Life, the universe, coffee and travel
Our last morning here in QT and just chilling before heading back to the airport. We have been super lucky with the weather, it’s only just started to rain today. Coffee here is quite nice, attached to an old church (cafe named appropriately). First cafe I’ve seen in years give proper sugar cubes (I think that’s actually a health violation at home across the ditch)
Our last night here and we finally got up the courage to endure the wait for a Fergburger. For those not in the know, this is a Queenstown institution.
The story is Ed Sheeran tweeted / insta-faced about it and also the NY times wrote a positive article. So now there is a massive instagram / “influencer” feedback loop (and now I’ve posted about it: I’m probably part of the problem… sigh).
So… 25 minute wait to order the burger, 20 minute wait for it to be made. Dealing with endless dickheads trying to push in line or getting to the counter and not knowing what they want after waiting in line all that time (#FML) . Add in the issue with finding parking in Queenstown….
I had the Lamb and Mint Burger. Sharon had the Venison. I think the Venison was slightly better than the lamb one.
Is it a good burger ? Yes!, it’s a good burger, and a decent sized one. Is it the best burger I’ve ever had ? Nope: not even in the same ball park. That honour goes to the Lamb Jalfrezi burger I had in London from these guys
I suspect Devil Burger just around the corner is provably just as good, with no wait times. Will I come here again : Yes, will be here again in November and will try a different one.
Driving back to Queenstown today (we are flying home tomorrow), so we thought we would have a bit more of a look in Dunedin then drive back in the early afternoon. The castle room rate included a breakfast, and honestly wasn’t expecting much more than the usual buffet continental, however it included two full cooked options. The pancakes sounded awesome with the berry compote with Banana and granola topping, and yes up there with the best pancakes I’ve ever had. Coffee nothing special, just French press.
Sharon wanted to check out more of the second hand book stores, Dunedin has quite a few and apparently has the best ones in New Zealand. The best one ”Hard to Find Books” and the second best one “Dead Souls”.
Before heading into Dunedin we drove down to the end of the Peninsular to look through the Royal Albatross centre. Didn’t do any tours there but the centre is great.
I took the car for a charge whilst Sharon was shopping. I’m in the middle of nowhere in an industrial type complex. Thought I’d check for coffee, not expecting anything close and Google tells me there is a cafe in the garden centre next door. I went in and it’s massive, more like a small garden centre attached to the cafe. Thought I’d have heaps of time to get a coffee, but seems every retired person in Dunedin was there and it took ages to get one. Car had almost charged before I got my coffee.
The trip to Dunedin was a little slow with the condition of the highway and lots of roadworks, so I was worried about taking a more “scenic” route incase the road was even worse. Looking at the maps we could take a different route north via Palmerston which adds only 10 minutes. I also find out the its known as the “Pigroot” route, named after a hotel called the Pigroot from gold rush times.
My inner 14 year old is already sniggering about this (so is my outer 53 year old) and then I discover it also crosses the Shag river. This stuff just writes itself…… That seals the deal, we have to take that road just for the juvenile laughs. I wanted to get a pic of the sign over the Shag river, however the crossing was narrow and no where to stop.
Turns out it was a great decision to go this way, the Pigroot route road (State Highway 86) was in way better condition as well as flatter and straighter in most parts. Could actually get the car up to speed limit for most of it. Much less traffic too, we were the only car for most of it. This road may not be a great decision in winter as it goes through higher country which is likely why the signposted route goes the more southern highway 6.
Today we drove the odd 300km from Queenstown over to Dunedin. Didn’t have coffee before we left, decided I’d stop at small town roughly an hour into the journey. We braved State Highway 6 once more north to Cromwell then joined State Route 8 south east towards Milton.
I’m still amazed at how bad sections of the “State” routes can be. Route 8 is better than 6 but still has sections with narrow bends dropping below 40kph.
We had coffee and a muffin at the Merchant of Clyde Cafe and Bakery. Whilst NZ can’t do good roads, they can do amazing Cafes and coffee. Every town seems to have a couple of outstanding places and Clyde was no exception. Coffee was fantastic and I’m rating the Apricot muffin and one of the best I’ve ever had.
We continued along and had a quick stop at Roxburgh where I put a bit of electricity into the car just in case (although I need not have bothered as we would have easily made it to Dunedin). Again some more amazing looking cafes here too. Might be worth a stop on the way back.
After Milton we turn north for about 60km onto State highway 1 into Dunedin. About 20km from Dunedin we roll onto something I didn’t expect to see here at all…. A Motorway !
We arrive in Dunedin and my first impression is that’s it’s larger than I was expecting. We drive to the centre, park and start looking for lunch.
Dunedin is known for its Scottish heritage, but I wasn’t expecting the first shop I see to be “The Scottish Shop” and then see a lady walk part in a full tartan outfit. They obviously take it seriously here. Sharon found a few second handbag bookshops here (Dunedin apparently has the best ones in the country)
Found a great cafe in an old art deco building. The coffee and food was again fantastic. After a great lunch and great coffee we drove up to Larnach Castle where we are staying.
Found yet another amazing coffee down on Cow lane from the Mackenzie Coffee Co. it’s amazing how different the town is at 7am when everyone (ie normal people) are still asleep.
Had a second coffee at the Kiwi Sanctuary and whilst not as good as the MacKenzie one the Kiwi stencil used for the chocolate powder is great
It's all about the coffee 