In April we were working on plans for our trip to Christchurch in May and talking about doing a big round-the-island trip while over the Strait – had to be done we decided. Then I got one of those Jetstar Friday emails highlighting “special deals”, so for a change I clicked through to check out flights and soon got excited. Wellington to Queenstown flights were down to just $39 each way, so for $160 return the Rock and I could fly to Queenstown instead of driving 1800km return from Wellington, 22 hours minimum driving time. After a little discussion it was decided; let’s book a week right now, it’s our 28th anniversary together so let’s celebrate.
We have plenty of friends to stay with between Queenstown, Invercargill and Te Anau, and after checking off-season deals for Maui rental motorhomes we got a Maui Ultima Plus campervan for under $300 per day – checking winter rental deals today I see that has dropped down to around $250 per day, a huge saving on summer prices. We would have hired a car anyway so having the campervan at this rate was fantastic, and by taking the $53 per day Liability Reduction option for that ‘just in case shite happens’ event we had a stress-free trip.
We flew into beautiful weather in Queenstown, and the flight was on time – a bonus with Jetstar! We walked to the Maui rental office along the road and after a bit of paperwork we were away in the nifty Mercedes Sprinter Maui Ultima Plus campervan three-berth camper van. We decided to go to Arrowtown first for a walk down the quaint main street and around the 1880s historic Chinese Settlement area. With the leaves still in autumn colours it was a colourful place. With gold prices as they are right now it was tempting to hire a pan and head to the river to look for gold, but instead we drove into Millbrook for a look, then headed into the centre of Queenstown for a walk around the waterfront and shops, before going out to the freedom camping spot at Lake Hayes
