16)

I've been impressed with a number of Tuatara beers, so I'd probably want to visit them.

I also had a ParrotDog Imperial Red IPA in the last few days and would love to personally thank the brewery for such an excellent drop (and try it fresh!)

And of course the Garage Project has turned out some interesting stuff and it sounds like a place to visit.

I think all of those are either in or within driving distance of Wellington, which is at the sound end of the north island :-(


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## Fraser's BRB (8/9/16)

peteru said:


> I've been impressed with a number of Tuatara beers, so I'd probably want to visit them.
> 
> I also had a ParrotDog Imperial Red IPA in the last few days and would love to personally thank the brewery for such an excellent drop (and try it fresh!)
> 
> ...


Yep, Garage Project is one of my favourites and enjoy Tuatara also, but North Island. No good on this occasion.


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## Dave70 (9/9/16)

When you're done with stinky breweries, try and squeeze in Tai Poutini National Park on the west coast and check out Fox glacier, or a bit further along, book a day cruise on Milford sound. 
They're simply breathtaking. Better still, pack vans fridge with different flavored local beer and get your missus to drive whilst you kick back and take in the spectacular countryside. Pretty much my idea of road trip bliss is that.


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## good4whatAlesU (9/9/16)

Wanaka (bout 60ks?) from Queenstown has a little brewery might be worth a look. http://www.wanakabeerworks.co.nz/home

Dunedin is the go for Emerson's and Speights (both Lion breweries but still worth the effort, Dunedin is a good little town bit like a mini Melbourne). Speights in particular has a lot of history and an interesting tour (some beers that we can't get in Aussie). 

Monteiths over at Greymouth I've wanted to get across to but haven't made it yet, can't comment on that one. 

Have a great trip!


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## Fraser's BRB (9/9/16)

Dave70 said:


> When you're done with stinky breweries, try and squeeze in Tai Poutini National Park on the west coast and check out Fox glacier, or a bit further along, book a day cruise on Milford sound.
> They're simply breathtaking. Better still, pack vans fridge with different flavored local beer and get your missus to drive whilst you kick back and take in the spectacular countryside. Pretty much my idea of road trip bliss is that.


We'll be doing the west coast and Fox definitely, we'll give Milford Sound a miss as we've both done it before via helicopter from Queenstown and it's a long way out of the way by car.

Sadly, since I started brewing the missus has developed an appreciation for beer, so the road trip idea won't likely fly.


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## Fraser's BRB (9/9/16)

good4whatAlesU said:


> Wanaka (bout 60ks?) from Queenstown has a little brewery might be worth a look. http://www.wanakabeerworks.co.nz/home
> 
> Dunedin is the go for Emerson's and Speights (both Lion breweries but still worth the effort, Dunedin is a good little town bit like a mini Melbourne). Speights in particular has a lot of history and an interesting tour (some beers that we can't get in Aussie).
> 
> ...


We'll be driving through Wanaka, so that's a good tip. We'll also be around Greymouth, didn't realise Monteiths was over there, but I do enjoy their beers.

Dunedin was a bit of a question mark, might have to look into it.


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## Liam_snorkel (9/9/16)

I haven't been yet, but am planning a trip next year and have asked some mates for recommendations. I'll be following this thread with interest!

Steamer Basin in Dunedin does some interesting stuff, farmhouse styles etc:
http://www.steamerbasin.co.nz/

and Craftwork in Oamaru (between dunedin & christchurch) allegedly nail a bunch of Belgian styles:
http://www.craftworkbrewery.co.nz/


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## Brownsworthy (9/9/16)

If I remember correctly it was Wanaka Beerworks that were broken into a couple of years ago. The bloke who broke in was drunk and looking for more beers he cracked open one of their vessels which spilled 10000 litres of precious beer all over the brewery and he was found fast asleep still there in the morning.


