Day 8 began with the usual routine of getting ready to leave yet another hotel. I got up a little early, so I went to check out the other restaurants in Lake Tekapo village, to pick out a likely candidate for breakfast. The longest line was outside Doughboy's Bakery and Cafe. For such a small place, the assortment of pies and quiche's and assorted baked goods was mind-boggling. 
We settled on a few items, some coffee for me and a tea for W, and grabbed some sandwiches for the road. We took a stroll around the lake, but the weather was still not being cooperative enough to get our postcard style reflection picture (I know... next time). Then we climbed back in the car and got on the way to Queenstown. We just had to get out of the car for a few minutes a couple of times to stop and check out the scenery. This was one of the many times where I felt like stopping to snap pictures every 10 minutes, but we did get out for a stop at Lake Pukaki. We also made a brief stop in Omarama at the Wrinkly Rams. Alas, no wine at the wine bar for me while driving, but we did get a tasty cup of coffee and some cookies. We thought about staying for a sheep show, but there was this huge group of Japanese tourists there, and they were keeping the owners of the place so busy we couldn't get any real information.
After 3 hours of driving we found ourselves in Queenstown, and made another i-site stop. They found us a room, but threw us a curve ball when the nice young lady at the counter recommended going to Doubtful sound rather than the Milford. We rushed much of the earlier part of the trip with the thought that Milford sound was the one thing we absolutely had to do, so with a little skepticism I said yes, but had trouble turning off the worrying part of my brain. So, we got ourselves booked in a hotel, on the doubtful sound trip, and on a barbeque cruise on the TSS Earnslaw. We took off for another Gondola/Luge trip, where we got a great look at Queenstown and lake wakatipu. We even spent some time coordinating ourselves the best luging picture ever. After burning up all our luge rides it was time to find our hotel, and while we didn't end up with a perfect lake view, it really wasn't too bad for what we paid, and it was too cold to sit out on our porch anyway.
Once we got ourselves settled in, it was time to find some dinner. Our hotel, the Scenic Circle Arum Resort gave us a great book that had menu's for all the restaurants in town, which only seemed to make choosing one that much harder. We had a couple in mind as we walked downhill towards downtown. We settled on Guilty Bar after reviewing the full menu outside. We made a bet with ourselves that our waitress sounded Californian, and sure enough she was from not very far away from the bay area. Our meal was going great I had a really great ribeye, done perfectly with a tasty sauce and fries, and W had Clam chowder so good I forgot where we were for a moment and we had a tasty calamari starter. 
It took us an un-naturally long time to get our check, but other than that our meal was awesome. We went back to the hotel for another one of those nights with an early alarm clock call.
We settled on a few items, some coffee for me and a tea for W, and grabbed some sandwiches for the road. We took a stroll around the lake, but the weather was still not being cooperative enough to get our postcard style reflection picture (I know... next time). Then we climbed back in the car and got on the way to Queenstown. We just had to get out of the car for a few minutes a couple of times to stop and check out the scenery. This was one of the many times where I felt like stopping to snap pictures every 10 minutes, but we did get out for a stop at Lake Pukaki. We also made a brief stop in Omarama at the Wrinkly Rams. Alas, no wine at the wine bar for me while driving, but we did get a tasty cup of coffee and some cookies. We thought about staying for a sheep show, but there was this huge group of Japanese tourists there, and they were keeping the owners of the place so busy we couldn't get any real information.
After 3 hours of driving we found ourselves in Queenstown, and made another i-site stop. They found us a room, but threw us a curve ball when the nice young lady at the counter recommended going to Doubtful sound rather than the Milford. We rushed much of the earlier part of the trip with the thought that Milford sound was the one thing we absolutely had to do, so with a little skepticism I said yes, but had trouble turning off the worrying part of my brain. So, we got ourselves booked in a hotel, on the doubtful sound trip, and on a barbeque cruise on the TSS Earnslaw. We took off for another Gondola/Luge trip, where we got a great look at Queenstown and lake wakatipu. We even spent some time coordinating ourselves the best luging picture ever. After burning up all our luge rides it was time to find our hotel, and while we didn't end up with a perfect lake view, it really wasn't too bad for what we paid, and it was too cold to sit out on our porch anyway.
Once we got ourselves settled in, it was time to find some dinner. Our hotel, the Scenic Circle Arum Resort gave us a great book that had menu's for all the restaurants in town, which only seemed to make choosing one that much harder. We had a couple in mind as we walked downhill towards downtown. We settled on Guilty Bar after reviewing the full menu outside. We made a bet with ourselves that our waitress sounded Californian, and sure enough she was from not very far away from the bay area. Our meal was going great I had a really great ribeye, done perfectly with a tasty sauce and fries, and W had Clam chowder so good I forgot where we were for a moment and we had a tasty calamari starter. 
It took us an un-naturally long time to get our check, but other than that our meal was awesome. We went back to the hotel for another one of those nights with an early alarm clock call.
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