From quiet Wanaka I was off to bustling Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. This is not an easy title to obtain, but it’s not just used by Queenstonians; tourism agencies worldwide will send you off to Queenstown over any other global destination for the sheer variety of adventure activities. This is of course even more impressive when you consider they only have a population of just over 10,000. As per usual, transportation was by hitchhiking and after magically stuffing all my gear into my bag, I walked a few hundred metres up the road to where the highway began. I was 99% guaranteed that any ride would take me all the way there as there are no stops between the two towns. I waited roughly 20 minutes before an oddly familiar pumpkin orange Toyota Camry stopped just ahead of me. The boot (trunk in North America) was popped and I tossed my bag inside, quite confident my gear was safe, before hopping in the passenger seat (still weird being on the left side and not driving). Looking over I saw a very familiar face talking business on his mobile. He looked over to greet me with a smile and almost dropped his phone as his jaw nearly hit the gearshift. No word of a lie, it was the same guy who picked me up in Mt Cook a full week earlier. He is a travelling businessman so the chances are higher...but still...every time I’ve stuck out my thumb since I’ve half expected to see the same pumpkin orange Toyota stop and hear him talking to his associates. About gear being safe in the boot even if I’m not in the car; a word with many Kiwis has reassured my feeling of safety while hitchhiking. Of course hitchhiking always carries risks and you can never be 100% sure that your ride is a safe one, but by being smart, you can have a good (and free) time while staying safe. As far as gear is concerned, there have been incidences of hitchhikers throwing luggage in boots and the vehicle peeling off as fast as the tires can carry it, but a quick memorisation of the easy six character NZ license plates guarantees a region wide police hunt for the vehicle in question. New Zealand police are highly active in ensuring everyone’s safety, and take complaints from tourists very seriously. I’ve heard that one such grab and run resulted in a manhunt lasting all of two hours after which the culprit was seriously penalised both on his license and criminal record, the gear returned with many apologies. A similar case where the hitchhiker didn’t think to catch a plate number resulted in a car hunt lasting almost 24 hours, police only working off make and model and approximate age, stopping any car that matched the description. Eventually the culprit was caught and again, the gear returned with apologies.
My reappearing driver had to make an hour long stop in Arrowtown, a small town 20 minutes away from Queenstown and I decided this was perfect for me. We arranged a time to meet back at the car and we went our separate ways. Queenstown, Arrowtown, and others were all established when settlers in the area discovered shimmering yellow stuff in the water.
As it turned out, this was gold and the New Zealand gold rush began. Overnight, towns such as these sprung up all over the region, but as the gold rush slowly wound down, some survived and thrived, some survived, and others faded away as the prospectors took their leave. Arrowtown has survived and is recently making a name for itself as the cute little town just away from Queenstown. Many original buildings remain from the late 1800’s, and new buildings try to match the aesthetic to maintain the appeal of the area. There is an odd assortment of boutiques which offer some unique items, but most stores are either chain tourist souvenir shops selling generic NZ souvenirs, or overpriced food vendors selling overrated food. An exception lies in the Arrowtown Bakery, a company which I suspect by decoration and product line up is related to the Queenstown Bakery. They sell terrific pies (pastries with any assortment of thick stew inside) from pork or venison to apricot or tofu. I enjoyed a lamb and mint pie as I wandered the town, the streets lined with typical pioneer style architecture; wooden buildings with wooden porches and wooden vertical support beams with wooden signs above a slightly sloped wooden roof. I guess they had a lot of wood to build with!
