I know your first question is why Queenstown? Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world and the birthplace of the bungee jump. It’s located in the South Island of New Zealand. Although only one of the four of us wants to bungee jump, as a family we will use any excuse to base our travels plans. Since Paxton’s birthday was most recent, his vote heavily weighed in on our decision.
This trip we enjoyed New Zealand’s vast pristine natural beauty and we were forced to try to remember different scenes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy as several movie sets were filmed here.
Before kids, we found New Zealand’s North Island to be a welcoming and amazing place and this time we’ll see what it’s like in the South Island.
From Hawaii we fly a little west and mostly south.
To get to Queenstown we’re stopping in Fiji and Auckland while crossing the international dateline. 21 hours or so later we’re here.
New Zealand feels like it’s an hour behind Hawaii time. But it’s actually 23 hours ahead of Hawaii.
Queenstown is really small. Its population is 40-50k. It’s very walkable from end to end in around 15-20 minutes. The Uber from the local airport took under 15 minutes to get to where we’re staying, which is pretty central to town. The weather is in the 50s give or take. The town shopping vibe includes the normal bars and eateries with a surprising number of outdoor shops filled with hiking gear and mountain bikes. There’s also a few high-end stores although in general everything feels pretty new and just a tad luxury being that it’s geared for tourists.
Queenstown is located adjacent to New Zealand’s third largest lake, Lake Wakatipu which at its lowest point is several hundred meters below sea level.
The town is very clean and you can sense an environmental consciousness. After noticing the results you start to see it in the day to day implementation of takeaway paper bags and wooden utensils, the alternative energy sources here and there, and the overall lack of rubbish in public. In the wilderness there isn’t a shred of trash and you see occasional traps set out to nab invasive mammals-possums and rodents that are decimating the local bird population. I found it unbelievable that the lake doesn’t burp up old plastic bottles or candy wrappers along its edges. None. The lakefront beach didn’t have a single candy wrapper stuck at the water’s edge.
It’s an outdoorsy town, you’ll see people wearing puffy jackets, mountain bikes at crosswalks, and lots of backpacking packs on people.
Even the creatures are friendly, from ducks at the water waiting for you to drop bits of food to bees trying to take a sip of your soda. Gauging animals’ reactions to people is a reflection of how people in general treat their creatures.
First night in, we Ubered from the airport in to our stay at Queenstown at around 630 pm. We walked around to get burgers at a local institution, also the most crowded place in town, Fergburger. We grabbed our burgers and drinks from the grocery and then we ate near the water’s edge.
I see the appeal of this place. Set alongside a lake and surrounded by distant mountains, the air is clean and the people are friendly. You can walk across town in 10 minutes making most everything easily accessible.
Given the above, Queenstown is strangely lacking substance. It feels pretty bland as far as Maori or local culture goes. That’s probably because it was once a mining town and is now the adventure (as in extreme activities) capital of the world. There are lots of tour buses waiting to move adventurers from place to place.
Today is our first full day. We walked around the small town and headed up the ridge for some panoramic views of the city and luge rides.
For lunch we were planning on hunting down some Maori food. Unfortunately the place on Google maps is now a ziplining outfit and it hasn’t been updated. Soooo, we opted for fish and chips at Eriks, followed by an earthquake (yes, tremors) and a walk in the park including a geocache. The kids are tired so they went back to the room. June and I celebrated no-kids hour with espresso martinis at Boardwalk. I forget what that half eaten vegetable thing was in the middle pic. It wasn’t great, and I eat anything.
My feelings of Queenstown thus far- it’s very clean. Feels safe and even the wildlife like the ducks and bees are friendly and don’t seem stressed. Seriously, you can feel it. While walking the lake this afternoon I noticed there was no rubbish debris washed up on the shore. No plastic bottles or anything. How can that be?
The weather this March is crisp and sunny.
Everything in this town feels relatively new, as though the buildings aren’t more than 30 years old new. I don’t think you can find a rundown looking building.
There’s some people-who although look like backpackers with their outdoor gear and large packs -talk randomly to strangers or to themselves. Eccentric or substance use? Dunno.
The other visitors here consist of Australians and Europeans, East Indians and Asians. I thought there were mostly Chinese until i noticed Korean and Japanese tourists also.
The weather when we stopped over in Fiji and then Auckland made me think I’d misplanned by bringing wool socks but then it seems here in the south we’ll be in the 50-60s.
Tonight we’re taking a 10 minute trip out of town to Onsen Hot Pools for a one hour soak. This place is located on the Shotover River, named by the town founder William Gilbert Rees and was used for gold mining by Europeans. Its Maori name is Kimiākau and was used by the indigenous to gather food, plants and greenstone.
That was pretty relaxing. June was able to reserve one of the original open air tubs.
The reservation included a drink and snack.
One hour on the dot, then you can shower and dry off and stay as long as you want.