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## Bridgey23 (9/9/16)

If your in Nelson do yourself a favour and drop into the free house for a couple. Probably the best pub I've been to. Great beer.
While down Queenstown way check out Arrowtown. Not far away. Good little pub called The Fork'n Tap. Try the Emersons porter on the hand pump. Delicious.
Monteiths in Greymouth worth a stop. Only a small batch brewery now as I think they moved main brewing operation to Auckland.


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## Fraser's BRB (9/9/16)

Brownsworthy said:


> If I remember correctly it was Wanaka Beerworks that were broken into a couple of years ago. The bloke who broke in was drunk and looking for more beers he cracked open one of their vessels which spilled 10000 litres of precious beer all over the brewery and he was found fast asleep still there in the morning.


Gold. That's right up there with the politician who got hit in the face with a dildo over there not long ago in cracking NZ stories.


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## Dave70 (9/9/16)

Liam_snorkel said:


> I haven't been yet, but am planning a trip next year and have asked some mates for recommendations. I'll be following this thread with interest!
> 
> Steamer Basin in Dunedin does some interesting stuff, farmhouse styles etc:
> http://www.steamerbasin.co.nz/


Christ, those seasonals alone would make flying over with Tigerair worth it. 
Almost.


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## Raturay (9/9/16)

My son went to Monteiths last year and he's still talking about it!


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## Fraser's BRB (9/9/16)

Liam_snorkel said:


> I haven't been yet, but am planning a trip next year and have asked some mates for recommendations. I'll be following this thread with interest!
> 
> Steamer Basin in Dunedin does some interesting stuff, farmhouse styles etc:
> http://www.steamerbasin.co.nz/
> ...


These excite me.


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## Rambo (9/9/16)

Currently on a road trip in nz myself. Only just started but I did pop into Monteith's for a quick beer and lunch yesterday. Had to be quick cause our train was delayed and we had to drive down to Franz Josef. Wish I could have stayed longer, nice establishment, good beer, and friendly staff. I had the velvet stout there which was great. Grabbed a few takeaways and an now drinking the imperial pilsner which I also recommend.


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## Rambo (9/9/16)

Just looking up Wanaka beer works for tomorrow... Seems like they are closed Saturdays... Strangest thing I've seen in a while.


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## peteru (9/9/16)

Rambo said:


> Just looking up Wanaka beer works for tomorrow... Seems like they are closed Saturdays... Strangest thing I've seen in a while.


Some religious orders dictate Saturday as a mandatory knock-off day.


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## Dan Pratt (9/9/16)

http://kererubrewing.co.nz

These beers are delicious.


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## jimmy86 (9/9/16)

I did the speights tour in Dunedin which I loved the history. Then try a pint of speights at the ale house next to the brewery fresh out of the tank. Good times!


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## mckenry (9/9/16)

Pm me so I see it tomorrow when I'm sober. Did the South Island in a camper van with two teenagers. Heaps of tips for you.


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## Reedy (9/9/16)

+1 for the Speights brewery tour


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## yum beer (9/9/16)

mckenry said:


> Pm me so I see it tomorrow when I'm sober. Did the South Island in a camper van with two teenagers. Heaps of tips for you.


Did two teenagers in a camper van in the South Island.
I too can give you some tips.


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## spog (10/9/16)

Speights Ale House for a bloody good feed and fresh beers, Dux de Lux in Christchurch and Queenstown.
As suggested before Milford Sound which is fantastic,Mackenzie lakes with Mount Cook in the back ground is speccy.
In Queenstown take the cable car ride to the top of the mount the views are well worth it,you do mini Bungey jumps in a chair ,para glide to the bottom or as I did have a go on the Luge, hadn't had so much fun in years and that was on the begginers run.
Wanaka war birds museum if your lucky they might be flying,I watch the P51 Mustang fire up and take off...fark me it sounded like a hundred Harley's roaring down the highway.
The Cardronna pub is in the area iirc, and the " pantie fence " for a laugh,if it's still there.