We met back at the car and headed into Queenstown where I was dropped at the iSite for local information, but headed straight to the Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park to check out their campsites. Unfortunately, Queenstown is Queenstown, not Wanaka or Te Anau or Omarma. Like everything else in town, the campsite was more expensive at $18/night, not including showers which are coin op at 8min/$1. I actually headed to the other campsite in town to check their prices, but was amazed at their $21/night fee (higher than a hostel in most NZ towns except Queenstown of course) and returned to the Lakeview. The park isn’t perfect; the spaces are too close together, tents get jammed up next to monstrous RV’s (in North American speak, or camper van – regardless of size – in Kiwi speak), reception is impersonal and completely clueless about some of the activities in town, and the list goes on. But it is cheaper than (Queenstown) hostels, the facilities are for the most part clean, and regardless of the obnoxious guitar playing backpackers, I get a better night sleep than I would in a hostel filled with party animals. My first priority in Queenstown was to make contact with Dive Queenstown, the diving company with whom I would be doing my scuba qualification. I called around 8pm and spoke to Lance (owner, operator, manager, trainer, etc.) and he told me he would drop by in an hour with the book I needed to read and he would get me in the water the very next day. This was quite alright with me, because while my time in NZ is very relaxed and unhurried, Queenstown a fast paced and hurried town, and even though I have to spend a good deal of time there, I will minimise that as much as possible. So it is a wonder that after a short talk with him, I decided to also do my advanced qualification on top of my open water qualification, adding another few days to the course and another $500 on top of the $600 for the open water qualification. He agreed to take off $100 and make it an even thousand (which was damned good of him considering the time/money ratio for his course, but was a relief to my budget). The two courses together will give me training and certification required to do paired dives (recreational dives are always done in pairs for safety) to 40m in fresh or salt water. We met just a little later and he explained the whole process of education and qualification, outlining how the next week and a bit would go. It was an exciting step for me and something that I will literally have with me my whole life.
As it turned out, this was gold and the New Zealand gold rush began. Overnight, towns such as these sprung up all over the region, but as the gold rush slowly wound down, some survived and thrived, some survived, and others faded away as the prospectors took their leave. Arrowtown has survived and is recently making a name for itself as the cute little town just away from Queenstown. Many original buildings remain from the late 1800’s, and new buildings try to match the aesthetic to maintain the appeal of the area. There is an odd assortment of boutiques which offer some unique items, but most stores are either chain tourist souvenir shops selling generic NZ souvenirs, or overpriced food vendors selling overrated food. An exception lies in the Arrowtown Bakery, a company which I suspect by decoration and product line up is related to the Queenstown Bakery. They sell terrific pies (pastries with any assortment of thick stew inside) from pork or venison to apricot or tofu. I enjoyed a lamb and mint pie as I wandered the town, the streets lined with typical pioneer style architecture; wooden buildings with wooden porches and wooden vertical support beams with wooden signs above a slightly sloped wooden roof. I guess they had a lot of wood to build with! We met back at the car and headed into Queenstown where I was dropped at the iSite for local information, but headed straight to the Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park to check out their campsites. Unfortunately, Queenstown is Queenstown, not Wanaka or Te Anau or Omarma. Like everything else in town, the campsite was more expensive at $18/night, not including showers which are coin op at 8min/$1. I actually headed to the other campsite in town to check their prices, but was amazed at their $21/night fee (higher than a hostel in most NZ towns except Queenstown of course) and returned to the Lakeview. The park isn’t perfect; the spaces are too close together, tents get jammed up next to monstrous RV’s (in North American speak, or camper van – regardless of size – in Kiwi speak), reception is impersonal and completely clueless about some of the activities in town, and the list goes on. But it is cheaper than (Queenstown) hostels, the facilities are for the most part clean, and regardless of the obnoxious guitar playing backpackers, I get a better night sleep than I would in a hostel filled with party animals. My first priority in Queenstown was to make contact with Dive Queenstown, the diving company with whom I would be doing my scuba qualification. I called around 8pm and spoke to Lance (owner, operator, manager, trainer, etc.) and he told me he would drop by in an hour with the book I needed to read and he would get me in the water the very next day. This was quite alright with me, because while my time in NZ is very relaxed and unhurried, Queenstown a fast paced and hurried town, and even though I have to spend a good deal of time there, I will minimise that as much as possible. So it is a wonder that after a short talk with him, I decided to also do my advanced qualification on top of my open water qualification, adding another few days to the course and another $500 on top of the $600 for the open water qualification. He agreed to take off $100 and make it an even thousand (which was damned good of him considering the time/money ratio for his course, but was a relief to my budget). The two courses together will give me training and certification required to do paired dives (recreational dives are always done in pairs for safety) to 40m in fresh or salt water. We met just a little later and he explained the whole process of education and qualification, outlining how the next week and a bit would go. It was an exciting step for me and something that I will literally have with me my whole life.
