New Year in Queenstown

The Parkroyal Queenstown is probably the best high-end hotel in Queenstown. The room rate was NZ$290. Hey, it’s New Years!

In a town where level, buildable land is a premium, the Parkroyal has a drive-up entrance. We could’ve driven our vans around and up the hill to the rear of the hotel where there’s a carpark on the roofs of the hotel’s sixth and seventh floors, but valet service was well worth the tip. What the hey, it’s New Years!

Upon greeting the front desk of an elegant lobby I asked for the Manager, with whom I had had email, fax, and phone conversations. The news of a turnover in the manager’s position was at first foreboding, but the hotel’s staff turned out to be both friendly and professional.

I had a fruit basket and welcome card in my room to greet me, a nice gesture. All of Parkroyal’s rooms have spacious, roofless balconies, but the views from the 1st, 2nd, and maybe 3rd floors might be disappointing, compared to the upper floors. Whichever floor you’re assigned, and even if you’re not staying at the Parkroyal, you must take the elevator to the 5th floor. When you step out, you are assaulted by arguably the best 180° panoramic view in all of Queenstown. My room was on the 5th, but it was a rear corner room. Not a great view, but I was more than content.

The 4th & 5th floors have the hotel’s extra facilities. Guest laundry machines are on both. The washers take NZ$2 coins; one dollar coins will last 30 minutes for the dryers. The front desk can provide a package of detergent for a dollar, too. The sauna is on the 4th. Both facilities are open from 7am to 10:30pm. Other hotel amenities include safety deposit boxes, ski lockers, a tour desk, and an Internet-connected computer.

The hotel serves a good breakfast buffet from 6am to 11:30am, your choice of full breakfast for NZ$24, or a continental selection for less. The hotel’s restaurant, Bentley’s Bar & Brasserie, serves dinner from 6pm-10pm; lunch starts at 2:30 to 4:00, depending on the season. When I walked in there around midday, it was mostly empty. I asked the tender of a cozy bar at the entrance whether or not she could make a cappuccino. Not only did she make a delicious one, it was gratis.

Another instance of the hotel’s generosity is the rate reduction I received. I’m not above begging, and to my request, the Reservation Supervisor was not able to change the room rate for New Year’s Eve, but she did lower our two additional nights to NZ$220.

For the room you get, that is a good rate. There’s the expected amenities: hair dryer, iron & board, extra pillows & blankets, in-house movies, etc. The refrigerator was well stocked. The instant tea and coffee selection was generous. I loved the terry bathrobes. But, the best amenity of all is in a refrigerator next to the ice machines: New Zealand’s milk. There’s no label regarding fat content, but it is so good that it validates New Zealand’s moniker: "Godzone".

Stanley Street descends steeply into Queenstown and halfway down is the narrow entryway to the A-Line Hotel. I missed it on the first pass and had to double back, which became a test of my unpracticed handbrake-n-clutchwork. The parking lot of the hotel was also small and pitched, difficult to maneuver in for our large vans.

We spent only one night on our first arrival in Queenstown, to familiarize ourselves with the lay of the town, to buy tickets or make reservations for the various activities we’d enjoy later, and to rest up before continuing further to Fiordland. A-Line’s room rate of NZ$120 made it a good choice.

The hotel has rooms in cute little alpine A-frames. And I thought we’d be staying there. Instead, we were assigned rooms in the Trellis Wing. I think it’s called that because all the rooms have balcony views overlooking Stanley Street toward Lake Wakatipu. I wasn’t disappointed.

Nice rooms. Functional. Clean carpet. The bed was comfortable and the closet had extra pillows. Other furniture, including a small table, was showing considerable age, though. In addition to large sliding glass doors that led onto a balcony, my corner room had another bay window above a sitting alcove. The bathroom is nondescript, but a hair-dryer was provided. I have to have a coffee pot. And a refrigerator, though I know well enough to leave the stocked wine bottles alone. I did not expect to use the iron & board in the closet either. Nor, the room’s brand new heater. The phone, alarm clock, and a small TV with no pay-per-view were very basic room complements.

The A-Line Hotel also operates Aurum Hotel & Suites next door. They’re part of Scenic Circle Hotels, a cooperative of ten hotels throughout New Zealand. Their central reservations number is 0800-NZ-OWNED (69-6963). Their website is www.scenic-circle.co.nz.

Don’t know about my travelmates, but I didn’t take advantage of A-Line’s guest laundry machines, fitness center, sauna, or spa pool, all unsupervised facilities. I peeked inside the Hillside Brasserie, normally open from 6am-10am and from 6pm-9pm. The cozy decor suggested that the restaurant makes an effort to serve good food. It provides the room service; though mostly just snack food during the afternoon hours. One way to order room service is to fill in a menu the night before and leave it hanging on your room’s door knob.

