I’m going to start this post by saying that Queenstown is absolutely amazing, there was so much that we done in our time there so this is going to be a long read.
The first couple of days were mostly spent going round the shops and walking by the lake. We watched the Super Bowl in a bar, even though the match was slightly boring it was fun to see some Americans getting into it. I also went for a run one morning which was a good way to explore parts we hadn’t seen. Laura had a Skype interview that day up so she mostly needed to prepare for that. That evening as she was having the interview I walked round the lake and park and took some pictures at sunset.
On Tuesday 5th we had our bungy in the morning, it was about a 30 minute drive to Kawarau Bridge. We chose to do a tandem bungy, we were attached by the feet and we had to hold onto each others harness side by side. I was pretty nervous, but I wasn’t as bad as I thought I was going to be once we was actually on the bridge. Before we had booked to do one, i was fairly certain I would enjoy it, and I did, so much so that as soon as we finished it we was toying with the idea of doing another one. After sharing a huge plate of nachos we went back to Queenstown and checked into our next hostel. We hadn’t originally planned to stay at Adventure Hostel, but so many people recommended it to us so we did some re-organising of dates and made it work so we could stay for 3 nights. After we had the tour we were immediately glad we did, all the rooms were so nice with free amenities, really friendly staff and there were tonnes of other free things you could rent such as sports equipment, hairdryer/straighteners etc. We were later told by someone that apparently it is in the list of top 5 hostels in the world, but I haven’t fact checked that yet. That evening we had our first experience of “Fergburger”, a well known burger takeout where people happily queue for an hour to try. It was nice but I wasn’t entirely happy with my choice. After that, we met up with Lous and Noud for some drinks. We met them back in Rotorua and they only had a couple days before they went home. We had some drinks in World Bar, which served cocktails via teapot.
On Wednesday 6th it was “Waitangi Day”. I’m still not entirely sure what it is, but I believe it is the day a treaty was signed, nevertheless it is a national holiday for New Zealand so Queenstown was very busy. Coincidentally it is also the same day as Bob Marley’s birthday, so there was a celebration of both of these with some reggae music in the park. We didn’t really know what to expect but it was absolutely packed with people who it’s picnics on the grass and people drinking. We stayed for a few hours and had some beers listening to the music, although we were having a good time soaking in the sun we were on a bit of a schedule so couldn’t stay too long. After a quick dinner me, Laura, and our roommate Romane decided to join a free pub crawl we saw advertised by a bookings agent. We had some drinks with people from all nationalities, and even though I didn’t win the limbo competition the pub crawl was still a good laugh. When it was starting to get a bit late me and Laura shot off, as we had already bought tickets for a music event at a club. The club was quite small but luckily it wasn’t too cramped. After a couple of hours enjoying the music we stopped at a bakery on the way back to the hostel and had the best chicken pie I’ve ever had.
On Thursday 7th February we attempted to find “Little Thailand”; before we left home Jennie had suggested that we go. It is supposed to be a great place to jump off some rocks into Lake Wakatipu. We climbed through trees, up and down the cliff side but we couldn’t find it at all. Reluctantly we headed back, and went to go meet Romane by the small beach in Queenstown. After sitting and chatting for a bit, we got up to leave and I heard someone shout my name. I look over, and it’s Jake and Isabelle from the hostel in Te Anau. It turns out that there is two branches of the same hostel in Queenstown, and we were in different ones. We decided to meet back at the lake later for some drinks, so me and Laura went off for dinner at Devil Burger. We then met up again later where Jake and Isabelle bought their friends Phil and Dani who they met in Australia (who now live in Queenstown), and they brought their friend Kyle.
On Friday 8th February, we had decided to do a second bungy. We chose to do “The Ledge” bungy, as it could coincide with some plans for later on that day. First, we had to take the gondola up to the top of Queenstown. Once we got to the top we spent some time walking round to admire the view from the top, you could see the whole of Queenstown as well as how huge Lake Wakatipu is. We then checked in for our bungy and made our way to the start point. This bungy is a “freestyle” bungy, meaning that you are tied in a body harness and can jump off any way you like – there is a jump menu and even a die to help you decide if you are unsure. We both opted to do a handstand off the ledge. I was not as nervous as the first bungy, but it definitely an unique experience free-falling headfirst, so much so that I let out the strangest noise as if I was going to be violently sick. After the bungy we stayed up the hill as we had planned to do the Luge with Jake, Isabelle, Kyle, and they brought along their friend Brit. The Luge is essentially go-karting but without any motor/electrics, it is all just lifting up the brake and going downhill. It looks and sounds a bit childish, but it was actually such good fun and you go pretty fast. Of course, I was getting too competitive, and was going too fast round a corner and flew out and grazed up my leg. It didn’t take me long to recover from my traumatic Luge accident, as we all went for Fergburger round 2 later that evening. After some drinks by the lake, Jake and Isabelle left and we went for a couple of drinks at a couple bars and joined a street party listening to a busker.
On Saturday 9th February, we wanted to stay in Queenstown for a while before we moved on, but we didn’t really have any plans. We wandered down to the lake and saw that there was a crafts market on. We spent a couple hours looking around the stalls of different things people were selling, such as paintings, bracelets, soap, and rings made out of New Zealand coins.
We had a great time in Queenstown. It has everything on offer, you can go for scenic walks/hikes, there’s lots of restaurants, bars and shops, but yet still holds a lot of culture. If there was anywhere that I would live in New Zealand it would be here.
Lee Teivans Travel Blog 