How to have a cheap family holiday in Queenstown

You would expect that travelling to NZ's premier tourist attraction which attracts 2.7 million visitors every year would end up being a major outlay, but that was not the case. Here's how we had a cheap family holiday in Queenstown on a budget:

Flights:

We were fortunate to have enough airpoints from our trip to England last year to be able to get flights Wellington-Christchurch and Queenstown-Wellington for four of us for FREE. However, if you are searching for flights, you can get them as little as $59 one way from Auckland on Jetstar, or $89 from Wellington on Air NZ without luggage.

Rental car 

This is where it came in VERY handy for us having a hubby who works for a rental car company. We were able to get a Kia Carnival 8-seater for FREE, and so only had to pay for petrol which from Christchurch - Queenstown plus all our day-tripping around whilst down there was under $200. However, you can get good deals by booking online with rental car companies well in advance or by using Flybuys or Entertainment book deals.

Accommodation

Finding nice accommodation for six people in a popular tourist destination could have proved a big challenge. However, we trawled through both the bookabach and holidayhouses websites and eventually found a fantastic option with this 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom property in Fernhill, a suburb up on the hill just out of the town centre with amazing views, and linen provided as well - which was essential when you're flying in and out with limited baggage. And at only $570 for 6 people for 3 nights - it was incredible value at $32 pp per night.

Activities

It's pretty much mandatory to do at least one adrenalin-type activity while in the adventure capital of NZ, so we cashed in 510 Flybuys and got return tickets to the Skyline gondola plus ten luge rides effectively for FREE. Nana and Poppa's 2 x adult tickets were $56 return just for the gondola.

At the last minute, after both being given some birthday money, we also decided to take advantage of the Shotover Jet family deal which was $299 for 2 adults and up to 2 children. We were so glad we did, it was so exhilarating!

We also let the kids pan for gold in Arrowtown at Dudley's Cottage ($20 - $10 each for the kids) and visited the fascinating and informative Lakes District Museum whilst there too - $32 for all six of us ($16 for the family plus two adults at $8).

Food 

The first night we were still driving en-route to Queenstown so had fish n chips in Cromwell, then the second night we made the most of the facilities at the house and had a home-cooked meal of meat, potatoes and salad, treating ourselves to a famous Queenstown institutuion - a Fergburger - on the last night - $60 for all 6 of us.

We also ate cafe lunches at Glenorchy Lodge one day, and Provisions Cafe in Arrowtown another day - their sticky buns are world famous! Approximate cost of food all up: $400.

So a cheap family holiday to Queenstown can certainly be done with a bit of planning and ingenuity.

Cost to us for 6 people to Queenstown for 3 nights: less than $2,000 or around $300 per person.

Memories made: priceless.

Autumn is amazing in Arrowtown

One of the things I had most been looking forward to on our trip to Queenstown was the opportunity to capture the vibrant autumn colours. Living in Wellington, we have so many native trees that autumn colours are few and far between. And I knew we were going early in the season but I was just hoping and praying and willing there to be a glorious array of russet browns, canary yellows, ochre oranges and burgundy reds on display.

We'd been so favoured with the weather the previous day - a T-shirt and shorts kind of day, that it was quite the shock to the system to wake to a dull, gloomy and chilly day - it didn't get above 10 degrees all day.

Still, this didn't put a dampener on our plans at all. If anything the grey day added to the mood making it seem much more autumnal, and it made us really appreciate the warmth of the times we stepped indoors during the day.

Arrowtown is very famous for its autumn colours. So much so that every year the town hosts an Autumn festival in late April to celebrate their special place amongst the colours of the countryside.

The first thing we did on arriving was take a wander down the main street getting as close to the hillsides ablaze in glory as we could.

This guy came dressed for the occasion.

These boys, this place. Wowed me.

I also loved how the houses here have been kept as they were, so in style with their historic roots.

The leaves in the guttering adding to the character of these quaint wee cottages.

Then the warmth of a cafe and lunch called. We settled on Provisions - which is world famous in NZ for its sticky buns - there are foodie people all over the walls like Peta Mathias and Al Brown who have attested to that fact.

There are a wide selection of homemade jams and relishes on display to taste.

And a range of freshly baked bread that would rival most bakeries.

And the famous sticky buns. We couldn't NOT give them a whirl - and they were pretty out of this world.

Mark and Poppa declared the coffees to be superb. They may or may not have responsible for the caffeine surge that inspired the next photo.

The boys were dead keen to have a go at the gold panning at Dudley's Cottage.

With a little bit of expert tuition and patience....

....some crafty techniques...sloshing the water and rocks here and there at certain angles.....



.....and eventually........gold!

OK so just a few tiny skerricks but gold that they could keep forever in a little vial nonetheless.

They were chuffed to bits.

After this we walked along the river learning about the Chinese settlers who came and worked on the goldfields. What a hard life they must have had. This is Mark inside one of their huts. 

It's hard to imagine someone living in such primitive conditions, especially through the harsh southern winters. It was cold enough here today in early autumn, I hate to think how cold it would have been in the depths of winter with snow on the ground.

These men had often come on their own leaving their families behind in China seeking to earn enough money to send back home to improve their lives. They were often the subject of discrimination here too, it must have been such a hard life. Census records show up to 5,000 Chinese were living in the region during the 1870's, only nine of these women.

Our last stop of the day was the Lakes District Museum. It's a fairly unassuming building from the outside but very worth the visit. The bottom level has a full re-creation of a number of different livelihoods - carpenters, printers, bakers - there's even a school complete with old school desks, inkwells and an abacus. Poppa enjoyed telling us about what school was like in his day.

The boys were also merrily amused by the old sign saying 'lavatory' and when you pulled open the swing door there was a man (not real of course) sitting there on the loo saying 'oi you, can't you see I'm busy'. It gave me quite the fright when I opened the door the first time, so I then had to show the boys who opened the door multiple times giggling away at the rudeness of it.

Then the pull of the colours awaiting pulled us outdoors once more. 

Gelatos at Patagonia Chocolates followed for our brave kiddos who didn't seemed to mind eating cold on a cold day.

And just as quickly as we had come, it was time to leave.

To leave behind memories of golden light, and of the fifteen years of love that led us to this very moment.

These two were a mere twinkle in our eyes the last time we were in this part of the world..

I could never have imagined how much richer, broader and deeper our lives would be for sharing experiences like this with them.

Who knows what their future holds? At this point in their lives, the world is theirs for the choosing.

We hope that experiences like this serve to broaden their horizons and instill in them the same love of life, travel and adventure that has inspired so many of our wonderful wanderlust moments over the years.

It's our legacy to share. 

And theirs to carry on.