It’s really a very short walk, but the hotel provides a complimentary shuttle service to Queentown’s center with a simple call to the reception desk. I liked the small hotel lobby, dominated by a huge, open log fireplace. The lobby bar, with access to Hillside Brasserie, opens at 3pm; it’s where you go for a bucket of ice.

There were just three flaws with my overnight stay. First, any outgoing telephone calls will affect your checkout bill. Second, there’s a lot of vehicle traffic on Stanley Street, late into the long summer nights. Third, the hotel desk mistakenly called my room around midnight. Even so, I think we all woke very early the next day feeling refreshed and excited.

You have to love an eatery with such a whimsical name as Winnie Bagoes. Oops, I meant "Winnies". It seems the American motorhome manufacturer recently got wind of this and sent them a cease & desist letter.

Located smack in the middle of a pedestrian-only street called The Mall, it’s one of the best alfresco dining and people-watching places in all of Queenstown. I wanted an upstairs balcony table, but there were six of us. We sat at a picnic-style table and benches of thick, rough-cut wood. If it hadn’t been so heavily lacquered, it would surely be covered with penknife graffiti.

Open from noon to 11pm daily, Winnies is a restaurant with two personalities. By day, it’s a fantastic pizza and beer joint with a gigantic projection screen TV. By night, it still serves great food, but the crowd is wild! There’ll be a live band and everyone will be dancing, except the people playing a rowdy game of billiards. If you’re lucky, they will have a wet t-shirt contest. But I digress....

Back to their food, Winnies herself describes it as "Epic a la carte" and "WICKED gourmet pizza". I couldn’t’ve said it better. It is really good. We started with Kiwi Fries, a large basket of crispy, deep-fried potatoes, not too aggressively spiced, for NZ$6. We also had Winnies Antipasto Platter. The NZ$34 large size plate was modest in variety but very generous. We should’ve ordered medium. There is something for everyone on Winnies’ tight list of Starters, Salads & Sides.

But it is their pizzas, thin-crusted, that stand out. We had a contentiously hard time deciding. Here’s what we ordered, and tell me if it doesn’t make you salivate:

• Thai Chicken
Marinated chicken, flavoursome Thai curry sauce, red onions, capsicums, roasted peanuts, lemon grass, coconut and fresh herbs.
• Pescara
NZ green lipped mussels, garlic prawns, smoked salmon, roma tomatoes with fresh parmesan cheese, pesto & lemon.
• Luigis Italian
Crispy bacon, pepperoni, red & green capsicums, red onions, buttered mushrooms, topped with fresh chives.

It was simply some of the best pizzas I have ever eaten. The large size was 35cm in diameter, cut into 10 slices, and cost NZ$28.50. Small would’ve cost NZ$14.50 and medium, NZ$21.50. Winnies will also deliver to your hotel for a fee; or if your hotel is nearby, you can order and takeaway.

For dinner, Winnies bumps up her menu with some serious eats, too. A sandwich, like Chicken and Brie Burger topped with cranberry sauce and garlic aioli costs just NZ$15. Their fresh pastas, up to NZ$18.50, are said to be excellent. At NZ$26.50, the most expensive item on the Evenings Only menu is Prime Ribeye Steak with wholegrain mustard sauce.

Top it all with beer on tap for the equivalent of a dollar each U.S., and Winnies is a winner!

At the end of Brecon Street, at the foothill of Bob’s Peak, is the terminal for the Skyline Gondola. There are a number of other attractions there, too. My little niece raved over the two miniature golf courses, one indoors and another outdoors across the street. I was a bit surprised that I was the only person interested in seeing a real live kiwi. I think that a destination’s wildlife speaks strongly of the character of that place. With this enigmatic creature, to the extent that New Zealanders refer to themselves as "Kiwis", it couldn’t be more true. The place to see one in Queenstown is:
Kiwi & Birdlife Park
Brecon Street
PO Box 643
Queenstown, New Zealand
Tel: (64) (0) 3 442 8059
Fax: (64) (0) 3 442 8061
Web: www.kiwibird.co.nz

It’s a private urban sanctuary for New Zealand’s unique flora and fauna, both common and rare, run by the Wilson family since 1986 when they converted an unsightly refuse site into a licensed rehabilitation facility for injured birds. Since then, it has built a nursery and has been participating in a national breeding program for New Zealand’s indigenous birds. Its current effort is toward the Black Stilt, among the top ten most endangered avian species in the world. Estimates for this freshwater wading birds is around 150 left in existence, both wild and captive. And, I got to see one. They also have takahe running loose. Once common throughout New Zealand, these large and plump, hen-like flightless birds were on the dodo-list until 1948. In true detective fashion, an ornithologist named Geoffrey Orbell concentrated his search in the Murchison Mountains on the far side of Lake Te Anau. Once found, the New Zealand government stepped in. It seems that grazing deer, introduced from Europe, was a major competitive problem for these birds. Today, encouraging numbers are being released every year, including some onto predator-free islands tightly managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC).

