Queenstown Gardens, Queenstown Hill
After hiking up Ben Lomond I was a bit tired and wanted to do something a bit more relaxed. It was another sunny day and I started at Queenstown Gardens, not completely sure what to expect. The gardens were right by the lake, so as I walked around along the path I had a clear view of the water, the boats, and the mountains, while on the other side were not particularly impressive trees. It was a pleasant walk in the park, and I didn’t regret doing it, although the special part of it, for me, was the mountainous view. I walked all the way to the end of the trail along the lake, and then turned around.
At some point there was a sign leading me to the gardens, and as I was curious to see if there is anything more interesting there, I walked up the path, climbed the short staircase, and found myself in the actual gardens. Plenty of the space was a grass area overlooking the lake and the trees, where it was possible to just sit down and relax or have a picnic. That in itself was quite nice, but very quickly it turned out there is a lot more to it. As I walked around I saw different trees and flowers of multiple colors, with some of them being fragrant too. There a few sculptures spread around the area as well, but I was less interested in them. This place wasn’t particularly big, but I still spent some time there trying to get a look at everything the gardens had to offer.
My next destination for the day was the Queenstown Hill track. I was told by my hiking buddy at Ben Lomond that it’s supposed to be more of a casual walk and not so much a hike, which suited my plans just fine. It was a little bit of a walk from the city center to the beginning of the track, but not too much of an effort.
The way to the summit of Queenstown Hill already started with a nice view, and I hoped it would get better as I went along. For the first part I was under the sun, walking up the twisty path with no clear idea as for how long it would take me to get to the top. While it wasn’t a challenging path, it was still going uphill, so it did require some effort. At a few points along the path there were some signs which talked about the history of Queenstown, which I thought was a nice addition to the whole experience. Soon enough I was inside a forest, surrounded by trees that hid me from the sun. It was cooler, and a bit easier to walk around, but there wasn’t much to look at. There were a few more people walking along the path, although I didn’t talk with any of them, instead I was just busy with my own thoughts.
Then I got to a split in the road, with one option pointing to a lookout point, while there other seemed to be the main trail. Without thinking about it too much I picked the latter option and resumed my walk. A little while after that I was out of the woods and back under the sun. Taking it as a sign that I’m not too far from the top, I thought I had a good pace. I kept going up, with some parts being a bit steeper than I expected, and eventually I saw some people hanging out on a mostly leveled area next to a sculpture that was called “Basket of Dreams”. From there I could see the view of the city, and I stayed there for a couple of minutes to rest and drink some water.
However, that was not the summit, so I got up and kept going up the path, exposed to both the sun and the wind. There were a few more hikers up at the point, but still not many. I wasn’t alone on the road, but it was far from being crowded at any point. There were more steep parts, and at that point I felt it definitely wasn’t the causal walk that I expected I thought it might be. Perhaps it wasn’t a challenging hike, but it was definitely more than a walk. Just when I thought I got to the summit, I saw a sign that told me I’m about fifteen minutes away. With a little groan I kept going up, wondering what I would be able to see from the top and if it was worth the time it took to get there. The answer turned out to be “kind of”. At some point I saw a few people sitting and resting, although there was no sign to indicate where I was. The only sign I did find was saying the rest of the path is forbidden to enter. Adding to that, the area seemed to be the highest part of the climb, so I could only assume that it was the summit. The view I could see from there was quite nice, although I could see more or less the same view from lower points of the hike, and I wasn’t sure I needed to go all the way to the top. Still, I made it over there, and I rested for a little while, looking at the planes taking off from the airport, before heading back down.
The way down took longer than I thought it would, and included an unnecessary detour, and I started to feel a bit bitter about it. I’m not sure if I was still tired from hiking Ben Lomond, tired in general, or if it was because my mind started to wander toward unpleasant thoughts, but I just want to get down from Queenstown Hill and get some rest. Originally I planned to end the day swimming in the lake, but by the time I got back down I had no energy for it.
Queenstown was the first city I visited in New Zealand, and that beginning was with mixed emotions. Some good things happened, and some bad things too. I was surprised to find other travelers, most of them friendly and talkative, while others left me with a bit of a bitter taste and disappointment. I tried to look at the bright side, and being out in nature certainly helped with that. By that point, I felt ready to leave Queenstown and move on to another place.