Queenstown Day of Adventures
I had been really busy prior to this NZ trip, so I’d done almost no research or pre-planning. I know, it’s completely out of character and I can almost hear the gasps of disbelief. Thankfully, my AirBnb hostess Trina had provided me with a very quick and easy way to book my adventures. She had sent me a code and a link to www.planitbnb.co.nz, which is a great one-stop shop for bookings. You can arrange almost any type of activity you’d like to try around Queenstown including extreme sports, spa getaways and Lord of the Rings tours. Within minutes I’d found a paragliding company and a place to zipline in Queenstown, so I made the bookings online and the company rang me within 20 minutes to finalise payment and send me the confirmations. Fabulous service.
The paragliding & hang gliding van collected a group of four of us from town and drove us up to Coronet Peak. The two German girls were dropped at a lower peak and the other Australian girl and I went up to the higher one. We were introduced to our tandem instructors, who then gave us our safety and instruction briefings. My instructor was the amazing Senda from Japan, with his 30 years of paragliding experience and 14 of hang gliding. Within a short time of arriving we were running straight off the edge of the peak. We were in the air for around 15 mins and it was incredibly beautiful, quiet and peaceful. I would do this again in a heartbeat.
I met my friends Judy and Jeff afterwards for lunch at Fergburger, the famous Queenstown eatery. The line was apparently quite short that day, with only around 30 people queuing. My burger was absolutely enormous and I didn’t think for a second that I’d manage to finish it, but sure enough I did. The burger menu was very imaginative and included The Codfather, Sweet Bambi, Cockadoodle Oink and The Morning Glory.
When I finally managed to waddle away from Fergburger, I took the Skyline Gondola up to the Ziptrek Ecotours treehouse. I had booked the KEA 6-Line tour which is the world’s steepest tree-to-tree zipline and descends at speeds up to 70 kph. The young guides were knowledgeable and passionate about the conservation of the area and clearly loved their jobs.
The last remaining challenge for the day was to hike back up to the top so that I could use the return portion of my gondola ticket. The hike took around 40 minutes, but was well worth the time because the views over Lake Wakatipu were glorious and I also burned off the calories from the burger.
Judy, Jeff and I went out that night for dinner to the Blue Kanu, a funky bar and restaurant with a great vibe. The cocktails and food were delicious and we had such a fun night. We came close to getting free drinks, but alas we didn’t solve the bartender’s riddle in time…