Indeed the next day we got started right away, and showing up to his shop I was immediately shown the ropes of his gear, slightly different from the 
usual recreational diving kit. Lance combines the best elements of recreational diving with some of the more expensive but safer and/or easier to use elements of technical diving. He teaches PADI courses in scuba diving using this improved equipment system, allowing his graduates to go on and knowledgably conquer pretty much any consumer gear available. The first dive was what he would sell to a non qualified diver as a “discover scuba” dive; and indeed it is just that. Scuba diving is much more than just swimming underwater and breathing through a tank. There is a whole system of buoyancy control, air control, allowable time underwater at certain depths; far more than I could get into here. If I wrote it all down here it would take pages, but needless to say, on this first dive Lance takes control of pretty much everything for you except for the breathing...unfortunately only you can do that for yourself.
usual recreational diving kit. Lance combines the best elements of recreational diving with some of the more expensive but safer and/or easier to use elements of technical diving. He teaches PADI courses in scuba diving using this improved equipment system, allowing his graduates to go on and knowledgably conquer pretty much any consumer gear available. The first dive was what he would sell to a non qualified diver as a “discover scuba” dive; and indeed it is just that. Scuba diving is much more than just swimming underwater and breathing through a tank. There is a whole system of buoyancy control, air control, allowable time underwater at certain depths; far more than I could get into here. If I wrote it all down here it would take pages, but needless to say, on this first dive Lance takes control of pretty much everything for you except for the breathing...unfortunately only you can do that for yourself.The 20th to the 23rd was spent simply living in Queenstown while doing dive after dive. During my walks in town I got to know the famous adventure haven, learned its small number of streets and found the nice spots in town for a view or a bite to eat. For a town of its size it is extremely busy, and crossing the streets you constantly dodge busses from mini to coach size. As far as actual tourist attractions, the downtown beach area is quite popular, and for good reason as the clean beach is a prime spot to sunbathe or go for a dip. On the other side of town is the famous gondola ride up a decent sized hill. From the top are amazing views of the town and you can package the gondola ride with luge rides at the top of the hill. I was spending some time with some British guys ![]()
I met in the campground and we went up together, racing each other down the two tracks multiple times. Queenstown’s other claim to fame is the Fergburger, a burger joint in the centre of town dishing out hundreds of amazing burgers every hour. Open 21 hours a day, the usual busy times bring lines and around supper you can expect to wait between 10-20 minutes just to order, the burger coming usually around 10-20 minutes later; but boy is it worth the wait. My first Fergburger was the “Big Al”, a 1/2lb of beef, two egg, bacon, beetroot, veg., and sauce monster. I was hooked from the first bite and have had a few other delicious Fergburger concoctions since.
On the 24th I planned to take yet another plunge, and come noon I found myself at the A.J. Hackett Bungee jumping centre for a bus 40 minutes out of the town. I was headed off for the Nevis bungee jump, New Zealand’s tallest at 134m from a platform suspended between two mountains.
The whole experience was somewhat surreal and there was no anticipation of the coming danger. Even as I was fitted and rigged up with a harness and took the cable car ride out to the suspended platform it still didn’t feel real. As the door opened and the “EXTREMMMEEEE, MANNNNN!!!” bungee technicians (what else do you call them?) grabbed hold of me, rigging my ankles up in tight cuffs and ushering me to the edge where the cable was attached to my harness at multiple points, things suddenly became very real. As I stood at the edge of the platform, I looked down at the river bed 150m below and suddenly thought, “Wait, I don’t like heights, why the hell am I standing here!?” Like it or not, they gave the 3-2-1 countdown and I was encouraged to jump. Absolutely scared shitless, I more leaned out and let myself tip over the edge than jump, but the effect was the same and suddenly I was rushing towards the ground in eight seconds of freefall, accelerating towards the rapidly approaching ground. This was the feeling of weightlessness I was expecting when skydiving, and as I looked down at the river, my feet trailing above me, I had no sensation of being attached to anything at all, my brain sending frantic signals telling me to brace for the certain impact with the water below. Basically, the freefall was eight seconds of ‘HOLY SHIT!!!’, but as the cord started to tighten and I felt a tug on my legs go from gentle to firm, the situation felt a little better and I was able to appreciate the awesomeness of the moment. 
I was dangling – still bouncing up and down – 134m from a suspended platform above a lovely riverbed in a gorgeous valley. It was suddenly very elating, and probably about the same time the adrenaline hit my system I became very happy with the whole experience. I pulled the pin keeping my ankles attached to the cord which allowed me to sit in my harness and enjoy the views on the way back up. Worth the $250? Hell yes! Would I do it again? Of course! I think the first time you do any of these extreme activities is the worst because of the anticipation of what might go wrong. But once you experience the rush you’re absolutely hooked. Two gals about my age were terrified to tears watching people jump before them, but after their jumps they couldn’t wait to do it again! I went back to Queenstown for my last dive in my PADI Open Water course and by night time I was a certified PADI Open Water scuba diver!