But it was a kiwi I most wanted to see. The kiwi is a flightless nocturnal bird, sleeping in underground burrows by day. Their feathers are more like hair. Long bills with nostrils at its tip are used to root for grubs and worms. They mate for life, and lay the largest egg compared to body weight of any other bird in the world. Of course, to see them as the tourist that I was, it required an artificial environment. I stood in the dark, nothing to do, for a good 20 minutes before my eyes began to adjust to the fake moonlight. A hazy shadow, on the other side of an enclosure, I saw them . . . little wobbling beach balls poking pencils into the crevices of the glass wall.

The kiwi’s legacy is also in jeopardy. As one might expect, human shortsightedness is the cause. The introduction to New Zealand of the opossum has been an ecological disaster. Kiwis are one of the favorite prey of these nocturnally active and aggressive marsupials. You’ll find many products at gift stores throughout New Zealand made of ‘possum hair, from stuffed plush souvenir toys to luxurious scarves. By all means, buy them. A percentage goes to the New Zealand government’s efforts to control the detrimental effects of this alien species. Most of the fur is collected from road kill. They are so abundant that some estimates place their numbers in excess of New Zealand’s domestic sheep population.

You can’t miss the tunnel entrance to Kiwi & Birdlife Park. It’s open daily at 9am, and it takes a leisurely hour or so to walk its self-guided garden trail. Admission is NZ$14.50 ($5 for children, also discounted for families). If you’re there at either 11am or 3pm, be sure to watch the brief conservation show, where you’ll be introduced to some of the park’s resident birds by name.

I liked the visitor center/souvenir shop; it’s one of the better ones in Queenstown. And a percentage of its sales goes toward conservation projects. In a corner nook of the store were some attractive dining tables, but I did not check out the menus.

The tuatara is worth checking out -- another evolutionary oddity of an isolated island. It looks like an iguana, but it’s not even a lizard. Scientists say that it is a missing link, the sole survivor of a prehistoric family of intermediate creatures.

Another bird I was much hoping to see in New Zealand is the kea, the only alpine parrot in the world, and a big one at that. The Kiwi & Birdlife Park has them, but I was fortunate to see them in the wild at Mount Cook, also. Inquisitive and fearless, these protected birds have been known to tear automobiles apart.

Click and listen to this: NZbirdcall.wav. I captured it on my digital memo recorder. We had stopped at the quiet wayside called Mirror Lake along the way to Milford Sound, and this amazing bird sang from somewhere deep in the alpine rainforest. I have no idea what kind of bird. I sent the recording in an email to my cousin, Ace, and we’re both going to New Zealand next year to uncover the culprit!

During my planning for this trip, I sent an IgoUgo guide an email asking a not-so-easy question. I wanted to know how best to count down toward the 2003 New Year in Queenstown, New Zealand for a group of family and friends, ranging in age from 3 to 70, maybe 20 of us in total. She generously replied and I accepted her suggestion. Thanks to dawn, we had a grand time!

I wasn’t so sure whether we all would converge, but in 2’s and 3’s and 5’s through the evening, everyone made it to:

Skyline Gondola, Restaurant, and Luge
PO Box 17
Queenstown, New Zealand
Tel: (64) (0)3 441 1010
Fax: (64) (0)3 442 6391

We had made reservations to celebrate with a buffet dinner, followed by a night of music, dancing, and noisy party favours. The cost of this special dinner, NZ$65 (half price for children under 15), included the gondola ride and a glass of champagne. It was a fair price, even with the 30-day prepayment requirement.

Everyone enjoyed the Skyline Gondola ride up Bob’s Peak. The cabs seat four, and the side facing downhill is better, but the profusion of wildflowers and the occasional sight of hikers below switch-backing up the slope was good, too. It’s a four-minute ride that normally costs NZ$15 round-trip ($5 for children, or $30 for a family of four) and runs from 9am through 9:30pm to midnight, depending on the season.

Some of us arrived early. From the vantage of Skyline’s observation decks, the views of Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu, and The Remarkables are pure postcard. But, there are other things to do at Skyline. In fact, the sensible approach is to decide ahead of time what you want to do, and purchase everything as a package. It’s a substantial discount savings.

