Blogs from Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 139

Forgive me the cheesy title. Unsurprisingly, the brainchild of Brandon, the effervescent, cowboy hat-sporting Arizonan I had the pleasure of meeting on the Kiwi bus, it actually sums up the white-knuckle ride that was Queenstown rather aptly. I'm ill at ease when people write off popular destinations as 'tourist traps'. The Costa Del Sol, Kuta and Cancun are all pidgeon-holed in this way but I certainly don't subscribe to the philosophy that mainstream equals bad. It's like when everybody loved Keane (the band, not Roy or Pako) when they first came to the fore; a little quirky, a little different but as soon as this translated into success in the charts it was 'thumbs down' from the 'I wanna be different brigade'. My guess would be that none of these types ever made it to Queenstown, ... read more

We were a bit calculated about planning our trip, so to avoid any bad weather and only visit areas during the best seasons. All seemed well on paper, but it is just a reminder that nature does not like to cooperate, nor be dependable. at least not where i come from (new enland) and now i am learning, not in queenstown. while the little town is charming, packed with outdoor trips of fun, majestic lake and mountain views, it is also in the path of dasterdly southerly (read antarctica) winds! we have been told that it is an odd occurrence, but the southerlys have been whipping thru the area with no mercy for we travellors. It has brought with it rain, possible sleet, an snow to the mountaintop, below treeline. we are getting ready to sacrifice ... read more

We left Invercargill with overcast skies, and as we approached the Southern Alps the sky began to clear. Queenstown hws a little bit of everything, and a whole lot of the outdoors. These include helicopter flights, bungy jumping, jetboat rides on the lake, 4wheel drive tours, rafting trips and canyoning. What's that? Well, if you find jumiping off bridges and riding through rapids is entirely too passive, try plunging into pools, rappelling into ravines, and sliding down chutes. It helps to NOT have a fear of h eights, water, or very hard rocks. We had only one day in Queenstown, so had to make a select few choices. Also, we were very tired having stayed up late the eveningn before with Keith and Christeen, and got off to a later start than we had planned. Let's ... read more

New Zealand (written from Christchurch and Bondi) (Yes, another long vacation blog, but hey, it's my second to last one, indulge me!) There's a commercial running down here in New Zealand promoting dairy farming as a way of life. The ad features people from various former careers talking about their new glamorous life as a dairy farmer. There is the ex-pharmacist, ex-fire-fighter, ex-shop manager and ex-teacher all saying how they'd never go back now that they have this career as a dairy farmer. The thing is, New Zealand is such a fabulous place, so breath-takingly beautiful at every turn, that Les and I wondered how we might fare as an ex-consultant and an ex-grad student/writer. We'd be good dairy farmers right? What a country! Maybe we were a little sun scorched coming off our six months ... read more

Went for a morning stroll around town, a sunny day, so far. In the afternoon we walked to the top of the hill overlooking Queenstown. It was a longer walk than we thought and it started to rain, turning into a storm by the time we reached the top. We had intended to take the Luge back to the bottom but we found that you had to take a chair lift further up and it only brought you back down to the restaurant where we already were. After sheltering for a while feeling cold and wet, we took the Gondola back down. The mist cleared slightly to reveal views over the town. Queenstown is renowned for it's extreme activites, so we played indoor mini-golf ! I won by one point but there was argument over the ... read more