This is a fantastic ad.
But you know who are the burger experts. Fergburger, Queenstown, New Zealand.
Since my year of no fast food ended on the first of July I have had the chance to try several of the Grand/Mighty Angus burgers, and I’ve got to say, they are pretty fantastic.
But not as good as the McRib. Which I tried in Singapore. The McRib is a menu enigma. There’s even a web page devoted to its appearance around the globe.
Things that make you go "mmm..."
The Ferg loves you. Before we came to New Zealand about five people independently recommended a burger shop in Queenstown. Not just any burger shop. Fergburger! I don’t think I’ve ever used an exclamation mark in earnest on this blog – that’s how good Fergburger is. It’s the burger shop so nice we went there twice. Seriously. Good. Burgers.
Life before Ferg now seems just a distant memory – but I can tell you that if I wasn’t so busy raving about Fergburger I’d be raving about Puzzle World. Wanaka’s star attraction is the self proclaimed capital of eccentricity. The illusion rooms are something to behold – the chamber of faces is quite bizarre, the holographic artworks are impressive, the tilting room was nauseatingly intriguing and the perspective room made for a great photo opportunity.
Following the illusion section we took an “amazing” walk through Puzzling World’s outdoor maze. The idea is to find four coloured towers at each extremity. The maze contains 5km of pathways – many of them are frustrating dead ends. The signs say the average maze goer walks up to 3km in order to complete the task. The average finish time for the challenges (there are two of them) is one hour and thirty minutes – we were done in about 50 minutes.
Ouch
Then it was time for some funny photos on the grounds – and some purchases in the puzzle shop – including this Turkish puzzle ring.
Lord of the Rings?
From Wanaka we hit the highway to Te Anau – via the aforementioned Fergburger. Our final destination was another lakeside holiday park. Oh, woe is us. Holiday accommodation by a lake at every turn. This one was an A frame cabin that turned out to be a chillibin – that’s kiwi for eski. Their inadequately supplied warm linen meant this wasn’t the best night’s sleep we’d had all trip. We dined as a local Italian place that looked like it had the same décor it was fitted out with about 30 years ago – just with some red corrugated iron nailed onto the counter. They did have a vintage coffee grinder which was pretty special – it was sitting behind the specials chalkboard though, and for some reason I didn’t take a photo of it. I did get to listen to it in a special demonstration. The pasta we ordered wasn’t great, but the brie, chicken and cranberry pizza was very nice.
An early morning was in order because we were booked on a cruise of Milford Sound – some two and a half hours’ drive away. At least that’s what we were told. We got there pretty early. And sat in the terminal. And waited. The cruise advertised a “continental breakfast” – which turned out to be a box of muesli. And some toast. It wasn’t Fergburger, but it was healthy. The cruise through a glacier carved waterway was something different – the coastline, or cliffline, was fringed with waterfalls, colonies of baby seals and impressive snow topped peaks. It was worth the two hour trip – which included a rudimentary tunnel carved through the base of one of the fairly large mountains. On the way back we stopped at “The Chasm” a rainforest fringed waterfall.
Lunch, or brunch, was a bowl of wedges with satay sauce at the Olive Tree café in Te Anau. Their coffee was passable. Dinner tonight was a second round of Fergburger, back in Queenstown, where we’re staying at the Alpine Ridge Holiday Apartments. They’re nice, and once again, they’re overlooking a lake.