Queenstown
I have heard a lot of great things about New Zealand. The South Island is particularly famous for jaw dropping scenery. The countryside became really famous with its showcase in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (awesome movies). But, until you are behind the wheel driving through the landscape you cannot comprehend the sheer majesty of this place.
It is really a difficult task being a tourist on a tight time schedule in a place like this. Literally every bend in the road unveiled magnificent scenic viewpoints to stop the car and take a picture. Before you know it, a three hour drive can easily turn into 6 hours just because of the picture taking stops.
As we headed south we saw the scenery change over and over from endless rolling hills dotted with thousands of woolly sheep. To steep alpine terrain with winding rivers running along side the road. One of the real interesting features/hazards of New Zealand driving are the one way bridges. As we got into more remote parts of the country, rivers and rapids are everywhere and small bridges are needed to cross these bodies of water. So, building one lane is cheaper than building two – so these bridges have a first come first serve policy. Drivers need to slowly approach and try and see across to make sure no one is crossing in the other direction. If the coast is clear you cross the bridge. The only problem is that the roads are so windy you could almost never see across clearly. Thankfully, there is almost no one on these roads and we never had a problem.
Our destination was Queenstown. This is known as the adrenaline capital of the South Island. There is an absolutely endless menu of ridiculous options. Bungy jumps, canyon swings, skydiving are just the tip of the iceberg. But, another classic Queenstown activity is fishing – now we are talking.
We drove straight to the docks and met up with a guide we hired for an afternoon fishing trip. The one thing about the weather in New Zealand so far has been the wind. This was not just a breeze, so far everywhere we have been it was blowing hard – like 20-30 mph hard. But, Queenstown is lake fishing, I did not even think twice about the wind and sea conditions. Wrong.
We met the captain and he basically said, hang on its going to be a bit of a rough ride getting to the more wind protected part of the lake. I was like, we are saltwater (ocean) fisherman we can handle a little choppy lake. Wrong.
I have been stuck in lightning storms, 6 foot plus waves and other crazy weather. All fisherman have similar stories about scary times on a boat. This was one of those times. With one hand holding on the side rail and one foot braced against a rod holder we took off full speed in a 20 foot boat into an absolutely wild scene. The wind was whipping and the lake looked like a scene from the Perfect Storm. Massive waves seemingly from every direction was tossing the boat like toy in a bathtub. Danna eventually moved up front so she could at least see some of the bigger waves coming and brace herself – I was riding facing the back of the boat getting blindsided every two seconds. Finally, after a very harrowing ride we reached a protected stretch of water and started fishing. After a few missed opportunities (Danna had a salmon right at the boat but got away) I caught a beautiful Brown Trout – my first which we decided to keep for dinner. We did catch one more thing in the net that day. As I mentioned, the wind was really strong and in an instant Danna's hat was overboard. We swung around the boat and I leaned over with the net – the wind was strong and it was not easy to drive the boat in a straight line. The captain accidentally ran right over the hat with the boat! But amazingly the hat did not sink, popped back up behind the boat and I managed to scoop it in the net – another great catch.
Part of the draw of fishing is being able to be on the water in beautiful places. I always rather fishing in areas where nature is all around you. The scenery was beautiful, but one of the most unique and awesome things was when the captain passed around plastic cups and asked if we would like a drink. A nice gesture, we said sure. He then reached over the side of the boat and scooped up some lake water we were fishing in – Enjoy! Danna and I looked at each other and made an obvious face that said “Are you serious?” He said this is some of the cleanest water you will ever drink. All the tap water in town comes directly from here, untreated right from the lake. We were still a little skeptical but – Bottoms up! It was really cool to just dip in your cup and take a swig. Only in New Zealand!
Now, I am a bit of a thrill seeker myself. The last time Danna was in New Zealand she jumped out of a plane from 12,000 feet!!! But that was five years ago and the older more mature Danna is not thrilled with the idea of me jumping off bridges or out of planes. Also, we did not really have the time for a full day activity as we had another 5 hour drive ahead of us and it was Friday. So, we decided to do something a little more tame, but still a ton of fun.
The tallest peak in Queenstown has beautiful views of the lake and the valley and the entire surrounding area. To reach the lookout point on the mountain you must take a cable car practically vertically up the side of the mountain. But while we were interested in the lookout, the real draw was actually a little higher up the mountainside. Near the very top is a chair lift to get you just a bit higher. At this point built at the top of the highest part of the highest mountain in town is a couple of luge tracks for the brave. Well, to be honest, they call it a luge, but really it is like a go cart with no engine. The tracks are full of hills and high banked turns that use just the force of gravity to let you go zipping around the course where the bends seem to be right along the edge of a very prodigious cliff. Each part of this excursion was more fun then the next. The cable car had great views, the chairlift was fun in itself and the luge was a great way to end our Queenstown stop.
A great way to get the blood pumping for a drive into Middle Earth (a Lord of the Rings reference) – as we make our way to Milford Sound in Fjordland National Park.
