Boring Place, Nothing To Do Here.....NOT!!!

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Geo: -45.0311, 168.663

It's no secret that New Zealand is the adventure capital of the world, but Queenstown is the adventure city of New Zealand with views to fall back on. It's a place that is active all year round and doesn't disappoint.
I have been here quite a few times but this was the first time for Anna and the minute we stepped off the bus and looked out the view from our accommodation, she had fallen in love with it too.
This time we weren't able to benefit from the use of my parents car, so we boarded the Naked bus to Queenstown for an all day ride via Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki, this time with marginally better views of Mount Cook than last time. We stopped briefly at Lake Wanaka, on a glorious warm day and the lake was beaming full of people for a swim. It was enough to make sure we went there on our next trip.

We arrived at our accommodation which was Reavers Lodge at the base of the gondola hill and about a 10 minute walk into town but seeing as Queenstown is small it wasn't a big deal. We had booked into a four bed dorm and for the whole three nights plus a further night after walking the Milford Track, we had the room all to ourselves!
One main activity synonymous to Queenstown that can also be construed as extreme for some people is eating a burger from Fergburger. The size alone scares some people but the ingredients are delectable.
The burgers went down a treat and did their job by soaking up the alcohol when we went for a night out afterwards. There are quite a few bars around and one of the really "cool" bars we went to first was the Ice Bar. We donned the big and fluffy hooded rimmed jackets and entered for about 30 minutes.
The bar was amazing, apparently the biggest in the southern hemisphere and the only one in the world with a fire place. I loved the glasses which obviously were made of ice and to be only held with two hands and smash-able afterwards, and I loved the cocktails that were made because they were pretty colourful in an white and icy room. Everything from the bar to the tables, a bear and a chariot were made from ice.

We pushed onto the cowboy bar next door, free pizza, half price drinks and a chance on a mechanical bull ride. We played a game with some Americans while enjoying the western atmosphere and then lastly moved on to World Bar for some dancing. It was a great night out!

The weather looked pretty average in the morning and it even rained a little bit, but it soon cleared and after a bit of shopping and fast food lunch we found the right opportunity to walk up the Gondola hill for one of the most spectacular view points around.
Being summer, the hills were alive with the sounds of biking, mountain biking to be specific. They were going pretty fast on some pretty thin tracks and it was pretty impressive to see their skills.
Even more amazing to see were the views from the top of the gondola, something you can never get tired of seeing.
One activity that is a must on top of this hill is Luging. The catchphrase for Luging is "One is never enough" and that is so true, we started with the one and had to go for the second ride. Warning, it's pretty addictive. We even thought about opening one in the ski hills of Europe.

The day was drawing to a close so we headed back down the hill and got dinner before heading out on another night out in town. We sampled a few different places, one called Altitude for some dancing and pole dancing and then onto another bar around the corner where I took off my shirt for us to get drunker cheaper, the things I do!
Once again it was another fun night which required a little sleep-in in the morning.

After a slow morning we headed back into town and after visiting basically every souvenir shop in town we got some lunch and hired a kayak for an hour in Queenstown Harbour. The weather was great and the clarity in parts of the water was amazing, not to mention the views looking out on to Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables.
On the way back we did some food shopping for our upcoming Milford Track Trek and set about packing and sorting our gear.

We had such a great time in Queenstown that it inspired us to create a long list of activites and things to do when we come back.
You can easily spend a week if not two weeks around this area all year round, doing day trips to other towns, walking and hiking, skiing or snowboarding in the winter and doing many of the dozens of activities available there, budget pending though.
I can't wait for next time!!

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