I found myself repeatedly riding "The Luge". It cost NZ$18 for five runs. (There are several price points, including lesser admission for children and families.) You hop onto this little go-cart that’s reminiscent of red Radio Flyer wagons and then let gravity take its course down one of two concrete tracks. The Scenic Track is a gentle coast. But the Advanced Track is a wild maze of twists and banking turns. To apply brakes to the wheels, you pull back on the steering bar. One of my friends said he nearly wiped out. Me, too. Don’t be fooled by its looks. It is an X-Games thrill that I wouldn’t recommend to someone who doesn’t obey the physical law of ‘braking into a turn’. The little ski lift chair ride back up to the top of the hill is fun, too.

There’s also a bungee jump called "The Ledge". It’s a 47-meter drop from a platform built next to the Skyline Gondola’s terminal, but it’ll seem like a 400-meter drop all the way down to Queenstown. At NZ$125, I felt it was rather expensive, even if you do get a commemorative T-shirt for the feat. Children at least 10 years old and weighing at least 35 kilos pay NZ$89. Reservations are made through the original bungy-jumping company, AJ Hackett, on the web, by phone (03.442.4007 or 0800.286.493), or in person at their store on the corner of Shotover Street and Camp Street. I was very tempted by their heavily discounted multiple-jump packages, particularly the one paired with "Sky Swing", their newest thrill, also at Skyline. It’s a fall not unlike bungee, except that instead of bouncing back up, your harness sends you into a soaring arc through the air. That alone was NZ$85, but the two combined was NZ$155. And still, I passed.

I don’t think any of us watched "Kiwi Magic". It’s a 30-minute video about New Zealand and Maori culture that would’ve cost about NZ$10 to watch. At the entrance to the theater, there’s a games arcade of maybe six aging machines. I don’t think I ever saw anyone playing them, either.

Anyway, I, for one, was there for the buffet dinner. Having arrived early, I decided to scope out the dining room. The expansive second floor was crowded with tables and chairs for maybe 300 people. I was initially disheartened and was then relieved to learn that this was for a tour group from Korea. My relief turned to excitement on the first floor. Past a billiard table next to a souvenir gift shop was a full bar with stools, lounge tables and chairs against the view windows. A hostess gave me a personal tour of the tri-level Skyline Cafe, complete with a dance floor. I could tell we were going to have a fun party. The top level was solely devoted to the food, and the cold selections already being arranged on crushed ice also looked promising -- cold cuts & cheese, smoked salmon, in-shell prawns, mussels, and several different salads.

When the dinner began at 8:30, about 150 people first toasted with wine, beer, champagne, or fruit juice. I admit I gorged. The seafood chowder and roasted pumpkin soups were excellent. The carving board only had turkey and ham, but I was pleased to see a whole poached salmon next to it. Among the hot entrees, the roast chicken was surprisingly good. I love seafood, and both the mixed steamed shellfish in lemon butter and the Cajun-spiced cod in tomato relish garnered a second helping. I’ll also venture any local cuisine, but I’m sorry, I had no palate for herb-roasted kumara, a tiny sweet potato with the texture more of a bulb than a tuber vegetable. I remember the dessert cart being varied, but not what I ate; I probably finished my meal with fruit and a taste of the chocolate mousse. We all had a good time stuffing ourselves, and each other, with Skyline Cafe’s New Year’s Eve buffet.

The live band that followed, a three-piece (plus drum machine), was quite good. I complimented them during intermission for a particularly jazzy rendition of Eric Clapton’s "Layla". Both sets were mostly cover pop and rock to dance rhythms, interspersed with completely unfamiliar ditties that were obviously traditional sing-a-longs. We chatted with other tables, found willing dance partners, formed the requisite conga line, and made general merry.

I was sipping scotch and teaching my bored nephew how to play billiards, his first experience with the subtle sport, when people began to exit the restaurant. We all went outside to stand along the observation balcony to watch the fireworks. Someone shouted, "Ten, nine!" About the time everyone together shouted, "Zero!", small fireworks, with their delayed "booms!", colored Queenstown Bay. It was a nice show, but rather unusual. I’d never looked down at a fireworks display before.

Hugs and well-wishes were passed among everyone on the balcony when the fireworks ended, and we formed a line for the gondola ride back down to the terminal at the end of Brecon Street. On the descent, you could hear the crowds getting louder as you got closer to the bottom. Most of my family headed back to the hotel. A couple of my friends and I went down to the city’s center and continued reveling the happy New Year until its first wee hours.