The Adventure Capital of the World

Queenstown's two major claims to fame are its alpine skiing options and its adventure activities such as bungy jumping, skydiving, jet boat rafting, etc. Apparently under New Zealand law you can't sue if you get injured during such an activity, so it's easy to see why thrill-sellers congregate here. I’m not interested in bungy (who wants to hang upside down for that long?) and it was a bit cold for skydiving, but I did do something called the Canyon Swing.

The Canyon Swing consists of a platform bolted to the mountainside 300 feet above the raging Shotover River. Thrill seekers strap themselves into a harness and then jump, flip, dive or otherwise exit the platform, free fall for 120 feet, and then gently enter a wide arc, swinging like a giant human pendulum above the river. After a handful of back and forth swings a winch pulls the jumper back onto the platform.

Originally I'd planned to do one of the scarier exits such as going backwards or head first. But when I reached the ledge of the platform and looked down into the gorge below, I couldn't bring myself to do it. In many ways this was much, much harder than skydiving: when diving tandem, you are strapped to someone else that more or less handles the exit for you. But in this case I was on my own and the mental battle was extremely difficult. In the end I did jump, but I settled for a boring, forward-facing jump. One day I will return for something more adventurous. For now I'm content that once again I faced a fear, conquered it, and felt that much stronger for doing so.

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Off the beaten path

We wanted to see a portion of Queenstown that most tourists don't see, so we opted to take a guided nature walk through one of the nearby national parks. Over the course of 4 hours Peter, our friendly and amusing guide, led us and a couple from Toronto to the top of Mt. Chrichton and then down again. Around 100 years ago this area underwent a gold rush and the land still shows signs of the sluicing. There's even a stone cottage that used to be a miner's hut, in good enough condition to be used by the occasional backpacker.

The walk was about as physically demanding as I want to get on vacation, but it was great fun. My only regret is that the photos didn't turn out  so well.

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Helicopter Flight / Winery Tour

Our last activity in Queenstown was a helicopter wine tour. We were picked up around noon and taken to the airport where we boarded a helicopter with 4 other people. Normally we would have landed on the Remarkables to take some pictures but it was a bit windy, so we landed on Queenstown Hill instead. It wasn't nearly as cool as a mountain landing but the vantage point was still awesome. Then we boarded the helicopter again and were dropped off just above the Shotover River where we were picked up by a tour bus to visit two local wineries for wine tastings and lunch.

Central Otago is a very young wine region, but it is the fastest growing one in New Zealand. Pinot Noir is the most commonly produced wine in this area, followed by Riesling. I didn't really care for the reds we sampled but the whites (the Riesling and a Pinot Gris) were quite nice.

In the end, this tour wasn't exactly what we had expected. The helicopter flight was very short and we weren’t really prepared for (or interested in) riding a tour bus with a bunch of other tourists. It perfectly mirrors our experience in Queenstown though: scenic, yet not quite what we’d hoped for and a bit of a letdown in the end.

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