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## Fraser's BRB (10/9/16)

yum beer said:


> Did two teenagers in a camper van in the South Island.
> I too can give you some tips.


Whilst this sounds like a whole lot of fun, I can see a sticking point with the wife on this one...


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## spog (10/9/16)

The missus just told me the " fence " is actually the bra fence,it did have panties added but apparently they were removed because of complaints.


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## Fraser's BRB (10/9/16)

spog said:


> The missus just told me the " fence " is actually the bra fence,it did have panties added but apparently they were removed because of complaints.


Damn do-gooders. Some people have just got too much time on their hands. Good morning world, what can we be outraged about today?


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## Liam_snorkel (10/9/16)

It's still there


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## manticle (11/9/16)

Fraser's BRB said:


> Whilst this sounds like a whole lot of fun, I can see a sticking point with the wife on this one...


Also depending on which side of 8 the teen bit is attached might prove a sticking point with the law.


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## Rambo (12/9/16)

Just a warning for you. Seems they don't accept a driver's licence as ID in NZ, you need a passport. I'm 33 and have a full beard and just got refused purchase of a $10 bottle of Moa sour at the supermarket.


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## Fraser's BRB (12/9/16)

^ cheers, I'd heard this


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## spog (12/9/16)

Rambo said:


> Just a warning for you. Seems they don't accept a driver's licence as ID in NZ, you need a passport. I'm 33 and have a full beard and just got refused purchase of a $10 bottle of Moa sour at the supermarket.


Amazing ! Seems that common sense is lacking in the person who refused you service.


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## Liam_snorkel (12/9/16)

There may be some bearded youngsters in that town?


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## Rambo (14/9/16)

To be fair, as part of my job I photograph schoolboy Rugby teams and have come across some old looking 17 year olds (especially the Kiwis).

Back to beer in NZ. Just spent a few hours at a great bar in Christchurch. Called Atlas, near the boat wharf, on the Glenorchy side of town. Great staff, good food, and great beers... About 20 odd taps in total and a good arrangement, everything from Baltic Porter to pilsners. And a great view. There was a young goat there too, don't really know why.


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## Rambo (14/9/16)

Oops, must have had a few too many...I meant Queenstown.


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## good4whatAlesU (15/9/16)

I didn't go much on Queenstown, touristy and expensive. Get out of there as fast as possible. Wanaka is nice.


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## Rambo (15/9/16)

Agreed, had a much better time in Wanaka.


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## donald_trub (16/9/16)

Pomeroy's in Christchurch is a great pub. Ended up there a couple of times.

After doing a loop of the island and ending up in Nelson, the wife didn't want to move from there for a few days. So sunny and nice. The Free House is a brilliant pub and worth a couple of visits. Sprig and fern isn't bad either.

As for breweries, I didn't make it to many. Ended up in one in Invercargil (probably called Invercargil Brewing). They said they contract brewed all the yeastie boys beers, so I could pick up a couple of them from there, along with Invercargil's own beers. Nothing special but there's nothing else to do in town so it was good to pop in and pick up a couple of beers for the campervan.


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## donald_trub (16/9/16)

Just remembered Renaissance Brewing in Marlborough. Awesome lineup of their own beers there. The whole wine region is really worth your time.


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## yankinoz (16/9/16)

Wherever you go, buy a paddle. That way there's one the right size for the toddler.


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## spog (16/9/16)

Have a crack at the worlds steepest suburban street in Dunedin,can't remember it's name but fark me its steep.


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## Fraser's BRB (17/9/16)

5 days in and having a belter, just wish we had more time here. The Freehouse in Nelson had a great range. 

Been West coast the last few days, on to Wanaka tomorrow!


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## Fraser's BRB (17/9/16)

Double post


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## Fraser's BRB (4/10/16)

Back from the land of the long white cloud, many beers were consumed from many different breweries with, mostly, good results. I'll go into more detail later in the week and post some "what's in the glass" reviews as well.

