Queenstown, NZ

We arrived into QT on Saturday 2nd May and enjoyed one of the best drives around Lake. The scenery was spectacular with overpowering mountains surrounding the entire Wakatipu Lake.
We had a leisurely walk around the gardens before meeting up with Zoe for a coffee in town.
Zoe, a old school friend of mine who I’ve known since nursery moved out here about 2 years ago and she’s never looked back…and I don’t blame her. QT is most probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. The lake and mountains create the most dramatic but beautiful scenery and arriving in gorgeous sunshine made the town even more impressive.
We did so much in our time in QT I just don’t know where to begin!!!!
Zoe was kind enough to let us stay in her boyfriends house in Frankton, about 5 mins from the centre of town with views to die for overlooking the lake and the Remarkables (mountain range). We would have been happy in the van in the drive but she said ‘nonsense’! Temperatures were falling rapidly so I guess we were lucky to have a nice warm bed within four solid walls!
The weather was so lovely on our first day Zoe took us up to Deer Park Heights, a big hill with plenty of animal life to enjoy! (And also a location used for LOTR!) It was a hilarious afternoon, we got to feed pigs, goats, llama’s, alpaca’s, donkeys, ducks, deer’s, yack’s and the big scary bison’s! it’s a bit like a Longleat where you drive your car up the hill (but its not commercialised, its just someones land and you can come and feed them!) It was so funny, the animals all come running when they hear the clatter of the food tins!!!!!!! We had an interesting encounter with a cute donkey and a more scary experience with a bison who wouldn’t move out of the road……they are huge animals!!!!!!! The photo’s explain more!
Another vantage point of this big hill is the 360 degree panoramic views of QT, just absolutely stunning in all directions and on a day like we had (cold but sunny) it was perfect!
That evening we met Andrew, Zoe’s kiwi boyfriend who is lovely! He is also know as Block and is a jump master for AJ Hackett Bungy’s, so that’s kind of cool! They took us to a nice pizza place in town for dinner and a good catch up, as its been a long time!
Sunday was the beginning of the adventure, they don’t call QT the adventure capital of the world for nothing…..and we were going to realise that!!!!
We headed to the Kawarau Bridge 43m Bungy (the birth place of bungy jumping). This was to be our only jump as Zoe or Block didn’t have any free jumps to give us, and we were not expecting anything for free either. Just walking into the building I felt like I used to when going to play a final of a big tennis tournament…..nervous as hell and butterflies taking over my stomach! Darren looked as cool as a cucumber and chilled out!!!!!!
We booked ourselves in for 12pm which ment we had an hour to kill so Zoe took us 10 mins up the road to a pretty winery in the hills, we had a few tasters (to calm the nerves of course!) and then headed back for our jump!!
Andrew was working on the bridge today which was good so he strapped us up etc! The scenery of this particular jump is beautiful, the river is so blue it doesn’t look real. Darren went first and did a pretty good dive jump, didn’t hear a peep out of him and a dingy in the river picks you up! There were about five Korean people before me so it was good Daz made it back up to see me (a nervous wreck at this point) before my jump. He said it was wicked etc….alright for him, he had already done it!!!!!
So my turn finally came and its only when you stand on the platform that you realise oh god I have to jump!!!!! I think I did a plea for Darren at one point but before you know it Andrew is counting 5-4-3-2-1 and you just jump! Best feeling ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I got a hand touch in the water which was pretty cool!! My scream is pretty funny too so there’s a video to watch when we get home! I could of done it again and we both were on a complete high for the rest of the day……a combination of the bungy jump and the fact that we had it free because the girls behind the counter just fixed it for us because we were friends with Zoe and Andrew….how fab is that!!!!! We were eternally grateful and because of this were daring enough to book the Nevis Bungy (138m high in the middle of a canyon) for Tuesday! There was also a locals deal with the skydiving, buy one get one free!!! Zoe worked her magic and was able to book us in for Tuesday morning….she is a legend!
We visited Arrowtown in the afternoon which was a really querky old fashioned little village just outside QT and all enjoyed a big meat pie from the local bakery!
In the early evening Zoe took Daz and I into town to have a look around. Its small but has a sense of being quite big at the same time. It does rely heavy on tourism, so there are plenty of tourism trades but it kind of works and everybody who lives here seems to know each other, we didn’t go 5 mins without Zoe bumping into someone she knew!!!! Cut a long story short, on the riverbank Zoe lost her car keys so Andrew saved us and took us home, it was a pretty crazy funny day!!!
On Monday Zoe arranged for the three of us to go white water rafting on the Shotover River. We had a wicked afternoon on the water, a tad cold but all good fun going through some level 3 and 4 rapids and we didn’t have to pay a thing….at this point we were being totally spoilt. We all had takeaway Figurers (massive!) and enjoyed a night in!!!
Tuesday was the day of all extreme adventures!! First of all we woke up to snow and rain! The peaks of the mountains had snowy tips and looked stunning. The downside was the low cloud ment that our skydiving was off for today and we re booked for Wednesday lunchtime! We were both really up for doing it today so that was a shame but instead our day excelled our expectations!!! We headed into town with Zoe (Zoe had the week off work, where as Andrew didn’t, so we only saw him at the bungy’s and in the evening). There is a gondola ride (cable car) which takes you 800m above QT and has beautiful views of QT so instead of getting in one we tramped our way to the top on foot! It took an hour and was pretty hard work but the views were worth it! We had a drink in the café and just enjoyed being there, it is most definitely one of the prettiest places we’ve ever been to, just a shame it gets a tad cold in the winter!
