Near the base of the gondola, with The Remarkables in the background

After almost six months in the country, I finally made it to Queenstown, the southernmost of the places I wanted to visit while here. When I was in Wellington, and faced with cutting my trip short and returning to Canada, what upset me the most was that Id not even been to the South Island. How could I leave having never been to Queentown?

Queenstown is the self-styled adventure capital of the world, and you know, I think any other place would be hard pressed to come close. The birthplace of bungy jumping, you can also skydive, paraglide, hanglide, bridge-swing, go canyoning … basically, if it involves scaring the crap out of yourself for an expensive price, this place has it. The main road, Shotover Street, is block after block of adventure outfitter all competing for your hard-earned shekels.

So what did I do? Not a single one.

It wasnt because I didnt want to (although when I first got there, I didn’t. I think the desire to do adventure sports is contagious and just being there makes you want to do them), but more because of cost and that it was the end of the season. Having a very finite amount of money, I didnt see the point in spending $100+ to hurl myself off of a bridge for an experience that would be over in a minute. I really wanted to go paragliding and canyoning, but at around $200 each, decided I would wait till I could come back in the spring when I had money put aside for this.

So high!

Instead, I spent my week in Queenstown wandering around and hiking around the nearby hills with a friend I made on the bus from Mt Cook. Dorian is from London UK, and was on his way to QT to do as many heart-stopping activities as he could cram into a one week period of time. When he wasnt throwing himself off of 134m ledges or trying to talk me into similarly precarious situations, we climbed the gondola hill, far beyond past the station itself. I never in a million years thought I would climb something that high, and was exilerated to be seeing what I was. The sky was crystal clear, and I was surrounded by mountains. GLEE!!

Even higher! My hostel is down there somewhere.

The day that Dorian and I climbed the gondola hill, we continued up and beyond the station, up past the parapent launch. Up there the road we were following turned into a well-worn footpath, and then into a rugged trail that seemed kind of foolhardy to follow. Im glad Dorian was there with me, as being the scaredy-cat that I am, I would have turned back and not continued. I dont know when I became such an over-cautious person, but its really begun to bother me, and Im actively looking for ways to challenge myself to come out of my shell now. I hate being so ridiculous! That said, I eventually told Doz that I didnt want to climb any higher, as I didnt trust my ability to not fall off the mountain. He really wanted to see if he could reach the top, so I stayed at the levelled off area we’d reached and watched him scramble a little bit higher. I say a little, but:

See that speck? That's Doz.

Queenstown is not a big place. With only about 10, 000 permanent residents, it’s more a large town than a small city. It’s #1 raison d’etre is tourism, and seems to be purpose-built. Hostels have special agreements with neighbouring bars for drink and food specials (mine was a particularly useful 2-for-1 beers!), and stores are open until 10 or 11pm every single night. Souvenir shopping is probably the best that Ive seen (and Ive been in pretty much every shop in the country. I LOVE souvenirs!), even better than in Napier which I thought to be pretty top-notch. All of the sporting goods stores have shops in Queenstown, so if you’ve forgotten to buy a raincoat or mittens, you dont have to worry about going without.

The waterfront, with the Earnslaw on the far left

Besides adventure sports, there are things to do, but they arent cheap: the Earnslaw Steamship ride across Lake Wakatipu, the Kiwi Bird & Wildlife Park, The Haka show atop of the gondola, fishing trips, boating trips, etc. I was all set to take the gondola up the hill and see the haka show, but when I realized that at $50+, it wasnt really sensible as the show was only half an hour. Im planning to visit Rotorua before I leave the country, and will take in the Maori cultural villages and shows while there. There is also the national marae here in Christchuch, so there wasnt much point in seeing the show in Queenstown. Its funny that considering my affinity for all things Maori, that Ive yet to experience any of the culture firsthand. I also thought about taking the steamship, but ended up spending the money I’d earmarked for that on a night out with Dorian and friends from my hostel (oh, such a hangover the next day!).

Autumn along Lake Wakatipu

I really enjoyed my time in Queenstown, and was surprised that my week there went by so fast. On the Saturday I took a day trip to Milford Sound, which is NZ’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, but that deserves as post on its own as it was simply unbelievable.

More Queenstown photos!

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