Time in the camper was awesome, despite SWMBO's earlier doubts, she's now a convert and already talking about doing it all again in a few year's time.


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## technobabble66 (4/10/16)

Looking forward to the beer reviews!

What about the camper - details?

I thought we were going to get 2 other posters providing a plethora of camper tips also!
I'm not necessarily rushing into camper holidays, but it aroused my interest as a holiday option for the near future.


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## Fraser's BRB (4/10/16)

OK, camper review. As above, wife had her doubts going in but is now one of the converted. This was the first time either of us has done a campervan holiday and it was great.

We went with Britz. First tip, Maui, Britz, Mighty and (maybe) Jucy are all owned by the same company apparently. Don't go with Maui. They are the most expensive and I assume people get the impression that means they're better, but here's the tip: After a Maui van has done so many km or a certain period of time (not sure which) they are repainted as Britz vans and the price goes down considerably. Our van, and most of the Britz fleet, was a VW and you could see where they'd painted over the Maui markings, from what we saw, it was very similar to the newer Maui vans internally (the main difference being that most of the Maui fleet were built on a newer Mercedes chassis/engine). The only difference being it had 100,000km on the clock and was therefore a bit older. But without the km as an indication, you wouldn't know it. Fit out was near identical and there was certainly no difference in comfort or amenity that we could see.

With the three of us we went with a 4 birth "Explorer" http://www.britz.co.nz/campervans-nz/Pages/explorer-4-berth-campervan.aspx and it suited us fine. It was roomier than I expected and quite comfortable. That said, I wouldn't put 4 adults in it at once. The fridge worked well both with 240v hooked up and running on 12v. One tip here, don't store bottled beers on their side, I had 2 get sufficiently shaken up in transit to leak (however they were both ringpull so this may have been a factor). We didn't use the shower as we were in parks with shower blocks at least every second day and the toilet is strictly emergency use only as you're the one who has to empty it. That said, it's a capsule style, so it's not that big a deal, just pull the capsule and pour it down a designated dump station, give it a rinse and put it back in. Recommend getting "the bundle" package for an extra $10/day. Gives you snow chains, picnic table and chairs, kid's seat (if required), 1GB wifi, free linen exchange at their bases (Christchurch and Queenstown on South Island) and additional driver. Also recommend the express return pack ($249) as it means you take it back dirty, toilet full, waste water full, gas bottle and fuel empty and just hand over the keys and walk away. This price also covers the road user charge (they don't have tax on their diesel at the pump) which comes in about $60/1000km. We did a little over 2000km in 2 weeks so half the price of the express return was eaten up just by this charge, well worth it.

There was a diesel heater in the van that you can run when parked up and not plugged in, but we only needed it on one night and there was a fan heater supplied you could use on 240v. Cooking in the van was easy with a gas stove top and all necessary pans and utensils supplied. We did about half our cooking and eating in the van and the other half in park facilities. Dinner table was stow away under the bed when not in use and easy to set up and pack away.

If you're going, download the Rankers app on your phone and take the time and bandwidth to download the maps. It shows all the camping spots in the whole country with reviews for each so you can be informed before you go to an area about your camping options. There are a lot of "freecamp" options around the country which are areas you can camp at no cost but you must be in a self contained vehicle (which most, but not all, vans are). We did a mix of freecamping and parks. The advantage of parks is shower blocks, kitchens, wifi (although you can opt to purchase some wifi with the van) and 240v power (which recharges your house batteries and allows you to run the microwave, fan heater and other appliances such as phone chargers). Parks charge by the person, not by the vehicle, average overnight price for us was somewhere between $45 and $50 for a powered site. Most parks had pans, crockery and cutlery in their kitchens for general use which made life easy as you didn't need to get yours out of the van.

