Queenstown – it’s not called the adventure capital of the world for nothing

see all photos »

Friday saw another five hour drive, this time from Aoraki to Queenstown. However, as before, the scenery is so stunning that it really doesn’t feel like very long at all. And amazingly with February being the peak holiday month in New Zealand, we reckon we must have spotted no more than a couple of dozen cars or camper vans at most! We’re certainly not missing the road skills of the Aussies – lovely laid-back bunch, but put them in a car and there’s no accounting for what they’ll do next.

We can always hope!
see all photos »

So, mid-afternoon we arrived in Queenstown, an adrenalin-charged place where there seem to be more ways to do yourself a serious injury than anywhere else in the world, dumped our bags and headed out for the cable car to take in the views over the town and Lake Wakatipu.

At the top of the cable car we’d bought tickets to do a luge ride (you sit on something closely resembling a teatray and hurtle down a steep & winding concrete slope). Sadly (?) the rain came in just before our turn so we were unable to go ahead. Instead, we spent twenty minutes of sheer agony watching a young girl attempting a bungy-jump. Every time she plucked up courage, got to the edge … and froze. The queue behind her grew … the crowd watching below grew … and the poor girl had to listen to everyone alternatively booing and shouting words of encouragement with every attempt! Eventually, and after a long 20 minutes later, she jumped, shrieked and wanted to do it all again!

Our plane, tucked up for the night
see all photos »

After all the excitement we headed back for an early night, ready for our own adrenalin rush the next morning. After much persuasion Jackie had agreed to take a 40 minute flight on a 9-seater Britten Norman Islander over the mountain range to the Milford Sound, where we would pick up a cruise through the Sound before flying back again. The alternative was a minimum 10-hour round coach trip. I subsequently found out that she only agreed to the flight because the cancellation rate due to adverse weather is extremely high and every flight the week before had been cancelled! Her plan backfired; the weather was great. So, we set off at 7 am with five others, squeezed into this tiny plane and fortunately enjoyed a smooth flight culminating in flying down through the Milford Sound before landing on the runway just as the water ended!

Off to the Milford Sound
see all photos »

From there it was straight onto the cruiser and breakfast – much needed after all the nervous tension of the flight – and out into the Sound itself. Over the next two hours we sailed past waterfalls, stunning green and snow-capped mountains and spotted sealions. However, the thrill came when we were joined around the boat by a pod of dolphins who apparently only appear every couple of weeks or so. We were very lucky indeed.

Returning to Queensland mid-afternoon, the pilot sensed a nervous passenger or two and kindly mentioned that we wouldn’t be using the runway below (intentionally), but would in fact be landing on the grass paddock next to it!

The boat (and breakfast!) waiting for us
see all photos »

Determined to keep up the pace and fit in as much as possible, after a quick coffee stop, we headed for the waterfront and booked ourselves a jetboating trip out over Lake Wakatipu and up through the Shotover River. This hour long thrill ride reaches speeds of up to 85kph at times in water less than four inches deep (you can hear it hit the stones on the bottom!). Not content with that, the driver throws in the occasional equivalent of a handbrake turn and spins the boat around to make sure the entire audience is suitably terrified … and drenched. You can imagine my absolutely amazement when it was all over, to be asked by Jackie ‘can we do it again?’

Flying over the Southern Alps
see all photos »

After a couple of good nights sleep, mainly through sheer but happy exhaustion, today (Sunday) we left Queenstown for the long drive across and up the West Coast, around the Southern Alps before arriving at the village of Franz Josef tonight in preparation for a heli-hike early on Monday morning.