Settling Down in Queenstown

We spent our last four days in New Zealand at The Pounamu Apartments in Queenstown overlooking the shores of Lake Wakatipu’s Frankton Arm with a splendid view of The Remarkables mountain range.  The place was beautiful and peaceful and it reminded us a lot of Lake Tahoe back in California.

Pounamu is the Maori name for a type of jade that is found only on the South Island of New Zealand. It s also known as greenstone. The Maoris treasured their Pounamu and we found the name to be quite apt for our surroundings.

The living roon of our apartment contained a cd-dvd-tv entertainment system with surround sound.

The view from our living room knocked our socks off!

another view of our living room (and dining area).

Our kitchen from the living room.

The View

Up the stairs from the kitchen and living room.

Our bedroom loft over the living room.

another view of the bedroom.

The computer station next to the front door. Right outside the front door was a clothes washer and dryer that we shared with the apartment next door.

The bathroom.

Views from our balcony.

Looking left from our balcony.

straight ahead.

Looking right from our balcony.

Behind our apartment.

The Pounamu Apartment unit from the street. Our apartment is the second from the left.

After settling in we decided to get some exercise. We were told it was a 15 minute walk to town and it probably took less than 10 minutes if you jogged. But at our regular walking speed it took 25 minutes.

This spot was about half-way between our apartment and town.

We found a shortcut to town via this path.

The path through the park leads to the beach and town.

The beach at Queenstown.

Bob's Peak in the background. We would be taking the gondola up to the top in a couple of days.

Queenstown's main street is a pedestrian mall. We dined at a restaurant nearby.

Lots of clothing stores and souvenir shops surround the mall.

We did some grocery shopping next door to this liquor store and then walked back to our apartment, discovering that it gets very cold in Queenstown after the sun goes down!