New Zealand Part 1 - Queenstown and Mt. Cook
October and November were tough months. After a surprisingly busy October at work (which is supposed to be my quiet time), I spent nearly the entire month of November on the road for work. I don't mind traveling for work, but by the end of the four weeks away, I was really looking forward to some time to myself.
That's not to say I won't be busy during my time in New Zealand; I will be. But I'll be busy doing things I want to go and seeing places I want to go (unlike my most recent work trip, which involved using a first aid room at a mine site as an office, while our of town for the week in a place called Gunnedah).
Stop 1 on my 2 weeks here is Queenstown; Adventure capital of the world (or something). I can understand why - every other store in this (surprisingly) small town, is a booking agency. Bungy jumping, sky diving, white water rafting, parasailing, hang gliding, and about 50 other adventure sports I never even knew existed.
Case and point - extreme jet boating. 25 minutes of racing through a gorge in a jet boat, narrowly avoiding rocks and doing 360 degree spins. When I arrived on Saturday afternoon I was looking for something to do. Obviously I was immediately bombarded with options at the hostel booking agency. While I was tempted with skydiving, jet boating was about 1/4 of the price and came highly recommended by a colleague who had gone when he was 10 years old. Although I don't usually find that I have similar interests as 10 year old boys, it did sound fun and the woman at the desk managed to convinced me through stories of her own. So I went.
While I can't say that it was as thrilling as skydiving would have been, it was worth doing; it was a lot of fun. The scenery in the gorge was so spectacular, and the ride was good fun. My only complaint was that I would have liked to stay on the boat for another 25 minutes - it went by way too fast.
Dinner on my first night was at the legendary "fergburger" - a queenstown burger joint frequently referred to as one of the best in the world. I was not disappointed - the burger was pretty awesome. The flavour was great, and at the same time it wasn't too heavy.
I didn't go out drinking the first night because I had a bungy jump booked for first thing the next morning. I booked it ages ago, to prevent myself from chickening out when I got here. I figured if it was booked and paid for, I would have to go.
There are 3 bungee options here in Queenstown, which is where it was invented. The worlds first bungy site is still in use and is a 48m jump off a Bridge over a river. This one gives you the option of touching the water, getting dunked or not getting wet at all. Option 2 is the ledge bungy - just 43m but you are allowed to do tricks off this one. The final choice, and the one I did, was the Nevis bungy - 134m from a platform suspended by cables over a canyon. When I booked it, I figured I might as well go big (I had also had a few glasses of wine at the time and had a bit of liquid courage for my future self).
Overall, I'm really happy with my decision. No matter which one I did, the hardest part was always going to be actually making the jump of the ledge; so what does it matter if its 100m higher? The whole experience was just so cool - they drive you out of town 40 minutes through spectacular scenery and up a steep windy road. At the top, you get fitted for your gear and then are placed in a cable car to transport you to the platform. The platform itself is a small room and has glass floors (so you can see others jump). I was keen to go first and get it over with, but as they went by weight (heaviest first), I ended up being the 4th, out of 4 to go. It was good hearing from the others how fun it was, but waiting was an extra 20 minutes of stress I just didn't need.
When it was finally my turn, I jumped right away. The anticipation is the worst part....but still, looking down and forcing yourself to dive head first takes a lot of self motivation. Once your feet leave the platform though, it's amazing. The nerves disappear and you fly. Surprisingly, I found it easier on the body than sky diving. Anyone who has jumped out of a plane knows that the wind causes difficulties breathing and hearing and its actually quite tiring. With bungy, it was dead quiet and in no way uncomfortable. Anyway, its highly recommended and I may even go again (at a different site) while here in NZ.
When I got back to town it was only 12:30, so I decided to get some exercise and climb a small mountain. Similar to grouse mountain in Vancouver, there is a mountain right in town with gondolas up. Of course, there is also the option to walk up. It was very similar to the grouse grind, except maybe 15 minutes shorter. The views at the top were quite spectacular. Worth the effort for sure. One nice thing about NZ is that unlike Australia and Canada, there are no animals in the woods that can kill you. NZ has no bears, cougars, snakes or poisonous spiders. So it was a peaceful walk, and I barely saw anyone else.
