Franz Josef to Queenstown

31 August 2016

We didn’t book our transportation from Franz Josef to Queenstown in advance since we wanted to be flexible in case the weather would require us to reschedule our glacier heli-hiking. Fortunately, although there was a cloud hanging over the glacier on the day of our hike, it went on as scheduled with good weather. When we knew that our hike was pushing through (30 minutes before our meet-up time), we immediately booked through Intercity for early the next day. There was only one bus leaving Franz Josef for Queenstown, which leaves at 8 AM and stops through Fox and Wanaka.

Franz Josef

It was a long but scenic ride. For an hour or two, part of the route didn’t have any network connection (mobile or wifi), which our driver warned us about. He knew exactly where the network is out of reach and at which point we could connect again. Like our driver from Greymouth to Franz Josef, he also gave us commentaries along the way. We also gave us 5-minute stops in Bruce Bay and Lake Hawea so we could take photographs of the beautiful scenery.

Bruce Bay

We changed bus drivers at Haast; our bus driver went back via another bus going to the direction of Franz Josef, while their bus driver when back to Queenstown by taking our bus. During that change,we also had a few minutes stop where we could hike for a few meters from the main road to see the Thunder Creek falls.

Thunder Creek Falls

The bus route also passed through the edge of the huge Lake Wanaka until we had a brief stop in Wanaka, an adorable small town. The original plan was for us to stay a day or two in Wanaka for skiing and/or snowboarding before proceeding to Queenstown but our priority was to skydive and take the Milford Sound cruise first (we figured we can ski and snowboard in our next trips). Our itinerary was also open to going back to Wanaka after Queenstown.

Lake Wanaka

After 8 hours on the bus, we finally arrived in Athol Street, Queenstown and we walked to The Black Sheep Backpackers hostel in Frankton Road. Queenstown was very touristy yet it was lovely and picturesque. You could see the snow-capped Remarkables at the city’s background and there was Lake Wakatipu at the edge of the city. After checking in, we decided to book our Milford Sound cruise and skydiving. There were several travel agencies around Queenstown which seemed to provide activities at almost the same rates. Since the wifi wasn’t consistent at the hostel, we booked with Peterpans Travel for Milford Sound on September 1 and skydiving on September 3. That left our pockets burning but our neurons excited.

Queue in Fergburger

We ended our day by joining the queue for some Fergburger. There were heaters outside the shop so it wasn’t so bad queueing outside in the cold weather. I’m not really a meat person (or a foodie) so I can’t don’t really know how to describe food except but it was good. Good night Queenstown!