I met in the campground and we went up together, racing each other down the two tracks multiple times. Queenstown’s other claim to fame is the Fergburger, a burger joint in the centre of town dishing out hundreds of amazing burgers every hour. Open 21 hours a day, the usual busy times bring lines and around supper you can expect to wait between 10-20 minutes just to order, the burger coming usually around 10-20 minutes later; but boy is it worth the wait. My first Fergburger was the “Big Al”, a 1/2lb of beef, two egg, bacon, beetroot, veg., and sauce monster. I was hooked from the first bite and have had a few other delicious Fergburger concoctions since. On the 24th I planned to take yet another plunge, and come noon I found myself at the A.J. Hackett Bungee jumping centre for a bus 40 minutes out of the town. I was headed off for the Nevis bungee jump, New Zealand’s tallest at 134m from a platform suspended between two mountains.
The whole experience was somewhat surreal and there was no anticipation of the coming danger. Even as I was fitted and rigged up with a harness and took the cable car ride out to the suspended platform it still didn’t feel real. As the door opened and the “EXTREMMMEEEE, MANNNNN!!!” bungee technicians (what else do you call them?) grabbed hold of me, rigging my ankles up in tight cuffs and ushering me to the edge where the cable was attached to my harness at multiple points, things suddenly became very real. As I stood at the edge of the platform, I looked down at the river bed 150m below and suddenly thought, “Wait, I don’t like heights, why the hell am I standing here!?” Like it or not, they gave the 3-2-1 countdown and I was encouraged to jump. Absolutely scared shitless, I more leaned out and let myself tip over the edge than jump, but the effect was the same and suddenly I was rushing towards the ground in eight seconds of freefall, accelerating towards the rapidly approaching ground. This was the feeling of weightlessness I was expecting when skydiving, and as I looked down at the river, my feet trailing above me, I had no sensation of being attached to anything at all, my brain sending frantic signals telling me to brace for the certain impact with the water below. Basically, the freefall was eight seconds of ‘HOLY SHIT!!!’, but as the cord started to tighten and I felt a tug on my legs go from gentle to firm, the situation felt a little better and I was able to appreciate the awesomeness of the moment. 
I was dangling – still bouncing up and down – 134m from a suspended platform above a lovely riverbed in a gorgeous valley. It was suddenly very elating, and probably about the same time the adrenaline hit my system I became very happy with the whole experience. I pulled the pin keeping my ankles attached to the cord which allowed me to sit in my harness and enjoy the views on the way back up. Worth the $250? Hell yes! Would I do it again? Of course! I think the first time you do any of these extreme activities is the worst because of the anticipation of what might go wrong. But once you experience the rush you’re absolutely hooked. Two gals about my age were terrified to tears watching people jump before them, but after their jumps they couldn’t wait to do it again! I went back to Queenstown for my last dive in my PADI Open Water course and by night time I was a certified PADI Open Water scuba diver!The 25th and 26th were a break from scuba diving and I spent my Monday doing typical Monday things; barber (that’s right, it’s back to ¼ inch for me!), dentist, Fergburger, relax. The 26th I took my trip up the gondola and had some fun lugeing with my British friends. On the 27th I was back to scuba diving; now working on my advanced qualification and completing both my navigation dive (a bore) and my Diver Propulsion Vehicle dive 
(sweet) in one trip to the beach. Lance has two of the world’s fastest production underwater scooters, and with eight gears you can either meander through the water doing graceful underwater acrobatics, or cut through at maximum speed, getting where you need to be fast. I was able to pull some fun loop-the-loops, barrel rolls, helixes up and down, and more. The amount of fun you can have with one of these scooters is endless, and you can use them to get places underwater! Go figure, they can be practical too!
(sweet) in one trip to the beach. Lance has two of the world’s fastest production underwater scooters, and with eight gears you can either meander through the water doing graceful underwater acrobatics, or cut through at maximum speed, getting where you need to be fast. I was able to pull some fun loop-the-loops, barrel rolls, helixes up and down, and more. The amount of fun you can have with one of these scooters is endless, and you can use them to get places underwater! Go figure, they can be practical too!While the diving was a lot of fun and it was great to be actively involved in learning again, Queenstown’s busyness and the sheer number of tourists was starting to get to me, and I figured it was time for a break. On the 28th I escaped the hustle and bustle, packing up my bag and thumbing out of Queenstown for lovely Te Anau, the gateway to the Fiordlands.
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