Queenstown - The adventure capital of NZ

The busy little town was quite a change after the silence of the Fiordlands that we enjoyed for the past days. It's sprawling with tourists and booking companies trying to rip you off. We already knew upfront that we want to do the Nevis Swing - the biggest swing in the world. Luckily we got the last spot for the 30th of December, otherwise we would have needed to wait until the 4th of January...
After booking this we made plans for the next days.

We hiked up Ben Lomond, a challenging four hour climb, especially in the heat of the midday. There we met another Kea and enjoyed lunch with a spectacular view over the lake and surrounding mountains.

We ate a delicious burger from Fergburger, a famous burger joint here in Queenstown. It is best enjoyed in the Floating bar with a local beer!

We visited Glenorchy, a tiny town about an hour away from Queenstown. There we did the walkway around town and strolled over the beach. Not much more to do here ;)

Then it was finally the time for the Nevis Swing. It took almost no time to get there by bus and there were just two people ahead of the us... The excitement was real and as it was our turn to get into the harness we were accompanied by the screaming of others :) But the experienced guide distracted us until he pulled the release and we went with an incredible speed down into the valley. After a few seconds that felt like forever we swung gently along the other side with our hearts beating like crazy. An experience that was well worth the money...

We spent New Years eve in Queenstown were we expected a bustling scene and food stalls. But there wasn't too much, just two stages with live music and two food stalls. Besides that it was pretty cold and uncomfortable, so we had a hot chocolate in McDonalds until 11:30. Then we went to the harbour to see the fireworks :) It was cool because the rockets were started from a ship.Read more