We decided to hang out here at Arthur’s Point and grab food for a change of pace.
Gantley’s Tavern. Karaage chicken and nachos, plus and a nitro beer for me and pinot for June.
Wed March 26
Up early for a full day of Milford Sound. The drive is 4.5 hours with several stops along the way. We’re 45 degrees south of the equator, opposite side of the world from NYC.
Bathroom break 45 min in. We walked across the lot to see these friendly alpacas.
Te Anau for coffee and snacks. Te Anau is located at the entry of Fiordland National park, the home of Milford Sound.
This is a glacial valley. The base tends to be flat and sandy
Mirror lake
Lake Gunn named from cattle driver Davey Gunn.
The drowning scene at the end of the first Lord of the Rings where Sam was drowning. Oh that dang ring is at it again.
We stopped for a waterfall and ended up hopping down some rocks to drink the river water.
The Homer tunnel we drove through was hand dug in the 20s by hand. Pickaxed for 1.7 km. It can’t be made any wider or it’ll get unstable.
On the sound we looked at the dramatic scenery,
Seals, pups…
And waterfalls.
On the way back we looked for Kias, a green parrot that lives above 1000 feet. I think that was a distraction technique.
We did stop again at Te Anau for a bathroom break and to see the alpacas again.
Thursday 3/27/2025
Today is Paxtons day. Bungee jump and a swing at AJ Hackett Bungy NZ.
It’ll be the first day we (actually just Pax) experience Queenstown’s nickname of adventure Capital of the world.
This is Nevis jump, its New Zealand’s longest jump and my kid wanted to do it. 440 foot bungee drop, 8.4 seconds of free fall. It was insane watching my firstborn become a tiny speck at the bottom of the cavern. I can’t imagine what it felt like to jump.
The Swing is a 70 meter drop and 300 meter swing out. This was a separate jump where you get suspended and then dropped.
I gained so much respect for this guy after doing this. Pax said the hardest part of the experience was at the start of the bungee jump where you have to walk out to the edge at your own will with your legs tied together with bungee cord. I imagine that would feel pretty unnatural. To put the fear in perspective there was a German man in front of us who while seated in the suit-up chair before the jump tilted the seat backwards for a second and screamed like he was a child again. In the end I did feel a little irresponsible as a parent for letting my kid do this.
We followed up with a Hangi (Maori version of an imu cooked) burger.
Then a visit to the Kiwi Park. Was pretty junk. I didn’t see any fuzzy green fruits. Not even the bird as they are not only endangered, but also nocturnal. They did have a stuffed one to their ceredit.
And a picnic dinner by the water.
Friday 3/28/25
We’re doing a 1/2 day trip with Canyon Explorers. We only have 3 people (versus 19 for this afternoons shift) so i think it’ll be nice!
We’ll be rappelling and jumping down waterfalls, zip lining and following up with warm showers. I didn’t have a camera as we were wearing wet suits and soaked the whole time, It was all in one course that combines rappelling and sliding around in a crystal clear stream.
A couple of things reminded me how nature conscious the Kiwis are. After canyoning but before going into the van, our guide brought out a tub of water to clean our feet. I also saw these rodent traps in the wild. Most of the indigenous animals are birds and the traps are to protect them from being eaten by mongoose or rats.
Saturday-last full day
Paxton’s adventure was to bungee jump, for me I decided to drive a car as my adventurous activity. Right hand drive on the opposite side of the road from what I’m used to.
What a dork.
We’re going to try to locate a few Lord Of The Rings movie sets along the way to Glenorchy.
This was the place we went canyoning viewed from above.
Also the location for “Po-tay-toes! Boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew!“
And “oliphants!”
At the town we checked out a historic barn.
I got a kids fish and chips. I also hit the ping pong ball into the light fixture which ended me and Hudsons ping pong competition. It’s ok, we probably would have ended up fighting anyway. lol
Look kids, it’s Isengard! Not as fiery as I imagined it to be.
We then tried to find the elven land near a place called Paradise. It was undisturbed and covered in moss.
This was the closest i could find to an elf home.
On the way back we passed Queenstown and went to Arrowtown, an old mining town with Chinese history where Hudson wanted to pan for gold which we did very unsuccessfully.
Back to town, we filled up gas and returned the rental car.
We decided to try King (hand) Made Noodles for dinner. There’s a surprising number of Chinese visitors here, backed by a decent number of Chinese workers at the businesses.
Sunday-our last day. We checked out of The Loft and went to the wharf to board a power boat called The Spirit of Queenstown to a gourmet buffet at Walter Peak. I thought about driving there yesterday when we had the car but since it’s across the lake it would have been a 5&1/2 hour drive to get there. I think it’s 20 minutes by power boat.
There’s a buffet followed by a farm show. Sheep shearing and cattle dogging kine stuff. Total of 2 hours we’ll head back.
Ok. take off you hosers.
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Love, The Woo’s
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