We had 2 minor issues with the van which were sorted quickly and mostly pain free. The hatch/vent above the top bed (above the cab) was leaking around the seal, we rang them (free call hotline) when we noticed it in the morning after some rain overnight, they asked us our plans for the day and we said we wanted to move on to another town some 280km away, they arranged a place for us to take the van on the way and it was fixed quickly with minimum hassle. I'd fully expected them to tell us to stay put for the day as we were in Nelson (major centre) at the time and were travelling to Hokitika that day (very small and remote west coast town). They had us get it fixed in Greymouth where we would have stopped for a break anyway. Second issue was the cradle for the Tomtom crapped out on the day we traveled to Queenstown and wasn't charging. Stopped in at their base in Queenstown and it was swapped out, no questions asked. We would have gone to the Queenstown base anyway to swap out our linen as we were a week in at this stage.

The only down side I can really say about the van is they are very thirsty. Fill a tank with about 70L and, depending on conditions, we were getting 450km at most and as low as 380km on one tank. This is probably not surprising given the size of the vehicle and the nature of the windy/steep roads over there (it wasn't much better on straight and flat), but it can catch you out as it nearly did for us when I had half a tank left leaving Haast and we coasted in to Wanaka on fumes. It drops very quickly when the (digital) gauge gets below halfway. Those who know this road will know you cross a mountain range on this trip, so that has a bearing, but I thought half a tank would cover it easily and was very nervous watching it drop on the way up (fuel stations are few and far between on this stretch).

Finally a tip on travel times. I knew it took longer to get around distances in NZ due to windy roads but didn't realise just how much longer. Pay very little attention to KM between towns in relation to how long you think it will take. One stretch of 100km (pretty much all highway) took us about 2.5 hours due to windy roads. The Tomtom was pretty spot on in this respect for estimating times and after a day or so I learnt to trust its predictions. Being used to the Bruce highway in QLD for most of my life, it came as a bit of a shock.

All in all, highly recommend it, will come back later with more info about where we went and what we did.


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## technobabble66 (4/10/16)

Wow. 
That's a fantastic review, FraserBRB - doing the clan proud!!
Great details. I'm feeling a bit more positive towards the camper idea - sounds like it worked out really well for the 3 of you. 

Thanks very much for taking the time to write it all out. 
Most appreciated!!


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## mckenry (4/10/16)

Arrgh, sorry man. Just saw this and realised I was supposed to give you some tips in a p.m. Glad to see you didnt need them  except maybe this one...... "Say no to the extras for $10/day" Because all the stuff is loaded in there ready for you to say yes. If you say No, they cant be bothered removing it and you get it anyway.... But (for anyone really wanting the extras) - may not work! - It did for us and another couple we met, who said no as well.
Glad you had a great time and looking forward to the reviews. Yep, its slow getting around....


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## Fraser's BRB (4/10/16)

mckenry said:


> Arrgh, sorry man. Just saw this and realised I was supposed to give you some tips in a p.m. Glad to see you didnt need them  except maybe this one...... "Say no to the extras for $10/day" Because all the stuff is loaded in there ready for you to say yes. If you say No, they cant be bothered removing it and you get it anyway.... But (for anyone really wanting the extras) - may not work! - It did for us and another couple we met, who said no as well.
> Glad you had a great time and looking forward to the reviews. Yep, its slow getting around....


All good.

In our case the van was not loaded with these things (they were loading them in as we were getting the vehicle run through) and we needed the wifi and kids seat. So it worked for us.


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## Fraser's BRB (4/10/16)

OK, on to where we went and what we did along with what we'd do differently next time.

Brief outline, the whole purpose of the trip was to attend a friend's wedding in Queenstown. We landed and departed from Christchurch. Landed NZ on 13 Sep, had to be in Queenstown for 18-20 Sep, returned van 27 Sep, departed NZ 30 Sep. This gave us 5 days prior to Queenstown and 7 days after in the van. We set out to travel no more than about 3.5 hours on any given day, mainly due to the young bloke and not pushing too hard.