The Ledge Bungy (45m) is perched up here overlooking the town and stands close the the gondola ride. We went to take a look and they were just opening at midday. Zoe knew the boys working on it and before we knew it we were in harnesses ready to do another jump absolutely free!!!! This bungy looks much more scary as your so high above the town, it also doesn’t help when the jump master tells you, you have to run and jump out!!! It was horrible! Darren went first and jumped out turning backwards on the way down, the grimace on his face said it all!!!!!!!
I just jumped out and did a kind of star shape…..my stomach has never felt so much in my mouth ever! My scream yet again was quite impressive! This time Zoe got a go and the jump master boys picked her up and threw her out backwards! Brilliant! We even got the dvd’s and photos free……incredible. We never ever imagined we’d do this much in QT, a budget can be blown in a few hours in the town, so far we’d not spent a penny on adrenalin junky activities! We got a free ride down the gondola and said our goodbyes to Zoe for the afternoon as it was time for us to catch our bus to the Nevis bungy in the canyon!
We arrived at the Nevis Bungy after 2pm and the weather started to look a little grim. For those of you who know what the jump looks like you’ll know the jump off point its set in the middle of the canyon in a little pod secured on a high wire! To get to it is a scary mission itself as half a dozen of us were put into a tiny metal cage and send across the canyon with a grated floor so we could see down into the canyon…..as you can imagine I was dying!!!!
There was another girl in our group and about 10 other guys, so we supported each other which was quite reassuring!!! Anyways, Daz went first and Andrew was working there today and strapped him up! Darren really is a calm one! No problems at all, he did a great dive jump and the 8 second freefall seem to go on forever! He had the biggest grin on his face when he was pulled back up, he said it was the best one by far!
My turn finally came after a few of the other boys and I was s**ting myself basically (sorry Mum, Dad, that’s the only way I can describe it!) Andrew helped me out on the platform after quite a few hesitations and ‘I cant do it’! and I was holding on for dear life! Never been so scared in my life and to make it worse 5 mins earlier it started to bucket down with rain, I was going to get very wet!
On ‘one’ I jumped…..everyone cheered as I created quite a drama (as you do!) and I was silent the whole way down…..I thought I was going to die!!! haha……but afterwards it felt awesome! I don’t know if I could do it again and boy was I glad when my feet were safely stood back in the pod as the pull back up was worse than the jump!!!
We headed back across the hire wire in the metal box and on the radio heard Andrew tell someone that Darren and Helen are doing the Nevis Arc, the new swing across the canyon ‘biggest swing in the world!’ We looked at each other in shock and thought ‘Block we’re gonna kill you!!!!’ I’d just managed to recover from the bungy when we were taken to another point of the canyon to be strapped up for this big swing!
Basically we were harnessed in together and hanging in mid air until the swing master presses in deadly ‘let go’ button! It looks pretty scary but to be honest I was so glad we were doing it together! We did it backwards as we had seen Zoe do it and it looked pretty fun, but still I was pretty nervous! Haha, man it was hilarious, when the button was pressed we went flying into the canyon and we just had to get the video purely for my scream! Darren got a perforated ear drum from it!!!!!!!! It was really good fun and we were so grateful to have a go of it for free! Really, we couldn’t believe our fortune in QT, we only thought we could afford to do one bungy jump!!!!!
We were absolutely shattered after the days antics, four extreme falls in less than 10 hours…mental! We have all the dvd’s so they are there to be watched when we get home!! We slept like babies that night!
Wednesday…..our last day. The weather was much better and Zoe had booked us on the Shotever River Jet, a fast speed jet boat which zipped up and down the river canyon flying through narrow spaces and close to the rocks. We all went on and we got it for kids prices so didn’t pay too much and had half an hour and adrenalin fun doing 360 spins in the river and all sorts. We weren’t going to buy the photos or dvd but the girl processing them recognised Zoe and after the ride just gave them to us, we couldn’t believe our luck yet again!!!!!! It was really good fun and Darren sat on the wrong side and got the soaking!
Less than an hour later we were over at the airfield getting geared up for our 15000ft skydive! When will it all end????!!!!!! Yet again Zoe got us a brilliant deal as it was locals month which ment buy one get one free. She knew the guys there and Darren and I got the deal! We were going to do it in Taupo and that is the cheapest place but by doing it in QT we saved ourselves $250!
It was the most amazing experience ever and before the jumped on the plane my tandem partner Mira from Czech Republic asked if I had ever done one before and I said ‘no, this will be my only one so I can say I’ve done it!’ Now that we’ve done it, without hesitation id do it again in a heart beat! It was insane, we both loved it and Darren’s partner PJ let him take the reigns once the parashute had opened! The 60 second freefall was mental, I could hardly breathe! Once the shute was open I started to admire the views a bit more, the snowy mountain peaks and crystal clear blue lake looked amazing from above! We got the dvd’s and photos and they were worth every penny. We had a little cloud so it was awesome freefalling through that and Zoe did a great job of taking some extra photos on our camera before and after! So we were grateful for that!
Wow…..what an amazing 5 days in QT, we never expected so much and will always be eternally grateful to Zoe and Andrew for making our stay so memorable! We worked out the full prices of the activities and dvd’s/photos and it came to over $2000. We only paid £600 for all everyone (for 2 people) and DVD’s etc….now that is amazing!!!!!! We are very happy, fortunate people!
We didn’t know how to repay the two of them as we have nothing like that to offer them but we knew they were coming over to the UK in June and Andrew’s sister lives in London, so we bought them the London Eye gift vouchers (which they were happy with!) and some local famous fudge!
What a five days! We said our goodbyes and hope to see them both in July as they are moving to France for 2 months to work on the AJ Hackett bungy jump in Normandy. So that sounds like fun!!!!!
We left QT early evening and drove to Wanaka an hour north to go to the cinema. We were shattered by the time it was bedtime, but it was all totally worth it……….obviously!