Oamaru to Queenstown

We ended up in tiny Oamaru for 8 nights and whilst we all managed to get sick for most of the week, we also managed to see a little more of this place.

Our little cabin in Oarmaru

The view! 

About 40 minutes away is a small settlement of Duntroon, this is where Vanished World is located, a world of fossils and rock formations. We had a great day and happily dug out fossilised shells from our rocks with precision. 

Looking a microscopic fossils

Vanished World - Elephant Rocks

We also visited Oamaru's most prized tourist attraction- the penguins! We did the all day ticket which was only $12 more for a family pass than the night only ticket. This enabled us to walk around the sleeping enclosure and also watch the penguins sleep in pairs. We gathered at night and waited and waited and finally in waves they came. I think we counted 31  penguins in total,  and suitably cold, we checked under our car( for stray penguins) and drove home to our small cottage.

Scenery around Oamaru

We did day trips to Moeraki Village and Dunedin( 1 hour drive). The Otago Muesem was a good way to fill in a day with a good exhibit of animals on the top floor.

Otago Museum

On Friday we departed. We took the longer route to Queenstown and we weren't really staying there, we had found a "stay 2 get the third night free" deal at the quaint Arrowtown Holiday Park.  The drive through from Dunedin to Queenstown is a great scenic drive and we stopped many times for photos, arriving to our place at 5pm.

Our drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy

Surprisingly the holiday park was almost empty and we settled in our cabin and cooked spaghetti bolognaise. We also caught up on emails and washing, the dryer didnt quite dry all our clothes, and unwilling to pay $4 for another dry, I simply turned our unit into a laundry with clothes hung off everything possible and the heater turned on full.

Ps by Shona

Queenstown/Arrowtown is my favourite place in the world.  We have visited 14 times in the last 10 years and I can never get enough!  If you want magic views you will not find better!  Accommodation ranges from 5 stars down to backpacker style accommodation.  In the past we have opted for the 5 stars, but as we are budgeting holidaying, we chose a holiday park with generous sized cabins with snowy mountain views!  

Arrowtown Holiday Park