Queenstown

November 6, 2011; November 9-12, 2011

The drive from Wanaka to Queenstown was a half day which was a nice change from the full 8 am to 5pm driving with the tourist stops in the middle. Before arriving in Queenstown, we stopped at Arrowtown which is a very small tourist town that is based on old buildings and shops restored from the 1860’s gold rush era of New Zealand. Many of the towns, including Queenstown grew based on the discovery of gold in the area which resulted in many of these little towns that have the buildings and roads from the late 1800’s that are now tourist stops with piles of kiwi bird t-shirts,  stuffed kiwi’s and kiwki’s wearing kiwi t-shirts!!

The bus stopped at the A.J Hackett bungy jump bridge which is located a few kilometers outside of Queenstown.  This was the first site of bungy jumping in the world, setup in the late 1980’s. When we arrived there was a long lineup of people jumping , which included a dipping at the bottom of the jump in the river below.  This place had a price for children jumping as well as adult and tandem jumping.   Our kayak guide told us he was 6 years old when he first jumped. Children can jump as long as they tandem with adults due to the weight restriction of the jumper.  We did not jump as there was so much advertising and hype about bungy jumping that it was now at the point we would jump just because it was the thing to do and not so much for our own enjoyment. We decided instead to come back when we have a 6 year old child and tandem jump with them the real New Zealand way!!

We spent 5 nights and four days total in Queenstown.  One day before we travelled to Te Anau to complete the kayak trip and 3 days after the trip when we returned from Te Anau.  The city was situated around the lake with the ski hills adjacent to the town. Wineries were just outside of the town at the bottom of the mountains. 

We were at first worried the town would be sleazy and over commercial because of the nonstop talk everywhere we have travelled in New Zealand that it is the “Adventure Capital of the World” with bung jump this, sky dive that, when you get to Queenstown.  The town “touristy” setup was comparable to Whistler, Blue Mountain or Tremblant in terms of the shops, restaurants and activity centers which was actually well laid out and not as commercialized as we feared it to be.

Tourists had many different bungy jump opportunities to choose from in town including a respectable 45 meter jump to the highest bungee in the world 135 meter plunge.  The 135 meter jumper must ride a cable car across the canyon out to the jump platform which gives them even more time to think about what they are about to complete.

One of the more appealing activities for tourists in town was to paraglide from the ski hill in Queenstown and land in the park at the center of town after what looked like to be a 20 minute glide.  This jump would allow people to complete the cruising in a parachute when it had opened without having to jump out of a plane from 15,000 feet. In town we would watch paragliders cruise over the town at the end of the day and land on the Queenstown beach. The gliders would make a couple circles over town, which is very small, and make a couple twists and turns in the air without dropping into the lake.

We walked around the town, enjoyed some Black Beer which is Ang’s new obsession, hiked Queenstown hill (700 meters-which had a fantastic view of town and the lake), toured the city park complete with lawn bowling clubs, a Frisbee golf course and a skating rink. Queenstown is an impressive town and we can understand how it is the most popular tourist spot in New Zealand. It is one of our favorite spots and would recommend it to anyone. The combination of the beautiful town situated on the lake in the mountains, it is a great destination as well as jumping off point for the rest of the region.