Holiday in Queenstown

Queenstown is known as the home of adventure. It’s where people go to jump from extreme heights tethered to ropes or elastic bands and ride in blazing fast jet boats over mere inches of water. It’s also the home to some fabulous restaurants and some of the most wonderful scenery you could ask for (it’s no wonder Peter Jackson chose to set so much of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth there). In our week in Queenstown we had our share of adventure, sightseeing, and great food; not to mention amazing weather and a healthy and heartwarming dose of family.

After our lap-of-luxury-travel-day-initiation into Queenstown, my family arrived and we settled in to our new house for the next week. There was an enormous sense of anticipation as we waited for them to arrive in the lobby of our hotel. We sat there watching out the window for their plane then checked the door every few minutes to see if they were finally there. It felt a bit surreal seeing everyone again for the first time when they finally arrived. It was so nice to see everyone, and as it is with family we picked right back up where we left off like we were never apart. Thank you Mom, Dad, Grandma, Alex, and Jillian for coming out and spending the holidays with us in New Zealand. It’s so nice to be around people you love during the holidays and we really appreciated it!

The time with the family was great. The first day we took it easy and settled into our new home for the week. The house itself was amazing! It was the perfect place to spend the holidays. The people managing the house were not as amazing. I will save that rant for TripAdvisor. Chels and I ended up getting the bedroom on the top floor. We had an amazing view of the lake from our balcony and a private bathroom. We had a nice relaxing move in day that ended with some fish and chips and beer at a restaurant overlooking the lake. The next morning the family jumped right into the adventure with us.

Our list of activities in Queenstown consisted of zip lining, a Segway tour of the city, a Jet Boat ride down the Dart River, a wine tasting tour, bungee jumping off the Kawarau Bridge, and a day trip out to Milford Sound. We also had some excellent meals, and spent Christmas at the top of the Skyline gondola at the Skyline restaurant.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated my Mom’s birthday in style by doing some zip lining. This was a unique zip line experience for us because they let you ride backwards and upside down if you want (only in New Zealand!). We had a blast with that then had to wait at the bottom until someone could retrieve Dad and Grandma who were waiting for us at the top. They didn’t get the memo that they were supposed to meet us at the bottom (or have their cell phone on loud) so we had to talk the people who worked the gondola into letting Mom go back up and grab them. We had a good meal that night at Botswana Butchery.

 It was the second steak I had since coming to American Samoa (other than the Hawaiian rib eyes we made on our anniversary). Oh, how nice it was to have red meat again! The service was extremely slow (I think we were there for almost 4 hours) but the food was delicious.

Dinner at Botswana Butchery for my mom's birthday.

Chels and I were so excited to have french onion soup again.

Christmas morning felt a lot like home. It was nice waking up next to my wife for the first time
on Christmas morning. After breakfast, we exchanged gifts with the family. We got my entire family lava lavas so that made for some pretty funny picture opportunities. On Christmas night we enjoyed a delightful meal at the Skyline restaurant on top of the mountain. The food was delicious, and the view was amazing! We had panoramic views of the city, lake, and surrounding mountains from our seats. The food was buffet style and had all of the traditional Christmas food along with some regional specialties (i.e. lamb and green lipped mussels). Drinks were served at the table, but there was also free Champaign in the lobby meant to be welcome drinks for new arrivals that Chels and I made more than a few trips to before and during dinner. Overall it was a great Christmas dinner. The Skyline restaurant goes all out to make sure that you feel in the holiday spirit. They have someone dressed in a Santa suit walking around, a group singing Christmas themed songs, and even placed small gifts on the table for everyone dining there. In the gifts were some basic toys and obnoxious and colorful paper crowns (you might see them in the pictures to follow).

We got both of our families (mine and Chels') lava lavas for Christmas

Panorama at the Skyline Restaurant on Christmas.

We got free luging tickets for spending our Christmas at the Skyline, so after dinner we all (except for Grandma) took a couple of rides down the luge. I was expecting it to be a pretty lame and hokey ride, but the sleds actually go fairly fast and are a lot of fun! I took a pretty bad spill on my first trip down because I underestimated their speed, but I got the hang of it the second time around. After our luge ride we took a nice walk through the Queenstown gardens. Not on top of the adventure list, but a definite must see when visiting Queenstown. They had some of the most beautiful roses I have ever seen. They also had some territorial ducks and an awesome gazebo that Chelsia and I declare should be (and probably was) the finish line for a leg on The Amazing Race. This capped off a great first Christmas with my beautiful wife. I’m looking forward to many more in the future.

Amazing Race moment

The next day was our Segway experience around the city. Chels and I are pros from our honeymoon in Rome so we picked it extremely quickly. My dad had a hard time at first and it looked like he was going to go down hard at the beginning. He picked it up though and rode like a champ the rest of the way. It must be because "he is an athlete." We rode around the town and saw some nice sights. It was freezing out since we did the morning tour but the views were beautiful.

