Kiwi Bus- Queenstown

Tuesday morning we left Wanaka to head down towards Queenstown. We were debating spending 3 nights in Wanaka although we opted for 1 in the end as Wanaka is primarily a hikers paradise. Before leaving we went to puzzling world which was lots of fun as before. There was basically 5 different illusion rooms and a maze to complete which was as challenging as before taking a good hour to get out! It was then onto the short drive to Queenstown, stopping en route at the bungy centre at the Kawarau Bridge for anyone who fancied doing bungy. I did the Nevis one last time and would probably only bungy again if I went somewhere higher, the highest one in the world being the Macau Tower in China. It was fun watching people jump off though!

We arrived in Queenstown in the afternoon and after checking into the hostel took a short walk around the town. Queenstown is probably one of my favourite places in the world, being on the shores of Lake Wakitipu, surrounded by mountain ranges including Coronet Peak and the Remarkables. Many people describe it as the adventure capital of the world due to massive amount of extreme sports on offer, and to add has the most lively nightlife scene in New Zealand despite its small size. After a short walk round the town we ended up playing Frisbee golf round the park which I won. We then met our kiwi driver down the pub for a few beers and ended up on some pub crawl and a slightly late night and a visit to fergburger before bed getting a chief wiggum burger.

Come Wednesday I had a day to myself so I decided to attempt the 1760m summit of Ben Lomond which I did last time I was here, but this time it was just in the snow. The ascent up to Bob's Peak was pretty straightforward but after leaving the gondola summit it got more challenging in a terrain point of view as the path was effectively ice. Luckily as soon as I got over the saddle the path was less icy with it being north facing and I made the summit without any problems, although coming down was fun and games with the ice. When reaching the bottom I had lunch at the gondola cafe and stayed up here a while as it was a great view and sunny day. When returning to Queenstown we had a more relaxing evening compared to the night before.

Thursday was the day of the canyon swing, effectively a 109m high cliff jump including 60m free fall and a 200m swing. Unlike the bungy you were strapped in round your body and not your ankles. The jump was billed as the highest cliff jump in the world. After checking into the centre we got a short minibus shuttle into the shotover canyon where it took place. There were several different jump styles to choose from including trike, chair, and slide. I went for free fall as I wanted to jump off myself. Of our group I was first up and it was lots of fun jumping into the canyon. When returning to Queenstown we had a more relaxing afternoon, playing frisbee golf again before a few beers in the evening.

Friday was a day trip to Milford Sound and with its remote location it was a long drive and an early start. Milford Sound is a fjord located in the Fjordland National Park. A fjord is basically a long narrow inlet formed when a glacier retreats. Milford Sound is also one of the wettest places in New Zealand. A few hours after leaving Queenstown we arrived in Te Anau where we stopped at a cafe. There were even alpacas there although they seemed to like spitting. From Te Anau, 120km and the nearest town, we took the scenic drive into the national park with a few stops along the way, first stop the Englington lookout with great views over towards the Misty Mountains from Lord of the Rings.

From here we continued, stopping at the appropriately named Mirror Lakes which cast a great reflection of the mountainous backdrop. After a quick toilet break we left behind the open plains and headed into more dramatic scenery up and over The Divide which was misty the other side. The cliff formations were breathtaking accompanied by snow on the top, with the road being bang on the fault line. After getting over The Divide we stopped at Monkey Creek and the mist had cleared a bit by here with more great views through the valley. The next section was through avalanche valley which we had to get through quickly with several remnants of recent avalanches and a lot of recent snow on the mountains making it quite dangerous.

Before long we reached the Homer Tunnel which took 20 years to build by literally exploding through the granite cliff! The views the other side were out of this world with the road being nicknamed the road of a thousand waterfalls and they weren't wrong with waterfalls cascading down the cliffs all around us, although there was still a high avalanche risk we couldn't get out and take photos. When reaching the bottom, of the valley we stopped at The Chasm which was a pretty powerful waterfall before reaching Milford Sound itself for a boat cruise around the fjord.

The weather was a little overcast although the views from the boat was stunning. We sailed right out to the Tasman Sea and back again, with several impressive waterfalls. We did however accidentally go into one of the waterfalls and I got soaked being on the front deck. There were also a few fascinating cracks in the cliff which have formed perpendicular to the fault line, with experts predicting a monstrous earthquake due there in the future. After returning to the port it was the long drive back to Queenstown, arriving back in dark. It was a long but a great day!

Saturday was our last day in Queenstown so I needed to have one last fergburger before leaving, getting the dawn horn which was good as always. During the day was far more relaxing, going for a walk to Sunshine Bay along the lakeside, before looking round the shops including the market which was on. Come afternoon I just watched a couple of films before heading out for a Saturday night in Queenstown which turned into quite a late one, although it was nice to have the football on. I did accidentally end up in fergburger at the end though, getting the sweet bambi.