Sep 13, landed in Christchurch, collected van, stayed in Amber Holiday Park Christchurch overnight. Due to the time difference, at best you're going to arrive shortly after lunch, we got in and cleared customs by about 3pm. By the time you collect the van, do all the requisite paperwork and hit a supermarket for basic supplies, there's really no point leaving Christchurch as it's late afternoon/early evening and you're likely to be fatigued from the early start, plane, luggage etc. Amber Holiday Park is close to the airport and has everything you'll need.

Sep 14, Christchurch to Kaikoura, 181km, 2hr 25min. Kaikoura is a very pretty coastal area, we stopped there for lunch and had a beer at the Craypot Cafe and Bar. From memory they had about 4 craft beer taps. Being a warm day I had the 3 Boys Brewing wheat beer. We travelled a further 13km or so north and free camped at a place called Meatworks. It was a beautiful spot with the beach on one side and the snow capped mountains on the other, highly recommended. Had some Stoke Amber ale to enjoy as the sun set.

Sep 15, Kaikoura to Nelson, 243km, 3hr 10min. Woke up early and hit the road straight away as I knew of a good breakfast spot just up the road. About 10km north of Meatworks is another free camping spot called Paparoa point. We didn't stay here the night before because it's quite small with limited spots, but we stopped here to have breakfast as you can view seals. We cooked breakfast in the van with seals lolling around on the rocks just outside our window. You can get quite close to them, just don't get between them and the sea as they can get aggressive. The point of getting to Nelson is it has many breweries in a small area. As it turns out we weren't going to have much time, however, the Free House is a chapel that's been converted into a craft pub and has about 20 taps of many of the local brews and is a good option if you're short on time. Be aware it doesn't open until 4pm. We walked into town from the park we staid at and got there at about 3.30pm thirsty and had to settle for a Speights at the pub next door while we waited for them to open. From the list below, I had the 4 Sherpas Brown, Storm Hopper APA, Powderday Pils, Gold Panner's Profit Lager, Coffee IPA and Black Ruby Imp Stout, Old House ESB and I few others I can't recall that aren't on the list.


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## Fraser's BRB (4/10/16)

At this point you can probably see our first mistake in that we were overly rushed in the first five days. We covered a lot of ground but didn't get to stop and do some of the things we would have liked because of the time limitations. This came about from my desire to get to Nelson for the breweries which I didn't get to see anyway. In hindsight, we should have gone from Christchurch straight across to Greymouth via Arthur's Pass (which I'm told is spectacular) and take two days off our travel time. Live and learn.

Sep 16, Nelson to Hokitika, 325km, 4hr 15min. This was a rainy day so we decided to do a long drive to shorten up the following days. Very windy drive through ever changing scenery. Would have liked to do the Monteith's Brewery in Greymouth on the way through, but as per previous post, had to stop for van repairs which left little time to get to Hokitika in daylight. Stayed at Shining Star Beachfront Accom, cool little park with a small menagerie of animals to entertain the young ones and a free glow worm experience over the road. Consoled myself at missing Monteith's Brewery with some Monteith's Dark Ale, very nice.

Sep 17, Hokitika to Haast, 278km, 3hr 30min. Weather cleared this day and we headed down the west coast. Originally had planned to stay at the glaciers, Franz Josef or Fox, but decided to push on to Haast, shortening up the trip in to Queenstown. Stopped at Fox Glacier, sadly the walking trails were closed that day due to rockfalls and we weren't forking out for a helicopter as we'd both done that before. There's a decent lookout though that gives you a view of the glacier and Mt Cook behind it. There's nothing in Haast except a van park and a very good tourist information centre. It's all about fishing and wilderness experiences in this remote area which we didn't have time or money to experience. There are, however, some mutant breeds of sandfly that I'm still scratching at the bites 2 and half weeks later. Bought repellent, too late.

