New Zealand: The Thrills of Queenstown

 

This is where the Queenstown gondola takes you. The chutes at lower left are for
wheeled luge "sleds" that seem very popular with 'tweens and teenagers. 

Queenstown is one of the most beautifully located places I have ever seen. It's on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, one of several large freshwater lakes in the Southern Alps created by glaciers thousands of years ago.  Mountains rise up steeply from the lake's edge to create incredible views from almost any place in town. It is unabashedly a tourist town, and it's easy to see why so many tourists come here.

In Queenstown, a gondola takes riders high above the city for even better views as well as a chance for a luge ride (on wheels, though, not ice). Or to race steep trails on mountain bikes.  Paraglider pilots will strap you in for a ride soaring and dipping above the city before landing in what from afar looks like a tiny green postage stamp. There are canyon swings in which thrill-seakers are tied into a seat and pushed off the edge of a canyon to swing like a pendulum. It sort of makes bungee jumping, a New Zealand invention, seem tame. Then there are jet boat rides on the lake. And a shark-like, one-passenger-at-a-time semisubmersible that dives and shoots out of the water like a jumping fish.  On the tame side, there is skiing in winter.

As for us, the highlight of our visit was trip just outside town to Amisfield winery. It has an expensive and well-regarded restaurant that we did not visit, but we did spend some time at its cellar door and ended up buying a case of Amisfield wine to be sent to our home.  Amisfield is not widely available in the U.S., but it is offered at some restaurants, and to supply those restaurants, the company maintains a warehouse in Sonoma County. We tasted and paid for the wine in Queenstown, but what we bought was already in California. As I discovered at other wineries in New Zealand, pinot noirs can be much much more satisfying than I had realized. Jane points out that we usually buy inexpensive pinots at home, but even inexpensive ones in New Zealand can be very good.  And there is an astonishing variety among New Zealand sauvignon blancs, some tart as can be and some almost creamy. 

Food was a bit of a challenge. Without reservations, we were turned away at some very tempting restaurants, but we did manage to eat pretty well.  For our first dinner there, at The Lodge, I had a game meat pie made of wallaby, goat and hare. Sort of a like an oversize beef empanada. A better dinner was at Margots, a Mexican place where I had a beef-cheek steamed bun and Jane had a duck taco.  That dinner followed an afternoon stop at The Winery, which offers substantial cheese boards along with a large number of wines available for tasting or by the glass.

Our hotel there, The Central, did not have lake views, but it was a short walk from the heart of town, and most if not all rooms have small terraces. Our room had a view of the gondolas going up and down.  The Central has a pleasant afternoon wine hour where we enjoyed meeting some of the other guests, especially a Kiwi-Australian couple who had just been to Fiordland, a corner of New Zealand that we're sorry we missed. Their one-night trip there sounded amazing. On the other hand, just about everything near the coast in New Zealand is pretty amazing. 

Here are some photos:

This is Lake Hawea in the Southern Alps as seen
from a roadside viewing spot. The drive through
 mountains west of Queentown must be one of the most
beautiful drives in the world. Hawea and neighboring
Lake Wanaka were, like Lake Wakatipu at Queenstown,
created by glaciers thousands of years ago.

It's hard to see the two helmets in this photo, but one helmet belongs to the paraglider
pilot and the other belongs to a thrill-seeking passenger who is strapped to the pilot.
In the background are cables for the Queenstown gondola.

Queenstown has a number of outfitters and ticket
agencies catering to thrillseekers.

When we were there, the New Zealand dollar traded at about
66 U.S. cents, so these thrills aren't as expensive as they look.

One of the thrills is an extremely vertical gondola ride above the 
town. The finger of green in the lake is Queenstown Gardens.

A sequoia tree at Queenstown Gardens.

Queenstown Gardens is laced with walkways and little surprises like this bridge.

Queenstown Gardens is on the other side
of the water in this photo. The mountains
are called the Remarkables.

Another view of the Remarkables.

The busy Queenstown waterfront is lined with restaurants and docks, one of which
features a permanently berthed floating bar.

A restaurant-lined alley opens onto the town's
pedestrian mall, which has even more places
to eat and drink. 

A flower shop just off the harbor. The blue structure
is a coffee kiosk.

The TSS Earnslaw offers cruises on Lake Wakatipu. New Zealand seems to zealously
protect its natural environment, so it struck me as incongruous that this is
a coal-burning steamship. In fact, it advertises an opportunity for passengers
to watch the coal being shoveled in the fire room.

This couple found a quiet bench and a great view a short walk from the hustle and bustle
of the Queenstown waterfront.