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.
Last year we did a marvellous wine tour to the north of Barcelona, I rated it in the top three things we did in Spain, so I was keen to replicate that experience here in NZ, so before we jetted across the ditch I did some research and booked a wine and lunch tour through Altitude Tours.
The tour took us to three wineries around Queenstown (in the Otago region of NZ), starting at Gibbston Valley Wines who kicked off the Otago wine industry in the mid 1980s.
The story goes that everyone told them (including the department of Primary Industries) that they were crazy and there was no way grapes would grow near Queenstown as it was too far south. They gave it a whirl anyway, and discovered that Pinot and Riesling did quite well. Of course many then followed and how its a massive money spinner for this part of NZ.
Gibbston also have a fantastic “wine cave” which is a cellar they dynamited out of the side of a hill back in the mid 1990s.
The second winery was the Allen Scott winery, where we sampled even more delicious grape based beverages before heading off to the “Stoaker Room” near Cromwell for lunch.
I’d actually book the Stoaker room for dinner next week after hearing great things about it, however when I found out it was on this tour I cancelled that booking to free up the night for another amazing dining establishment.
The “Stoaker” is basically a BBQ built into an old French Oak wine barrel. They even sell them for about $NZ2500 should you so desire to purchase one (You won’t fit it in your hand luggage though).
They cooked a variety of meats in it, Orange Roughy Fish with coconut cream and slaw, BBQ Duck with honey mustard, Goat Ragu with Smokey tomato sauce and polenta, Pork with pear and orange marmalade and Venison with Cherry Sauce and roast veg.
The third winery was the wonderful Church Cellar Door and Cafe, where we also had cheese and biscuits with more wonderful wines.
The tour was essentially complete at this point, however as we had time the guide took us through arrowtown (which we visited on Tuesday) and then we dropped in to the new Ayrburn estate that has some amazing restaurants and bars to explore. Apparently they spent NZ$200 million making it like it is, and it looks divine.
Before the wine tour we have today I walked down the hill to tick off the next cafe on the list. The hill we are on is incredibly steep, although the pictures don’t quite show how steep it really is
I’d forgotten it was Saturday morning so not all the cafes are open this early, and the one I’d planned on visiting wasn’t. No issue as a quick google check confirmed the other one I’d been considering was open so just walked across the road to that one.
The cafe I’m at (Marmolada Cafe) also benefits from being at the bus pickup area for many of the day bus tours that leave from Queenstown. We will be back at this one on Sunday when we do a Milford Sound bus tour.
Coffee was great and lived up to its rating on Google.
Managed to fit two coffees in this morning. First was from Drop Cafe, trendy little coffee nook hidden at the back of clothing store. This one was mentioned in the NZ Herald article on great Queenstown coffee locations as well.
It looks like the coffee is severed in an enamel cup, which would have been interesting, however it’s just a ceramic mug that’s been shaped and painted how we expect enamel cups to be.
Second coffee was around 11am from the Bathhouse cafe right on the lake at the front of town. The weather today is 100% perfect, clear sunny day, about 21c with a very very slight breeze. We sat here for a while just basking in the glorious sunshine sipping the coffee. Pretty good coffee too.
It's all about the coffee 