Retail Therapy in Queenstown

It was another glorious day in Queenstown. We headed to town by water taxi from the Hilton's jetty. It was fascinating to look out to the nice waterfront properties which really had prime views of the lake.

When we arrived we embarked on a morning of retail therapy by meeting some of the local retailers who focus on promoting NZ designers with a majority of them emphasising on NZ made clothes.

Almost everyone of us found something which caught our eye. It also gave us an opportunity to wander around and browse through shops that caught our eye. We even stopped by a Chemist (better known as pharmacies in Australia). It was a very well stocked chemist, which had an extensive range of NZ made facial and body care products. Brands such as Trilogy, Antipodes, Evolu and Linden Leaves were easily available here.

I think in almost every store, they were overwhelmed by 22 ladies all coming in and browsing through their clothes and wares at once. A bit hit was Max, an NZ store chain (similar to Witchery in Australia). They had a good mix of elegant, casual and normal daily wear with very reasonable prices. And the young ladies attending us at Max were so friendly and helpful.

Another store that many found interesting was Decode. A lovely lady by the name of Marie (the owner of the store) had shut the store down especially for our group. I think we all felt quite special just knowing that fact. Decode was a lovely, quirky boutique with emphasis on some of the fresh local NZ designers who promote natural, organic designs and fabrics. As Marie said, their focus is on making women feel comfortable in their own skin rather than following high fashion trends.

We stopped by a wool yarn store which sold not only merino wool but possum wool. There were possum shoe linings, and merino wool mixed with possum scarfs. Possum wool is lighter and much warmer than the sheep's wool. Apparently, possum wool is quite common in this region so I learnt another fascinating fact on this trip. We even saw Nipple Warmers for sale. How very strange!! I wonder who would use that?????

Nipple Covers/Belly Button Warmers

We eventually stopped for lunch at Vudu Cafe & Larder. This place is so popular. I couldn't believe how popular it was. They are known for their good coffee, desserts are apparently a big hit here too and you can see why by their extensive ranges of cakes and pastries. It looked like a rather hip and happening place.

The group sat at the back of the cafe, looking out towards the wharf. For lunch we had 2 choices. There was Smoked chicken with creamed cheese and basil roll. Option 2 was Goats cheese, caramelised onion and rocket tart.

The salad choices were Brown rice and wild rice with tamari and spring onion. The other salad Beetroot, carrot, pumpkin seed and pomegranate molasses.

I chose the smoked chicken roll and had a mix of both salads. The lunch was of the right serving, enough to sustain us for the rest of the afternoon, yet leave us room for tonight's dinner. I especially enjoyed the salads, fresh, summery and quite flavoursome.

Vudu Cafe & Larder
16 Rees Street
Queenstown
Website: www.vudu.co.nz/vudu-cafe-larder/home-vudu-cafe-larder