After taking the views in at the top, I took the gondola down. I was supposed to pay $15, but the woman at the hostel said to try to sneak on as they don't check tickets all the time. I thought I was in the clear, but at the last second, just before the doors closed, someone asked for my ticket. I opened my bag and made for my wallet like I was getting it, but then the doors started closing and the guy just smiled and said "no worries". Normally i wouldnt mind paying $15, but i figure that i might as well act like a backpacker, since thats what i am. I'm such a badass.
My hostel had an amazing home made roast chicken dinner on (for $8!), so I had a feast of a meal, before having a few drinks.
On my 3rd day I jumped on the bus to Mt. Cook; New Zealand's highest mountain (I think). The bus ride was about 5 hours (with stops), and the scenery was spectacular. New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I did a two hour hike in the afternoon in the Mt Cook area with some of the people from the bus. Hooker's valley was the name of the area - I didn't enquire as to how it got its name. Once again, it was beautiful. Really stunning. Of course my camera went ahead and broke (just before my bungy jump), so I'm hopeful my iPhone camera is capturing everything.
Some early observations of New Zealand:
- New Zealand is cold. I knew it would be colder that Sydney, as it is quite a bit further south, but its even worse than Vancouver summers. Reminds me of Irish weather a bit
- If you didnt know better, you might think that Queenstown was in Canada. The scenery and lakes remind me very much of the Okanagan, and the town is much like Whistler.
- New Zealand is 'hobbit' obsessed. Fair enough, they filmed the movie here and it's just come out, but its a bit overkill. Half the shops have modified their displays to be somewhat hobbit related. And there are movie posters and signs everywhere. The one hobbit theme I did enjoy was on the flight over. Air New Zealand has redone their safety video as a hobbit farce, with all the characters giving the safety instructions. It also had a few strange sexual references, which made the whole thing quite entertaining.
- air New Zealand is supposed to be the worlds best airline...but on my international flight over here we had to pay for everything - even beverages. Even jetstar at least gives you free soda on international flights.
- New Zealand is cheap (compared to Oz), but its easy to spend a lot of money. Some of the backpackers here are complaining about how expensive queenstown is compared to other places in the country, but relative to sydney it's definitely cheaper. Things are the same prices, but given that the AUD is worth 1.28 NZD, everything is about 1/4 cheaper.
That's all for now - busy first few days!
That's not to say I won't be busy during my time in New Zealand; I will be. But I'll be busy doing things I want to go and seeing places I want to go (unlike my most recent work trip, which involved using a first aid room at a mine site as an office, while our of town for the week in a place called Gunnedah).
Stop 1 on my 2 weeks here is Queenstown; Adventure capital of the world (or something). I can understand why - every other store in this (surprisingly) small town, is a booking agency. Bungy jumping, sky diving, white water rafting, parasailing, hang gliding, and about 50 other adventure sports I never even knew existed.
Case and point - extreme jet boating. 25 minutes of racing through a gorge in a jet boat, narrowly avoiding rocks and doing 360 degree spins. When I arrived on Saturday afternoon I was looking for something to do. Obviously I was immediately bombarded with options at the hostel booking agency. While I was tempted with skydiving, jet boating was about 1/4 of the price and came highly recommended by a colleague who had gone when he was 10 years old. Although I don't usually find that I have similar interests as 10 year old boys, it did sound fun and the woman at the desk managed to convinced me through stories of her own. So I went.
While I can't say that it was as thrilling as skydiving would have been, it was worth doing; it was a lot of fun. The scenery in the gorge was so spectacular, and the ride was good fun. My only complaint was that I would have liked to stay on the boat for another 25 minutes - it went by way too fast.
Dinner on my first night was at the legendary "fergburger" - a queenstown burger joint frequently referred to as one of the best in the world. I was not disappointed - the burger was pretty awesome. The flavour was great, and at the same time it wasn't too heavy.
I didn't go out drinking the first night because I had a bungy jump booked for first thing the next morning. I booked it ages ago, to prevent myself from chickening out when I got here. I figured if it was booked and paid for, I would have to go.
