Queenstown

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The drive from Wanaka didn't take very long and for once that was a bit of a shame as there were really pretty views, still it was nice to arrive somewhere with the sun shining! On our way into town we stopped at the Kawarau Bridge which was the first commerical bungy site in the world. I had already decided that was no way on earth would be doing a bungy jump, as far too scary! We had a free tour there called the Secrets of Bungy which was really interesting and included a video which was cool and for a moment i was almost tempted to consider doing a bungy at some point but that didn't last long when got outside and saw the actual bridge. The bridge is actually a pretty small bungy site, especially compared to the biggest which is Nevis which looks absolutely terrifying! Only one of the people from the tour did a jump, a swedish girl called Sofia and she didn't seem to mind having the audience! After that we had a bit of a tour around Queenstown in the bus and then checked into our hostel. As it was Lynn's birthday, the 4 of us girls went out for dinner and then met the other people at the hostel's bar which was pretty big bar called Altitude so ended up staying there for most of the evening and got some free shots from our Bus Driver but don't think they had much alcohol in them, still they were free!

The Original AJ Hackett Bungy Site
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I had a couple of free days to spend in Queenstown so was able to take it a bit easy and have lie ins which was nice as most days in New Zealand had to get up early so made nice change. One of the free days I had in Queenstown I did a day trip down to Milford Sounds. As it was a long drive had to make an early start and much of the day was spent in the coach. The weather down there wasn't all that great and whilst it was certainly very pretty I probably didn't enjoy it quite as much as I expected. I think if I was doing it again I would probably not do it in such a rush as after the long drive I was really tired and that combined with shoddy weather left me a bit disapointed as I had heard from a lot of people that it is one of the most spectacular places in New Zealand.  Whilst we were down there we did a 2 hour boat cruise and then had a visit to the underwater observatory.

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I was really lucky with the weather in Queenstown  itself as while I was there it was very sunny and had beautiful blue skies which made the Lake and Mountains look even prettier. As wasn't doing a bungy or anything had time to explore the town so did bit of shopping and did things like walk around the botanical gardens and sat and read by book in the sun by the lake etc. On my final free day in Queenstown I went up on the gondola, which was cool and got some fabulous views of the city and just had a walk up around there and took some photos before heading back. In the evenings we went out for few drinks and had some nice meals etc but unlike most people didn't go mad in Queenstown or anything as think by that stage of the trip was pretty shattered!! Still had a fun time there nonetheless!