After segway-ing we had all worked up an appetite and were met with more delicious food. Chicken and waffles for me and a smoked salmon bagel for Chels.

Later that day we decided to jump off a bridge… talk about doing two polar-opposite things in one day. We weren’t planning on bungee jumping when we started the trip, but as we thought more and more about it we couldn’t let ourselves go to New Zealand and not try it.  The jump we did was the Kawarau Bridge jump. It is 43 meters high and the only place in Queenstown where you can jump tandem (that’s why we picked it). It is also the first commercial bungee jump in the world. It was the most insane thing I have ever done. I had no idea that all they use to strap your legs to the bungee line are a couple of bath towels and some canvas straps. That was all that was between our legs and the shallow water of the river below. Standing on that little platform looking down into the water over 100 feet below, knowing that when the operator finishes counting down from five I’m supposed to throw myself off was one of the most thrilling moments of my life. Then came the free fall. Wow. Actually jumping was actually easier than I thought it would be. I’m thinking it’s because I had the comfort of my wonderful wife up there jumping with me.

Right before we decided to throw ourselves off a bridge.

Right after we threw ourselves off a bridge.

.....And everything in between.

Bungee jumping was a blast, and AJ Hackett (the company who ran the bungee site) is a first class organization. The people who tie you up and let you jump are so calm that you will have a hard time getting nervous. They also set you up with some great pictures and video at an affordable price. I would recommend jumping in general and jumping with them to anyone. I know that we will be jumping again in the (hopefully near) future.

The next couple of days were more laid back. We took a day trip down to Milford Sound. We took a bus down to the sound, hopped on a boat and sailed around the sound, then jumped on a bus to come home. The bus ride and the cruise had views of some breathtaking landscapes. The bus had a glass roof so you could see the entire glacier capped mountains out of the window. When we were on the boat Chels and I spent most of the time on the front of the boat with the wind in our faces. We even stayed out there when they decided to take the boat under some of the waterfalls. I think pictures can explain the views and the boat better than I can in words so I will be sure to include some below.

What Chels liked to call a "gopher" picture"

On our way to Milford Sound.

Another pit stop on the 4 hour journey.

On the boat in Milford Sound.

We hit the wine trail the next day. We decided to take a tour since we would be drinking a lot of wine and drinking and driving on the left side of the road is even worse than drinking and driving in the states. New Zealand has some amazing Pinot Noirs and maybe the best Sauvignon Blanc that I have ever tasted. It got me thinking about wine as a career path again (ugh still trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives).

After the wine trail we had dinner at a restaurant called The Flame. This is an absolute must for anyone traveling to Queenstown. Chels and I split a delicious meat platter that contained parts of at least three different animals. So good. So. Much. Meat.

Before...

 ...After

The day before we checked out of our house, said goodbye to my family, and flew to Auckland we returned to adventure and took a little boat ride down the Dart River. The trip started with a bus ride out into the forest. The driver stopped at a few different points along the way to show us film sites for various movies. We walked down the same road as Hugh Jackman in Wolverine and saw the hills where Gandalf walked across the snow in Lord of the Rings just to name a few of the sites. We also saw a poor little sheep with its head stuck in the fence. Our courageous tour guide was nice enough to go over and save the sheep from starvation by setting it free. When we arrived at the forest we went on a short hike then headed over to the jet boat. The drivers of the boat ride are pretty amazing. They maneuver through inches of water, turning on a dime to avoid shallow patches in the water that the boat can’t handle, and avoid dead ends on a constantly changing route down the river all at top speed. They even throw in a few 360’s through the water for some extra fun. Kudos to Grandma for being a trooper and coming on this tour with us. She handled the hike like a pro and really enjoyed the jet boat ride.

On our way to Glenorchy.

Hugh Jackman walked down this road in Wolverine.

Jet boating fun on the Dart River.

You never get tired of the NZ scenery. 

The next day it was time to say goodbye to my family again and head off to Auckland. We packed up all of our things and headed to the airport in the morning. My family dropped us off and went back to town to have lunch since they weren’t flying out until later that day. It was still hard saying goodbye and we miss them already; however, it was easier than when we first left to come to American Samoa. It helps knowing that we will see them again soon.

Goofy matching Queenstown sweatshirts... :)

The Queenstown airport is small but nice. They offer free internet which is always a plus, so we killed some time surfing the web and went in a few of the shops. They have a candy shop in Queenstown called The Remarkables Sweet Shop, which is named after one of their mountain ranges. One of the perks of this shop is that they give you free fudge samples. They had a shop in the Queenstown airport too, so needless to say we killed a little time in there too. When our plane finally arrived, we realized that it was the same plane that we took on the way there. We were just seated a few rows back from where we were on the first flight. What are the odds? Okay, I’m guessing pretty high, but not that high. From there it was wheels up to Auckland to ring in the New Year.

-S