There are 3 bungee options here in Queenstown, which is where it was invented. The worlds first bungy site is still in use and is a 48m jump off a Bridge over a river. This one gives you the option of touching the water, getting dunked or not getting wet at all. Option 2 is the ledge bungy - just 43m but you are allowed to do tricks off this one. The final choice, and the one I did, was the Nevis bungy - 134m from a platform suspended by cables over a canyon. When I booked it, I figured I might as well go big (I had also had a few glasses of wine at the time and had a bit of liquid courage for my future self).
Overall, I'm really happy with my decision. No matter which one I did, the hardest part was always going to be actually making the jump of the ledge; so what does it matter if its 100m higher? The whole experience was just so cool - they drive you out of town 40 minutes through spectacular scenery and up a steep windy road. At the top, you get fitted for your gear and then are placed in a cable car to transport you to the platform. The platform itself is a small room and has glass floors (so you can see others jump). I was keen to go first and get it over with, but as they went by weight (heaviest first), I ended up being the 4th, out of 4 to go. It was good hearing from the others how fun it was, but waiting was an extra 20 minutes of stress I just didn't need.
When it was finally my turn, I jumped right away. The anticipation is the worst part....but still, looking down and forcing yourself to dive head first takes a lot of self motivation. Once your feet leave the platform though, it's amazing. The nerves disappear and you fly. Surprisingly, I found it easier on the body than sky diving. Anyone who has jumped out of a plane knows that the wind causes difficulties breathing and hearing and its actually quite tiring. With bungy, it was dead quiet and in no way uncomfortable. Anyway, its highly recommended and I may even go again (at a different site) while here in NZ.
When I got back to town it was only 12:30, so I decided to get some exercise and climb a small mountain. Similar to grouse mountain in Vancouver, there is a mountain right in town with gondolas up. Of course, there is also the option to walk up. It was very similar to the grouse grind, except maybe 15 minutes shorter. The views at the top were quite spectacular. Worth the effort for sure. One nice thing about NZ is that unlike Australia and Canada, there are no animals in the woods that can kill you. NZ has no bears, cougars, snakes or poisonous spiders. So it was a peaceful walk, and I barely saw anyone else.
After taking the views in at the top, I took the gondola down. I was supposed to pay $15, but the woman at the hostel said to try to sneak on as they don't check tickets all the time. I thought I was in the clear, but at the last second, just before the doors closed, someone asked for my ticket. I opened my bag and made for my wallet like I was getting it, but then the doors started closing and the guy just smiled and said "no worries". Normally i wouldnt mind paying $15, but i figure that i might as well act like a backpacker, since thats what i am. I'm such a badass.
My hostel had an amazing home made roast chicken dinner on (for $8!), so I had a feast of a meal, before having a few drinks.
On my 3rd day I jumped on the bus to Mt. Cook; New Zealand's highest mountain (I think). The bus ride was about 5 hours (with stops), and the scenery was spectacular. New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I did a two hour hike in the afternoon in the Mt Cook area with some of the people from the bus. Hooker's valley was the name of the area - I didn't enquire as to how it got its name. Once again, it was beautiful. Really stunning. Of course my camera went ahead and broke (just before my bungy jump), so I'm hopeful my iPhone camera is capturing everything.
Some early observations of New Zealand:
- New Zealand is cold. I knew it would be colder that Sydney, as it is quite a bit further south, but its even worse than Vancouver summers. Reminds me of Irish weather a bit
- If you didnt know better, you might think that Queenstown was in Canada. The scenery and lakes remind me very much of the Okanagan, and the town is much like Whistler.
- New Zealand is 'hobbit' obsessed. Fair enough, they filmed the movie here and it's just come out, but its a bit overkill. Half the shops have modified their displays to be somewhat hobbit related. And there are movie posters and signs everywhere. The one hobbit theme I did enjoy was on the flight over. Air New Zealand has redone their safety video as a hobbit farce, with all the characters giving the safety instructions. It also had a few strange sexual references, which made the whole thing quite entertaining.
- air New Zealand is supposed to be the worlds best airline...but on my international flight over here we had to pay for everything - even beverages. Even jetstar at least gives you free soda on international flights.
- New Zealand is cheap (compared to Oz), but its easy to spend a lot of money. Some of the backpackers here are complaining about how expensive queenstown is compared to other places in the country, but relative to sydney it's definitely cheaper. Things are the same prices, but given that the AUD is worth 1.28 NZD, everything is about 1/4 cheaper.
That's all for now - busy first few days!
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