A morning on the water today, with a cruise around Lake Wakatipu.

Before departing we went for a wander around the Queenstown Gardens.

The botanical gardens contained a variety of exotic and native trees and plants, along with a large pond. Added to this there were lawn bowls, skate boarding, BMX biking, skating, frisbee golf and ice skating/ice hockey. Basically anything you can think of, and more besides.

Then on to Lake Wakatipu, a long, thin, Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, that has views of nearby mountains including The Remarkables, Cecil Peak, Walter Peak and just above the town, Ben Lomond and Queenstown Hill.

Before boarding our boat we had a look next door at a heritage steamship, the twin screw coal fired steamer TSS Earnslaw that also operates on the lake, but at twice the price to our transport!

Although today wasn’t as warm and sunny as yesterday, it proved to be a perfect calm day on the lake and the captain encouraged us to take full advantage and capture the sights on film, as its rarely this clear and serene.

As today was a Monday and we are still to hit the Xmas holidays, our cruise boat was close to empty and we had nigh on a private tour with just a handful of other passengers.

This meant we got the personal treatment with time to talk to the crew and hear all about the history of Queenstown and the surrounding areas.

After the 2hr cruise had finished, Michelle decided to take a break and have a wander around the town centre whilst Andy went on the Queenstown Hill walk, just outside the town.

It took Andy only 45mins to walk up to the top. Once through the trees the views were brilliant. When you reach the top you can see right over the lake and down to the airport.

Within 75 mins or so, Andy had got up and more or less down, when he bumped into an Oxfordshire couple Dave & Lynne who we first met in Auckland on a walking tour a couple of weeks back.

Since then we have ‘bumped’ into them on 3 prior occasions. You really couldn’t plan it.

Once back in town we then met up with Earl, a friend from Invercargill who was on our SE Asia tour, and had kindly driven up to Queenstown for a meet up.

It was so good to see him and a great effort on his part given his 3hr drive from Invercargill.

We spent a couple of hours with Earl before we said our goodbyes and he drove on to a nearby holiday home.

It was then time to treat ourselves with one of Queenstown’s must visits.

A trip to Ferg burger. What started as a “hole in the wall” burger joint (their words, not ours) has now become a worldwide gastro-phenomenon. CNN has named it “the best burger joint on the planet” and Lonely Planet has even included it among the world’s “best and bizarre” burger experiences. The key to Fergburger’s success lies not only in thousands of instagram tags, but in a simple principle – offer the very best produce and hand-make everything fresh daily.

After an early dinner it was time to return to a bit of culture and a visit to one of the art works in Queenstown. Being a wealthy town there are numerous galleries and art works scattered around the centre, in all shapes and sizes.

With another busy day under our belts, we returned to our B&B to prepare for tomorrows drive to Te Anau, before our eventual visit to Milford Sounds and the Fiordland National Park on Wednesday.