Sep 18, Haast to Queenstown, 207km, 2hr 45min. This is the drive where I thought I was going to run out of diesel going over the Haast pass. Tip, leave Haast with a full tank, half a tank is dicey as the next fuel is at the top of the range and it's a big climb. The climb up the Haast pass is spectacular and when you get to the top around Makarora it levels out and feels like Lord of the Rings country (several scenes were filmed in this area). The drive then to Wanaka runs between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea and every time you turn a bend, you get a new postcard view, very pretty. We stopped at Wanaka and went to the National Toy and Transport museum. http://nttmuseumwanaka.co.nz/
This place is awesome. It's spread over several airport hangars and has a huge collection of old toys, cars, fire engines, boats, planes, motorbikes and military gear. They have jammed stuff in everywhere just to get it all in. It's well worth the price of admission and we spent 2.5hrs here but could have easily spent another 2hrs just wandering around the exhibits. Bonus, there's also the Wanaka Beer Works on site http://www.wanakabeerworks.co.nz/ .We had a tasting paddle each and took away a mixed 6 pack, favourites were the Brewski for a light refresher and Black Peak for more flavour. We then carried on to Queenstown, more on that in the next instalment.


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## earle (16/5/17)

Just booked a family trip to NZ for some skiing between Christchurch and Queenstown/Wanaka in August and thought I would come back and re-read your posts. Good reading so far. Were there any more instalments?


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## Fraser's BRB (25/7/17)

earle said:


> Just booked a family trip to NZ for some skiing between Christchurch and Queenstown/Wanaka in August and thought I would come back and re-read your posts. Good reading so far. Were there any more instalments?



Sorry, just saw this. I guess I got really busy and stopped the updates, seems so long ago now.

The short version, picking up from where I left of, is Queenstown really turned on the weather for us being beautifully sunny and warm during the days (I thought so anyway, the wife was still rugged up like a sherpa) and it really is the ultimate tourist town. That, of course, comes with tourist pricing, so we had to make some choices.

The luge on top of the mountain was awesome, my only regret, I only bought 3 rides each for us. Our young bloke, 3 at the time, sat between my wife's legs and loved it until I beat them down the hill. https://www.skyline.co.nz/en/queenstown/things-to-do/skyline-luge-queenstown/

Fergburger in Queenstown is a must do. Great hangover food, great after a day on the slopes, expect a line. http://www.fergburger.com/

If you're in to wine, obviously there's quite a lot of wineries in the area, but in downtown Queenstown there's a bar called The Winery where you can buy a huge selection of local and international wines by the glass. It's one of those swipe your card, pour a glass type of affairs. Can be pricey, but the wines were excellent. https://www.thewinery.co.nz/#choose-the-wines-you-taste

There's a supermarket just around the corner from the tourist park we staid at, Creeksyde (highly recommend) http://www.camp.co.nz/ that has an excellent assortment of NZ craft beer for sale with some daily specials that were very reasonable.

We enjoyed the steam ship across the lake and depending on your kids' ages, they may enjoy the farm tour that is an add on to the boat trip. Our young bloke loved it. https://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/explore/listing/tss-earnslaw-steamship-cruises-real-journeys

A cheap (free) option if you have a few hours to kill and the weather is nice is to go for a stroll around the gardens that verge on the lake and you can play frisby golf for free also.

That's pretty much it for Queenstown. We ended up spending 4 days there, we'd originally planned three but SWMBO drank too much at our friends' wedding and was in no state to travel the next day.

After Queenstown we drove through to Dunedin and spent a few days there (very cool town, Speights Brewery tour is a must), up the coast to Oamaru for an overnight (couple of breweries and a whisky distillery, Steampunk central) then a night on the peninsula to the south east of Christchurch prior to 3 nights in Christchurch before flying home. Happy to share more if you're interested in any of those locations.


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## Cerveja (31/7/17)

OT but heading to the North Island next April and thanks to your link in OP have found 8 Wired is 5 mins from where we will be staying. Win! Wife has suggested I can walk but I have 8 months to convince her otherwise . At 16% I think their RIS might see that as a tad impossible.


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