High on Queenstown

(steve)


Welcome to Queenstown! We arrived in town on fumes after our long West Coast adventure. It would be perfect to have a nice 4 day rest to recover our strength for the next hike. Alas, it was not to be. Queenstown is the New Zealand capital of adrenalin pumping activity. The birthplace of the bungy is still very much in the fast lane, with a host of high octane events designed to increase blood flow to your head. Between the sky diving, parasailing, canyon swing, and various bungies there seemed to be people falling from the sky every few minutes, most of them about 20 years old. During our 4 days in town we managed to sample two of the low altitude activities, the mountain luge and river boarding. The luge was a small platform on wheels that went zipping down a track on the side of a mountain. It was really not as fast and scary as it may sound (as evidinced by the 10 year old racing next to me). Our trip down the river was a bit more hectic. Think rafting, without the raft. We strapped on helmets and jumped on body boards to tackle the white water. A few bumps later we were treated to a cliff jump, a tow behind a jet-ski, and a water slide across the river. All good fun. The rest of our time in Queenstown was spent swimming in the cold lake (a new tradition started in the rivers on the coast) and drinking beer with our friends from the previous trip who all stayed in the area too. After a few days of this we might need to get back on the trail for some rest.