Queenstown is New Zealand’s adrenaline capital, famous for not only it’s great setting between multiple mountain ranges, but for the gamut of activities it affords, from jet-boat rides through narrow canyons, to the highest bungy and swings you can find on this side of the world. As soon as we arrived, I knew I was going to really enjoy this place. The combination of great outdoors as well as restaurants and activities makes it a place I could see myself returning to for extended periods of time. A second home? A winter home? A summer home? Yes, yes, and yes, but more on that later, there’s adventures to be had first.
Having already sky-dived and bungy-jumped before, we chose our poison to be the canyon jet-boats and the swing, which involved jumping (or being pushed off) a ledge, free-falling for a while, then swinging out over the river below. A rush, no doubt. The jet-boat felt like those old arcade games where you sat on a jet ski (Hydro Thunder?) and raced through twisting turns, hitting the boost button whenever it was available to shoot you along faster and faster. While there were no 100 foot drops or flips involved, the 360° spins and brushes with the canyon walls provided all the rush and g-forces I needed for a thrill.
A gondola ride later, the Queenstown panorama was on full display as we soaked in the views from the top of the town. Not to come down from the adrenaline high, we raced street luges from the top down a windy course that was just distracting enough with its views for me to run into a few walls on the way down.
The final act of our adventure was the Shotover Canyon Swing. As described above, not much stands between you and the river below, and the crew members do a great job of reminding you just how much your lives rest in their hands. As you can see, we braved the leap, though one of us was slightly more excited about the situation than the other. Fear overcome, the option to do a second swing was clearly a no-brainer, with slightly more theatrics involved this time.
A farewell to Queenstown and to Tiffany, the call of New Zealand’s Great Walks fills the air…