Bored in Queenstown...Not!
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2005
1
71
108
Trip End
Aug 15, 2006
Queenstown,
New Zealand
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Having braced ourselves for a fun few days one thing that we totally over looked was how beautiful Queenstown would be. Sat by the side of a magnificant lake between ranges of snowcapped mountains it is nothing short of beautiful and with large amounts of tourists, the town itself is shaped to cater for it. With designer clothes shops and a cluster of fancy restaurants and bars with open fires and European beers, Queenston definitely had a genuine classy feel to it.
After our snug backpackers the night before it was that bit harder to return to the wheeled hotel but we did it anyway. The next morning Conor woke up with the look of a condemned man in his eyes. An hour later he was on the bus to the Nevis bungy jump. At 440 foot it is the biggest in New Zealand and second biggest in the world. After his 8.4 second free fall he returned with a smile but was a little disappointed he didn't do it a day earlier...as he would have had Tiger Woods in his group! The ice cold golfer threw himself off the day before with his rivals crossing their fingers.
A leap of faith
Later that day we hiked to a scenic lookout which gave us some spectacular views of the surrounding area. That night we realised we hadn't got enough gas left to cook our dinner and decided to use a bit of guile to slip into a hostel and use their kitchen and facilities. We blended in nicely as paying residents before heading to our car instead of our room!
After another frosty night in the car we woke up to another beautiful blue sky which was perfect conditions for the white water rafting trip we had booked in for that afternoon on the Shotover River. Priced at $135 each we thought it might have been a bit on the pricey side but why else were we sleeping in the car?! However, it turned out to be worth every penny. The river itself was grade 5 that day, grade 6 being unraftable. The whole experience was about 4 hours long with over 2 of those on the river. It was an adrenaline pumping session and there wasn't a dry person on board afterwards. As temperatures were due to get below that night we thought we would treat ourselves to a night in a hostel. As we entered the dorm we were hit full on by a pong that was a mixture of bad feet, stale beer, vomit and most other nasties you can imagine. If the smell didn't make us sick the general filth of the room did. This place hadn't felt the wrath of a cleaner for years. With no bedding and no heating we both agreed it was the worst room we had ever stayed in...ever. At least it had carpet on the walls, whatever that was supposed to do! It was a bad end to an otherwise brilliant couple of days and its hard to leave. Ps Avoid Downtown Backpackers!!
