Since leaving Dunedin, it’s been a few days since we’ve seen a place with much life. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Queesnstown was a buzzing alpine town, set between a lake and pine tree covered mountains. It had plenty of restaurants, shops and internet cafes to keep us entertained, and the only let down was the campsite, basically a car park, where we could reach out and touch the neighboroughing car.

Queenstown is heralded as New Zealand’s adrenalin capital. On offer are a range of aerial, waterbourne and land-based activities, the most famous being the first commercial bungy in the world (which Dave debated about for ages then didn’t do. Again). After undertaking a plethora of adventure sports in Africa, ranging from rafting to microlighting to paragliding, we didn’t feel the inclination to repeat any of the activities, and instead chose to ride the Shotover Jet, ‘the most exciting jet boat ride in the world’ (DaveB says: Watch the video on their homepage to see this amazing boat in action). The experience is a high speed jet boat ride through a narrow canyon, in which you come within half a metre of the canyon walls and engage in 360 degree spins. We got nicely wet and enjoyed the ride, which was fun but not scary. Whatever efforts the skipper made to get us wet, he could not compete with the weather. It rained for the entire 3 days that we spent in Queenstown, putting a dampener somewhat on our enjoyment of the adventure capital. Still, it gave us an excuse to browse the shops, surf the internet and have lunch out (well, more accurately, lunch in, by the fire). Desperately trying to find indoor activities in which to partake, we stumbled across the indoor mini-golf centre, a grand creation with 18 creative holes. My favourite was the ‘ski’ hole; after our first shot our balls were scooped up and carried up in a miniature chair-lift before being released at the top of a mini mountain to come rolling down. Yes, I’m easily entertained!

And thankfully, on our final day the wind eased up enough to allow the re-opening of the luge. I’m a big fan of any kind of device which allows me to rush down a mountain on by bum, and the luge did not disappoint. After taking the gondala (cable car) up to the observation deck, we donned a helmet and hopped on to the chair-lift, to be delivered to the start of the luge track. Our first ride of the day had to be on the beginners track, and we were asked to prove our competence before being given a ‘luge license’, essentially a black stamp on the back of our hand. Scenic track conquered, we advanced to the main track where we got up a decent speed and I smiled the whole way down. Considering I finished the experience with a nutella crepe from a stall next to the gondola, this was my favourite thing in NZ so far :o)

[Show as slideshow]